It’s time for us to get it together, and I don’t mean the push to get Hillary Clinton supporters to back Barack Obama. I’m talking about standing with Michelle Obama. And against those members of the media who degrade the national discussion with their grade school taunting.

The ones who get nervous around powerful women, like that silly Tucker Carlson who giggled that Hillary Clinton made him want to cross his legs. Grow up, boy.

I find Michelle Obama brilliant and passionate and think she’d be exciting to have in the White House. All the reasons that some will want to attack her. Assertive, brainy, poised women scare some people, make them hostile.

I don’t think that sexist members of the media defeated Hillary. She made her own blunders. But the braying and the cackling that came from the press was a real pile-on, including some women pundits who were just as smarmy as the men.

But now Clinton has gone away, at least for the time being, and the media dog pack is hunting for someone else. The Republicans are also ready to pounce.

Assertive, brainy, poised women scare some people…

Newsweek columnist Raina Kelley, an African American woman, wrote that Michelle Obama fits the public ideas of a black woman - “unafraid, confident and blunt.” Three qualities that make a Tucker pucker.

At least some defend Michelle’s patriotism, even the usually silent Laura Bush, who said she doesn’t believe Michelle Obama was being un-American when she made that statement about being proud of her country for the first time in her life. The jackals went wild with that. But they ignored the rest of the quote.

She was talking about hope making a comeback. She said, “I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.”

Then there was the bumped fist she gave her husband the night he secured the nomination. Made some people crazy. What’s the big deal? We see that everyday at the ballpark. All it says is good going, baby.

Some people simply want strong, capable women to disappear. When Hillary Clinton conceded more than a few pundits declared that feminists had lost. A newspaper headline said “Feminist Dream Fades Today,” ignoring the fact that many feminists voted for Barack Obama and their dream was quite intact.

Also ignored is that every time some talking head smeared Hillary Clinton because she wore pantsuits or sounded shrill or looked tired it made a lot of us think more of her and less of the media.

I really don’t know any woman who would vote for John McCain to spite Obama. That’s just plain stupid. But I do know women who supported Clinton just to spite the media.

Back to Michelle Obama. I don’t think she’ll be silenced. She’s said to have an edgy sense of humor so maybe she’ll be able to laugh off the jeers from the playground. And for the rest of us – we can just turn those silly people off our TV.

Listen to the audio version of “Hands Off Michelle!” on the podcast page under Another Voice.

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