The Obama Portraits Without Irony, Sarcasm Or Snide Remarks. Part 1: Michelle

Time has passed and we can now assess the Obama portraits with some equanimity.

The portraits need to be talked about separately. They can be summarized succinctly.

1. Michelle Obama's portrait was painted by a not very good artist.

2. President Obama's portrait was created (he farmed out most of the actual work) by someone who deliberately turned the event into a farce. There is no other reasonable conclusion.

First, let us examine the FLOTUS portrait.

We Philistines might need a Professor Highbrow to inform us when the symphony has reached a pinnacle in its celebration of Schubert's essence, but even the cheap seats know when the orchestra is playing out of tune. And now, the barons of the balcony turn their eyes to Amy Sherald.

For starters, Amy Sherald's depiction of Michelle Obama only vaguely resembles Michelle Obama. Had this work not been publicly unveiled and it was shown to a focus group, how many would have correctly identified the subject? I suspect some white people might think it was Michelle Obama but would offer another answer for fear of an indictment of "they all look alike." 

 Art is detail. Detail is art. Even the Monets and Hoppers knew this to be true. Another story for another time. The details of this velvet art are unkind.

Let us skip over the wet noodle left arm, the ASL "turkey" sign, the cadaver skin and manikin face. Is this woman wearing a parachute or a circus tent? Regardless of the artist's stated purpose, the star of the show is the jumbo-sized garment. 

While we can dismiss the work using traditional artistic standards, it would work nicely as commercial art in which the product overshadows the dull, understated everywoman (or manikin.) The problem is that this was supposed to be all about Michelle Obama. If the artist cut a deal with the other Michelle--Michelle Smith, the dress designer in question--then it all makes sense. Maybe it's not bad art, it's cryptic commercial art.

I have no animus for Michelle Obama. This blog leaves the families out of it unless they barge into the discussion. Fewer than one  percent of the posts mention the former first lady. I think she was either snookered by the artist or simply given terrible advice. Either way, she deserves a mulligan. 

Can we get a real artist at GoFundMe?

Items From My Mailbox: Thanks Bonnie. (Michelle Obama's staff.)

 

 

UGH! We never knew it was this bad.

  
Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing China for the White House during the Civil War.   
And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary from her husband’s salary.   
Total Personal Staff members for other first ladies paid by  you the taxpayers:   
Mamie Eisenhower:  One-- paid for personally out of President's salary. 
Jackie Kennedy: One 
Rosaline Carter: One 
Barbara Bush:    One 
Hilary Clinton:     Three   
Laura Bush:       One  
Michele Obama:   Twenty-two  
  
How things have changed!  If you're one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Mrs. Obama are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by YOU, John Q. Public: 

Michele Obama's personal staff:   
One..               $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff) 
Two..               $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)   
Three..            $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary for Mrs. Obama)  
Four..              $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)  
Five..              $100,000 - Winter, Melissa (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)   
Six..                  $90,000    Medina  , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady) 
Seven..              $84,000 - Lilyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady) 
Eight..               $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady) 
Nine..               $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Project for the First Lady) 
Ten..                $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary) 
Eleven..           $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B.(Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary) 
Twelve..          $62,000 - Goodman,  Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady) 
Thirteen..         $60,000  Fitz, Alan O.(Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady) 
Fourteen..        $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady) 
Fifteen..           $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady) 
Sixteen..          $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant f or Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady) 
Seventeen..      $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady) 
Eighteen..        $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha a (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office) 
Nineteen..        $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady) 
Twenty..          $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary) 
Twenty-One. .  $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant) 
Twenty-Two.  . $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)   
Total              $1,591,200 in annual salaries  all for someone we did not vote for, and apparently have no control over.   
There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life.
One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense.  
Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe ...   
Copyright 2009 Canada Free Press:   canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12652<http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12652 >  

The Canadian Free Press had to publish this. I wonder why the US media has not brought this to light???  Too scared that they might be considered racist or suffer at the hands of Obama??? 
 

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'Daily Mail' Reports On Michelle Obama's Visit To China

This blog has been gentle with the Obama family in the belief that the children should be off-limits.  With that stated, it is hard to ignore the actions and inaction of Uncle Omar and Aunt Zeituni. It is hard to not compare and contrast the welfare of Malik Obama with the fate of George Obama. We have mostly overlooked the social ineptitude of the First Lady--except for her expensive tastes and the arrogance she displays when she takes not one, but two jets on vacation--because her previous $370k no-show job already paints the distilled essence of this woman's character. We already know who she is.

Now we suffer the complaints of the American press who were denied access to The First Family on their Road Trip To China. Boo hoo. You are left out in the cold even after the press corpse exercised a vow of silence on the common knowledge that The Obama Administration was using the IRS to influence the 2012 election. That was well known at least a year, maybe two years, before Lois Lerner made her public revelation in the Spring of 2013. After all of your displays of loyalty, you miss out on selfies from The Great Wall and Michelle's mom trying to feed herself with chop sticks? Where is the gratitude?

The British press is less inclined to take no for an answer. If they are not spoon fed a story, they will find their own damn story. That's how it used to be in America before the industry adopted the paint by numbers approach. It's always good to get the British perspective.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2586367/Beijing-hotel-workers-fed-Obama-entourage-3400-square-foot-8-350-night-suite-inconveniencing-pretty-ladys-mother-barking-staff.html

Wild Card Wednesday: Michelle Obama Endorses Time Travel

WE MUST CHANGE OUR HISTORY

You Won't See This on MSNBC

How long can this money grub ask us to believe that he has taken the vow of poverty? Recently he has repeated the silly "forsake the filthy lucre" theme at Arizona State. The perks of the presidency are estimated at $50 million/year if you are keeping track of those things.

OBAMA FORSAKING RICHES FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY