According to this AP article, Michelle Obama is opening her husband up to tons of ridicule. Here’s an excerpt from her speech that will draw lots of questions:

Obama said she and her husband were raised with the values shared by many Americans: “that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.”

Considering the fact that Sen. Obama once changed his position on drilling for oil 3 times in 4 days, considering the fact that Sen. Obama once promised to filibuster the FISA reform legislation before voting for it, considering the fact that he was pro-Israel when speaking to AIPAC and pro-Arab less than a day later, why should we feel any bond with Sen. Obama?

Furthermore, when did Michelle Obama develop this great love of country? Let’s remember her infamous speech in Wisconsin right before their primary where she said that she was finally proud of America “for the first time” this year.

As with most things Obama, their words ring hollow. It might be a perfectly well-written speech but it means nothing because Sen. Obama’s actions don’t match his words. Put another way, he’s a phony. His talk about being a post-racial, postpartisan candidate is belied by the fact that he’s never worked across the aisle on major legislation that went against his party. He voted against John Roberts, one of only 19 Democrats to vote against him. Postpartisan? Please. He’s voted against funding the troops to keep his political viability. Postpartisan? Please.

He stayed in a racist church for 20 years, listening to a racist preacher without giving a second thought to leaving. Post-racial? That’s insulting.

Sen. Obama maintained a friendship with an unrepentant terrorist while claiming that he’s a political moderate. Sen. Obama voted against the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act. Even Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer voted for BAIPA.To say that Sen. Obama is a moderate is insulting. We won’t accept that spin.

HotAir has the transcript of Mrs. O’s speech posted. Here’s something that jumped off the page at me:

My Dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, it took him longer to get dressed in the morning. But if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing, even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my Mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier, and worked a little harder.

He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig. It was the greatest gift a child can receive: never doubting for a single minute that you’re loved, and cherished, and have a place in this world. And thanks to their faith and hard work, we both were able to go on to college. So I know firsthand from their lives, and mine, that the American Dream endures.

How can someone live in that setting and still be capable of saying that she’s finally proud of America for the first time in her life just a few months ago?

I’m not doubting that these things happened. I don’t doubt that Mrs. O’s parents were thoughtful parents or that they loved each other and that they loved their kids.

It’s just that I don’t buy the bitter woman we saw in February is the same woman we saw tonight.

UPDATE: It looks like I’m not alone in questioning Mrs. O’s authenticity. Here’s some of Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff musings:

Ms. Obama’s make-over was more extreme when it came to her account of her life. We saw her growing up on the South Side of Chicago with her family (including Princeton basketball legend “Super Craig” Robinson, now the basketball coach at Oregon State); we saw her fleeing corporate America to “serve her community;” and we saw her and Barack with their small children. We did not see her at the Ivy League institutions where she spent seven years of her life (four at Princeton and three at Harvard Law School). In tonight’s account, she was merely “able to go on to college.” Nor, of course, do we learn just how well Ms. Obama is doing financially by “doing good” in her community.

Plainly, Ms. Obama wishes to be viewed as an “ordinary” American. To the extent that her real biography is known, or emerges over the course of the campaign, some voters may conclude she was a bit phony tonight.

Well said, Paul. That’s a fitting conclusion.

Technorati: Michelle Obama, Family, Patriotism, Middle Class, Princeton, Harvard Law School, Spin, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, BAIPA, Democratic Convention

Cross-posted at California Conservative