Posted on 02/25/2013 3:03:01 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
First lady Michelle Obama, surrounded by servicemen and women, made a surprise appearance at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony when she appeared via live video from Washington to present the award for Best Picture. Jack Nicholson was present on stage to hand off the award to Ben Affleck for Argo.
Obama praised the nominees for the night's highest honor, saying the films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar could teach lessons that "apply to all of us no matter who we are, what we look like, where we come from and who we love." She said she was excited to pay tribute to movies that "lift our spirits, broaden our minds and transport us to places we can never imagine."
Obama then announced Argo as the Oscar winner for Best Picture, a film about the Iran hostage crisis that celebrated a collaboration of the movie industry and Washington.
Some thought the surprise appearance was another inappropriate mix of Hollywood and politics, with President Barack Obama often being accused of using the industry to campaign. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post called the first lady's appearance "downright weird:"
"It is not enough that President Obama pops up at every sporting event in the nation. Now the first lady feels entitled, with military personnel as props, to intrude on other forms of entertaining (this time for the benefit of the Hollywood glitterati who so lavishly paid for her husband's election). I'm sure the left will holler that once again conservatives are being grouchy and have it in for the Obamas. Seriously, if they really had their president's interests at heart, they'd steer away from encouraging these celebrity appearances. It makes both the president and the first lady seem small and grasping...."
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
she is an American, she is the First Lady of the U.S.....she can certainly repay the millions of dollars that the Hollywood community paid to get her idiot husband elected...
Did you say the same thing about Laura Bush when she appeared at the Oscars to present the award?
Clearly Michelle Obama shouldn't have announced the winner. First, it looked like Hollywood was playing favorites (most likely because of gay issues). Second, it wasn't her place to give away awards, certainly not the top award. Third, she looked awkward and the staging was clumsy, embarassing Michelle herself and the White House and the military and the Academy.
Fourth, she didn't even make an effort to maintain the "opening the envelope" charade. It was clear that she'd been informed well in advance who the winner was.
Most likely she wouldn't have "presented" if, say, Django Unleashed had won. So all the stupid publicity about how top secret and hush-hush the names of the winners were goes up in smoke for a cheesy political photo-opportunity.
I'd also say it was embarassing for the White House to be associated with Seth MacFarlane in any way, but they already crossed that bridge long ago.
As I understand it that never happened. She appeared in a brief clip (10 seconds or so) in a short film about the movies.
Somebody made the claim that she had presented an award. That was debunked. Then it was revived in a "satirical" fashion. Don't fall for stuff like that, please.
“Did you say the same thing about Laura Bush when she appeared at the Oscars to present the award?”
No, because it never happened. Reuters reported it, among others, as the first time any preisdent or first lady has done it. Try again.
What if it had? Would we have criticized her? Absolutely not! You and I both know that.
And if she had? Would we have criticized her? Absolutely not!
Am I criticizing her?
No, she was given the opportunity and she took it, as one would expect a politician's wife to do.
The Academy was wrong to invite her and that's who I would criticize.
If they'd asked Laura Bush to present, I'd sort of be wondering "WTF? How did that happen?"
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