A month ago I began a Blog series called "The Audacity of Obama" each Blog covers a different aspect of him, his associations, etc. After the speech provided by his wife last night I though now was a great time to revive it and continue the series, this time all about her.

During last night's speech and as she traveled with the "Dali-Bama" this year Michelle has claimed over and over to have come from a down trodden neighborhood on the South side of Chicago, essentially the same are described in Jim Croce's 1973 recording hit "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." In the song Croce called it "the badest part of town." Truth be told, at least where Mrs. Obama grew up, wasn't. It was and is a well taken care of area with nice craftsman style red-brick homes that in no way resemble what she describes. So either she is lying or she does not remember her "middle-class" neighborhood with much fondness.

Her father was a middle-class guy with a $42,000 a year job at the water treatment facility, so she didn't come from poverty. She was by all accounts a smart, diligent student and was taking college level courses at an early age. Because of her grades and work ethic she was able to take special classes for talented and gifted students at a magnet school which helped her gain entry into Princeton where she graduated cumlaude 4 years later in 1985. Once she had graduated with honors it was only a matter of time before she was accepted to Harvard Law school, not bad for someone from a "bad neighborhood" on the south side of Chicago.

Stated plainly, her parents were devoted to their kids and pushed studies, middle-class values and hard work over television, and socializing with riff-raff, etc. Don't know about you but it doesn't sound like a bad life so far... just strict. So, is she lying and painting a poorer picture for impact, or does she genuinely remember things worse than they were?

If you ask me, she should be advocating this type of responsible behavior instead of pushing nanny-state politics on a new generations of people. Yet in numerous interviews with Newsweek, CNN, and others she has credited affirmative action for her making it, not her parents hard work, their dedication and her good grades. I don't get it, why credit the government for something she and her parents worked so hard for?

If she were to say that affirmative action was a "help to her" if and or when she was up against prejudice at college or in the job market, I could understand it, that is what it is supposed to do in my opinion. Instead it is used to dictate quotas when candidates are on par with one another. That would mean, using her logic, that she was a "token black" and I think discredits her accomplishments.

I don't like her because she gives credit where it is not due (the government) instead or shouting from the rooftops "look where hard work and good parental support got me, you can do it too." Instead she helps preach a message of government dependence and then also accepts "gratuities" from others due to her husband's status; like when the hospital she worked for doubled her salary some 260% when Obama was sworn in as a US Senator; how many of us would like to see our salary jump like that when it comes time for our yearly review?

Then there is the Rezko land deal, the campaign funds provided by donors with terrorist ties, the associations and friendships with William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, etc. Did I forget to mention the over $1,000,000.00 earmark that the "Dali-Bama" advocated for the hospital where she worked? Those are your tax dollars! Did I also forget to mention the exceedingly over advantageous home loan the Obama's received from Illinois Northern Trust when buying a multi-million dollar home on his Freshman US Senate salary?

The Obama's received a 5.625 percent loan on their 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of a $1,620,000.00 Georgian style fully restored mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. It is what is called a "super super jumbo" there are no origination fees, penalties, discount points etc. Over the life of the loan they will save a minimum of at least $150,000.00. Folks this isn't just "sound investing" it is a sweetheart deal that most people could only dream of. All on his $165,000.00 a year salary. Remember this is before the book deals, her salary increase, the over 3 million dollars in investments back at Illinois Northern Trust, and so on.

The Obama's are not an average, everyday couple, they are not change agents, they do not represent a difference in Washington. They are a "power couple" who have rapidly learned that politics is vehicle to immediate wealth and power.

According to an NBC's Jim Popkin in an article dated March 25, 2008 "Their tax returns recently revealed that in 2000 their combined income was $240,505. That includes Sen. Obama's salary as a young state senator in Illinois, his fees ($16,500) as a "foundation director/educational speaker" and Michelle Obama's salary as a hospital administrator."

"In 2006, by contrast, the Obama’s' combined income was $983,826. Obama had become a U.S. Senator by then, making about $165,000 a year, and his wife's income at the University of Chicago hospitals had climbed sharply to about $265,000 a year. Sen. Obama's book-writing career also had become profitable, earning him $551,240 in author fees in tax year 2006 alone. Mrs. Obama also made $51,200 that year, as director of TreeHouse Foods, "a food manufacturer servicing primarily the retail grocery and food service chains," according to the company's website."

"The Obama’s' best financial year came in 2005, when their total combined income was $1.6 million. That included $1.2 million in author fees for Sen. Obama's best-selling books. Michelle Obama's salary that year was $316,962 plus another $45,000 for her role as director of TreeHouse Foods.

