Michelle Obama: "Don't Go Into Corporate America"

The Corner at NRO ^ | 29 February 2008 | Byron York

[SE Mom]

I have a new story today about Michelle Obama's visit to Zanesville, Ohio, where she met with a group of women at a local day care center. According to the U.S. Census, Muskingum County, where Zanesville is located, had a median household income of $37,192 in 2004, below both the Ohio and national averages. Just 12.2 percent of adults in the county have a bachelor's degree or higher, also well below the state and national averages. About 20 percent don't have a high school degree. Nevertheless, Mrs. Obama urged them to foreswear lucrative professions like corporate law or hedge fund management and go into the helping industry, even if the sacrifice is great:

-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.”

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.

Mrs. Obama also bemoaned the amount of money she has to spend — nearly one-third of the median household income in Zanesville — on piano, dance, and other lessons for her two children. But she was grateful for the concern her husband's supporters have shown for her. "Everywhere I go, no matter what, the women in the audience, their first question for me is, 'How on earth are you managing it, how are you keeping it all together?'" she told the women.

02/29 08:19 AM

[mass55th]

"What a phony."

Yes, she is. Has she said anything about leaving her position at the hospital to live in Washington if her husband is elected?

[GVnana]

Don’t go into corporate America.

Uh, memo to Michelle. Who do you think pays the taxes for those nice government/teaching/socialworker/nursing jobs?

Atlas should shrug about now...

[mass55th]

Thanks for the info that she quit her job. I hadn’t realized that, and was wondering if she had plans to do that if he was elected.

[frogjerk]

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.

I'm sure this was just her yearly raise and had nothing to do with Hussein gaining office... -sarc

[Clemenza]

What an arrogant, snotty Bihac. Maybe my dad should've followed his father into construction and stayed in Newark, rather than becoming a successful corporate executive.

I would love to see Michelle get a job cleaning office buildings for just a week. See the Polish and Latin ladies leave her in the dust.

[indcons]

Give me a break. This harridan obviously believes in the motto, “Do as I say and not as I do.”

[mass55th]

Forget my question. I just found another Freeper’s reply that she quit her job in January.

[jennyjenny]

“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".

Good idea. When my daughter gets out of class today I'll suggest she get hooked on drugs and then write a book or two about it. Since we're paying cash for her education so she is not straddled with student loans, maybe she'll be kind enough to pay us back after she gets her millions from book sales. We'll all be rich enough then to travel the country and tell everyone how they should live and spend their money. Sounds like fun.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Terri had her ‘rum soaked’ raisins. What’s Shelli’s excuse?

[freekitty]

Deat Michelle:

Why not go into corporate america? They are the ones that put your silly butt where it is. And they are the ones that put a lot of peoples butts where they are.

Keep telling people your fairytails. Or should I say lies.

[Clemenza]

Try getting into the ILA (Longshoreman’s Union) at any east coast port. You start at $70K, plus OVERTIME. Great work, if you “know somebody.”

[khnyny]

It doesn’t matter if Obama gets elected or not. The Obama’s (Barack and Michelle) have found a new way to make gobs of money overnight - run for POTUS.

Here’s the scenario - write a book, run for office, write another book, run for office, go on the speaker curcuit at $50-$100,000 a pop, write another book....

[BMIC]

“How on earth are you managing it, how are you keeping it all together?”

You’re not. You are going off to work at your six-figure “career” while neglecting your children and household. As your kind has forced so many others to do by making it nearly impossible for a family to maintain a reasonable standard of living on only one adult’s salary.

[MEGoody]

She talks about people who end up taking years and years, until middle age, to pay off their debts.

I had student loans. It didn't take that long to pay them off. But then, I actually worked at paying them off. I didn't try to avoid it.

[KoRn]

"Was she in a drum circle when she said this?"

The entire Obama movement is just one giant drum circle. lol

[Mr. Jeeves]

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.

Very nice. The rules are different for the connected.

[Larry Lucido]

“Lucrative career for me, but not for thee.”

[kb2614]

LOL!!!

This chick cracks me up!! An Ivy League education & she is as dumb as a box of rocks!!

[SE Mom]

Exactly. It reminds me of a piece I read somewhere on FR yesterday that the “average American” doesn’t understand what debt IS!!

A college education is not a RIGHT anymore than health care is a RIGHT.

[Right Wing Assault]

'How on earth are you managing it, how are you keeping it all together?'

Well, the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ we got from the damn corporate America (the land I was only proud of once) helps a bit. But I advise against getting that $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

What a plan! I guess it's "change".