Daily French Roast

Anne is reading …

Michelle Obama has been an anxious spouse, eager to help President Obama succeed. Damon Winter/The New York TimesThe Obamas

Anne can’t wait to get her hands on Jodi Kantor’s new book The Obamas, one that will bring peace to her heart. Our unwavering support of the First Lady has remained strong, but Anne did abandon her website devoted to the first lady Michelle-Style.com, as President Obama compromised one issue after another with Republicans,

His capitulation to the Catholic bishops brought her particular pain, as the President made it clear that he would deal away women’s health care rights for his larger goal of getting Obamacare passed. It was during those sad days that Anne’s disillusionment with President Obama became totally clear, although we remain committed to his re-election.

In her new book, published Tuesday, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor presents Mrs. Obama as fiercely opposed to much advice given President Obama by his team and especially by deal maker White House Chief of Staff Rob Emmanuel, now mayor of Chicago, and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

In today’s NYT article Michelle Obama’s Evolution as First Lady, Kantor makes it clear:

The first lady never confronted the advisers directly — that was not her way — but they found out about her displeasure from the president. “She feels as if our rudder isn’t set right,” Mr. Obama confided, according to aides.

Rahm Emanuel, then chief of staff, repeated the first lady’s criticisms to colleagues with indignation, according to three of them. Mr. Emanuel, in a brief interview, denied that he had grown frustrated with Mrs. Obama, but other advisers described a grim situation: a president whose agenda had hit the rocks, a first lady who disapproved of the turn the White House had taken, and a chief of staff who chafed against her influence.

Anne is so moved by what she is reading, that she will write a Dear Michelle letter of apology to the first lady. Even though we have always celebrated her grace, charm and caring leadership on so many issues, Anne admits feeling defeated also by the capitulation of the Obama White House, and especially on women’s health care issues. To know that Michelle wasn’t just walking with bowed head behind her man, but fighting against the status quo raises her stature even higher in our eyes.

Guttmacher Institute New Abortion Laws

The Repubican War on Women Gives Me Nightmares AOC Sexual Politics

More DFR

Rick Santorum speaks during a visit to the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Coralville, Iowa on Dec. 11, 2011., Charlie Neibergall / AP PhotoGodly Men in Charge

The Daily Beast reminds us that speaking to NPR in 2005, Rick Santorum made it clear that he’s no Goldwater Republican who believes that Americans have a right to lead their own lives privately without government interference.

Santorum criticized more moderate Republicans who believed in concepts of individual rights. In fact, Rick Santorum denounced anti-individualist thinking, denouncing “this whole idea of personal autonomy.”

Rick Santorum seeks a Catholic theocracy for America, a vision of women’s lives that will also take away our right to birth control. Yes, indeed, in the 21st century, Rick Santorum wants to turn back the clock for women with views that go far beyond his anti-abortion stance.

Interviewed on the conservative blog Caffeinated Thoughts last year, Santorum was asked about birth control. “Many in the Christian faith have said ‘Well that’s OK, contraception is OK,’ the presidential nominee stated, then continued:

It’s (birth control) not OK. It’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” Included in this is birth control used by married couples. Sex, he said, is “supposed to be for purposes that are yes, conjugal and unitive, but also procreative.” Most presidents don’t talk about such things, he said, but “these are important public policy issues. They have profound impact on the health of our society.”

Oh What a Morning!

It wasn’t our intention to write a single-issue DFR today, but it seems that powerful forces in the universe are pulling us in a single direction. Anne woke up this morning, confronted with a calm but very direct comment from an AOC reader, with regard to her prochoice views.

Five Republican Men Who Gave American Women The Right to Choose Motherhood

Has your life been of value? Would it bother you if it had never been lived? Had you been aborted, it would have never happened. You wouldn’t have been aware of that, most likely, but does that still mean that, given …

Anne’s lengthy response explains her wish that she had been aborted, believing that she would have been born into another family who loved her … Anne believed intuitively, even as a young girl, that her soul and spirit existed before her birth, and ‘yes’ she finally confronted her mother, asking her why she hadn’t had an abortion (which was illegal at the time). Anne is prepared to discuss in public her full beliefs, with this stated intention of many social conservatives like Rick Santorum to turn America into a theocracy like Iran.

Anne of Carversville

Drielle Valeretto & Mandy de Wolff | Signe Vilstrup | Vanity Fair Italia January 11, 2012

AOC Private Studio

Cato van Ee | Alique | Jackie Dutch January 2012 | ‘In the Game!’

Film | Kim Willecke, Zack Zublena & Laura Forman | Bell Soto | ‘Private Affair’

Alice Luker | Poseidon’s Courtesan | The Creatives

Adrien & Valeria | Nicolas Guerin | FIASCO Magazine Annual Issue 2011

AOC Style

Du Juan | Wee Khim | Style Singapore January 2012

Song Hye Kyo | Oh Jung Seok | Vogue Korea December 2011 | The Modern Lady

2012 Museum Fashion Exhibits | Schiaparelli, Prada, YSL

Kati Nescher | Patrick Houi | Quality Magazine Germany | ‘Modern Myth’

Marloes Horst | Nicole Bentley | Vogue Australia February 2012

AOC Women

Teresa of Avila Outmaneuvered A Male Dominated Organization by Carmelite Bro. Solomon

At one time Teresa chided her nuns for not being grateful that in being nun’s they failed to see the “great favor that God has shown them in choosing them for his service and thus saving them from subjection to a man.”