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Although I thought SOME of the commotion surrounding Michelle Obama’s remark about feeling proud as an American for the first time was warranted, I purposely did not mention anything here because to me, this was no more earth-shaking than what others have said. Now if this latest comment is accurate and within context, she may need to take a seat and cool off for a minute.

Michelle’s Struggle

Mrs. Obama empathizes in hard-hit Ohio.

By Byron York

[excerpted]

“As she has many times in the past, Mrs. Obama complains about the lasting burden of student loans dating from her days at Princeton and Harvard Law School. She talks about people who end up taking years and years, until middle age, to pay off their debts. “The salaries don’t keep up with the cost of paying off the debt, so you’re in your 40s, still paying off your debt at a time when you have to save for your kids,” she says.

“Barack and I were in that position,” she continues. “The only reason we’re not in that position is that Barack wrote two best-selling books… It was like Jack and his magic beans. But up until a few years ago, we were struggling to figure out how we would save for our kids.” A former attorney with the white-shoe Chicago firm of Sidley & Austin, Obama explains that she and her husband made the choice to give up lucrative jobs in favor of community service. “We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Faced with that reality, she adds, “many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management.”

Just as I was ready to launch a couple of responses, Byron York beat me to the punch as he continues in his article:

What she doesn’t mention is that the helping industry has treated her pretty well. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office. And that does not count the money Mrs. Obama receives from serving on corporate boards. She would have been O.K. even without Jack’s magic beans. (more…)

I hear echos of Bill Clinton’s call back in the day for folks to join the peace corps. ‘Memba that?

As someone who did leave corporate America for social work for a spell, I find her attempt to relate her move to a 6-figure corporate board job insulting. No doubt, when she says “…become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse.” there will be some initiative launched by her husband if elected to make these services into the next peace corps–with pay.

And the teacher’s and nurse unions said: “AMEN!”

Here’s another one:

But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Faced with that reality, she adds, “many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management.”

Awwww! Those mean hedge fund management folks are taking all of our ‘bright stars’ away from community service. Perhaps she did not get the memo about how some of those hedge-fund managers are HELPING her husband’s campaign.

Hedge funds embrace Obama, donate less to Clinton

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge funds shifted bets in the hotly contested U.S. presidential race in January when they wrote bigger checks to Democratic contender Barack Obama after favoring his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in 2007.

The $1.8 trillion hedge fund industry donated $50,450 to Obama last month when the Illinois senator won wide support among voters in early caucuses and primaries, new data show. (more…)

Perhaps these hedge fund managers should have opted to go into the nursing industry instead of writing those checks.

Let the spinning commence! In the meantime, enjoy the weekend.