The White House banned journalists from accompanying Michelle Obama on her trip to China and explained that it was because the purpose of her trip is not political. Some news outlets even repeated the White House’s assertion of the non-political nature of the visit without mentioning that the press was not allowed to accompany them.
But in a speech that sounded at times to be extremely political, she also said the following:
“And that’s why it’s so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the internet and through the media; because that’s how we discover the truth.”
So Michelle Obama lectures a communist police state about free speech standards, while the White House is spying on journalists and restricting access to information in the U.S.. Double-standard much?
Then, Michelle Obama goes on to give the U.S. media a not-so-subtle jab (maybe because she thought they were shut out of the event):
“My husband and I are on the receiving end of plenty of questioning and criticism from our media and our fellow citizens. And it’s not always easy, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Based on the White House’s reputation for failing to be transparent and the President’s griping about the press, this ironic platitude was fluffier than the rice that came with her Peking Duck.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to 2011, when President Obama expressed this sentiment, as reported by the New York Times:
Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, “No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.”
Gotcha, Mrs. Obama. Not for anything in the world.
