Michelle Obama’s Controversial Remarks About GOP Prompts Response from Marco Rubio, Mia Love
Michelle Obama made headlines this past week during an appearance on stage at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women in Philadelphia with TV producer Shonda Rhimes. Recalling one of her husband’s State of the Union speeches, the former first lady of the U.S. suggested that people don’t trust politicians because the GOP side of the chamber was all white and all male.
Mrs. Obama also recently criticized women who voted for President Trump instead of Hillary Clinton. They “voted against their own voice,” she claimed.
Barack Obama ran (and won) against Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries on his way to the nomination and a general election victory.
In response to Michelle Obama’s criticism of the GOP for lack of diversity, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted out an image of himself alongside fellow Republicans Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and current United Nations ambassador, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was the first woman to serve as her state’s chief executive. She was also President Trump’s first cabinet nominee. A former congressman from the Charleston area, Sen. Scott is African-American and the first black senator to represent South Carolina since Reconstruction.
Rubio, who ran for president in 2016 against Trump in a multi-candidate field, is of Hispanic heritage.
Many political observers have noted that the coalition that elected Donald Trump, a former Democrat and independent who ran for president on the Republican ticket, included persons of all ethnicities, plus many Democrats, first-time voters, and independents. According to some polling data, Trump received more votes than Clinton among married women, and garnered 42 percent of the female vote overall.
In an appearance on Fox & Friends, Congresswoman Mia Love also reacted to what Michelle Obama had to say (see clip below).
“Sadly, this is identity politics…This is the way that Democrats try and win elections instead of winning on the policies that actually help the American people and unite us. This is absolutely divisive language…I don’t fit in a box…I am a wife. I’m a mother. I’m a Utahan. I am a black Republican who cares about America and cares about all people.”
Love, 41, the former mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, in the Salt Lake City area, is the first black female Republican ever elected to the U.S. House, and the first African-American representative from her state. A daughter of immigrants, she is also the first Haitian-American member of Congress.
She also noted in the Fox & Friends interview that the Democrats recruited a white male challenger to try to unseat her in Congress.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also chimed in about Michelle Obama’s criticism of the GOP.
“Unfortunate Michelle would disregard contributions of conservative women and people of all backgrounds with one sweeping false accusation,” McDaniel wrote on Twitter.
Unfortunate Michelle would disregard contributions of conservative women and people of all backgrounds with one sweeping false accusation. https://t.co/gMSuw8aCnj
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) October 5, 2017
Do you think that Michelle Obama’s remarks about the GOP were appropriate or inappropriate?
[Featured Image by Jae C. Hong/AP Images]
