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The blogsphere and the media are utterly twitterpated to find that Mrs. Obama is suddenly proud of her country. She was misquoted a time or two, so it's worthwhile to put what she said in context:
What we've learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback and let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment...
Mrs. Obama is quite correct in noting that Mr. Obama exudes a welcome aura of hope and optimism. Cheerleading is a major part of a president's job.
Hillary as cheerleader? Nah, she's a cerebral policy wonkess who believes that anybody who won't immediately grasp the brilliance and appropriateness of her notions is the embodiment of evil. Optimism from McCain? He's a patriot, but he's too old to be a good cheerleader and he thinks the war will go on forever.
In pointing out that hope and optimism made her proud, Mrs. Obama qualified her remark by saying, "for the first time in my adult lifetime" and by saying "really proud" instead of merely "proud." She's 44 or so, we're told. She became an adult at 21, which would be in 1985, about the time Ronald Reagan started his second term.
Given that she wasn't an adult during Mr. Reagan's first campaign or his first term, Mrs. Obama can be forgiven for not being "really proud" of Mr. Reagan's optimism with respect to the country as a whole. He was the most effectively optimistic President we've had in a long time and he ended the cold war by being realistic about it. Her husband noticed; Mr. Obama famously pointed out that Mr. Reagan had been the most transformational President in recent history.
When Mr. Obama praised Mr. Reagan, the Democratic establishment went into a snit and wondered why he didn't claim the mantle of their hero, JFK. Although JFK was as optimistic about America as Mr. Obama, if a bit less charismatic, JFK's inexperience got us into the Vietnam war, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the blockade of Cuba, all of which were acts of war. Mr Obama was well advised not to wear JFK's tattered Teflon; Mr. Reagan's mantle has a much better sheen.
As we've pointed out, the mantle of Reagan is still hanging in the closet, waiting for a true believer to put it on and ride it to the White House. Mr. Reagan was the most Obama-esque president we've ever had. Is Michelle Obama claiming his mantle of optimism and patriotic pride for her husband?