The Obama’s became more charitable as their incomes grew. In 2000, the couple gave $2,350 to charity, or about 1 percent of their gross income. In 2006, they donated $60,307 to charities, or about 6 percent of their gross income. In 2005, the Obama’s list a $5,000 donation to their church, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the controversial Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., was Sen. Obama's pastor. If Sen. Obama tithed more regularly to the church, there's no record of it in these tax returns."

What this indicates is that as they increased their political muscle after his now famous speech at the DNC in 2004 the Obama's latched onto "Uncle Sam's breast" and started feeding on government "tax milk." Her salary was doubled, and the hospital receives over one million dollars in earmarks; his home loan receives preferential treatment, and once it does he then in return votes in favor of the home loan bailout bill… it is a tit for tat game they are playing... and it is WRONG!

Remember Hillary Clinton's little stock deal that earned her $100,000.00... well Obama is headed in the same direction.

In their front page investigative must-read, Mike McIntire and Christopher Drew of the New York Times report: "Less than two months after ascending to the United States Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies whose major investors included some of his biggest political donors."

That is not change... that is politics as usual!

Michelle Obama could let her hard work and parents diligence speak for her and demonstrate her conscience of character instead of her greed and dependence on the government for success, but she chooses not to. Instead she is reaping the benefits of her husband's success and together they have started to siphon "tax milk" from the American people.

No good conservative will ever tell you that they are against free enterprise, capitalism or making money. Goodness knows we all want to make more than we do but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

I do NOT care how many houses the McCain's or the Obama's own, or how many investments and business ventures they get into to make an honest dollar... as long as they did not use their influence to obtain sweetheart deals or provide a quid-pro-quo to someone in exchange for the benefits of the ventures they get into.

Most important of all, don't start teaching the young people of American that the right way to be successful is by stepping on your neighbor, circumventing the law, making shady deals in a back room or having Uncle Sam (you and me) foot the bill for you.

Michelle Obama could have chosen to be a proud example of what is able to be accomplished in America the right way; instead, Michelle Obama represents the very worst of socialist "tax milkers."

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The Democrats claim to have the momentum. Bush's approval ratings are down, the war in Iraq has slowed but is still ongoing, gas prices are coming down but are still higher than American's would like, they have a majority in the Senate, the House, and they have a very popular dream candidate, a politician, rock star and potential Messiah wrapped in a nice neat little package... so with all that going for them, leave it to the Democrats to once more snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Last night's DNC convention was terrible. The speeches were flat, the sound was bad, the crowd was less than enthusiastic, the transitions were not smooth, James Carville declared it a "wasted first night" on CNN and even Michelle Obama herself, the celebrated speaker mispronounced her husband’s last name.

For me the classic part came when she had to "sniff back a boog" on national TV, when I saw that I almost fell out of my chair. I am not sure how many people caught it but it took place when "The Dali-Bama" appeared on screen to talk to her, his kids and the convention attendees. Perhaps John Stewart or Colbert will replay it on Comedy Central but the one thing everyone can see again is James Carville declaring the 1st night a waste, the video of it is available all over the web.

In his own words from CNN's Political Ticker... "The way they planned it tonight was supposed to be sort of the personal [side] Michelle Obama will talk about Barack Obama personally, Ted Kennedy was a very personal, emotional speech, but I guarantee on the first night of the Republican Convention, you're going to hear talk about Barack Obama, commander-in-chief, tax cuts, et cetera, et cetera."

"You haven't heard about Iraq or John McCain or George W. Bush, I haven't heard any of this. We are a country that is in a borderline recession, we are an 80 percent wrong-track country. Health care, energy, I haven't heard anything about gas prices, maybe we are going to look better Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but right now, we're playing hide the message."

“If this party has a message it's done a hell of a job hiding it tonight, I promise you that."

Frankly James... that's why I don't waste my time watching the Democrats and instead have fun picking up the pieces the day after they flub it up. I'll give credit where credit is due, I recall watching the DNC when Clinton made his first run against Bush the elder and I commented to those in the room "there is the next President, it's over." Not because I liked Clinton mind you, but the DNC put on one hell of a show for the TV audience and perceptions matter. On that one night, for them, everything came together, and Bush the elder's "No new Taxes!" pledge that he broke (right or wrong) was beaten to death by the Dems all the way to the White House. It was smart politics.

Tags: dems, democrats, election, michelle obama, james carville, CNN, carville obama, carville cnn, barnhart blog, barnhartblog, john barnhart, michelle obama, obama, DNC, dnc wasted, waste first night, dems waste convention, DNC wasted, DNC bad, convention sucks, dnc, bad night dems