David Brooks: “Sometimes I think half the reason Obama ran for president is so Michelle would have a platform to show off her biceps.”
We knew that David Brooks was uptight, but not that he was this uptight. From Maureen Dowd:
First of all, she's the first lady, so why would she have to study cap-and-trade agreements? But, even if she did have to study such things, is Brooks really saying that women can't be both attractive and intelligent?In the taxi, when I asked David Brooks about her amazing arms, he indicated it was time for her to cover up. “She’s made her point,” he said. “Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”
I’d seen the plaint echoed elsewhere. “Someone should tell Michelle to mix up her wardrobe and cover up from time to time,” Sandra McElwaine wrote last week on The Daily Beast.
Washington is a place where people have always been suspect of style and overt sexuality. Too much preening signals that you’re not up late studying cap-and-trade agreements.
David was not smitten by the V-neck, sleeveless eggplant dress Michelle wore at her husband’s address to Congress — the one that caused one Republican congressman to whisper to another, “Babe.”
He said the policy crowd here would consider the dress ostentatious. “Washington is sensually avoidant. The wonks here like brains. She should not be known for her physical presence, for one body part.” David brought up the Obamas’ obsession with their workouts. “Sometimes I think half the reason Obama ran for president is so Michelle would have a platform to show off her biceps.”
Or is he saying that Washington finds attractiveness distracting and unserious?
Dowd, rightly, disagrees with him. But what does it say about David Brooks if he finds Michelle Obama's arms so daunting? I mean, seriously, that says more about David Brooks than it does about Michelle Obama and her dress sense.
Who are these people? What century are they living in?
Click title for Dowd's article.
3 comments:
I hate conservatives.
David Brooks is number one on my list of useless commentators. He has yet to say anything that I find remotely interesting, yet he is on television every day interviewed as if he his opinion were critical.
Those biceps are something to envy, and a sign of dedication and health.
Brooks really comes off as an a-hole in that column. I bet it's the last time he splits a cabfare with Dowd.
I bet he never again shares a cab with Dowd, who has been indiscreet to say the least, but it is simply staggering that Michelle's biceps, which SP rightly points out are a sign of dedication and health, should offend him to such a degree.
What's his problem?
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