Michelle Obama’s attempts to be relatable and to portray herself as apolitical throughout her memoir is a purposeful way to obscure her privilege and promote a conservative, capitalist ideology: that women can be successful through strength of character rather than uprooting the systemic realities that actually affect them. If any lesson is to be had from Becoming, it is that women should not be distracted by celebrity power politics, but instead, they should return to a program of radical liberation and not conciliate to capitalism and imperialism.
Read moreAmerican Political Polarization, 50 Years in the Making
America’s current state of political polarization can be traced back to the 1970s and 1980s when these cultural differences were just getting formed. Historians tend to avoid taking lessons from history, but if one considers the larger patterns of cultural divisions in the United States, looking back at this earlier era may offer some clues. One fact is certain: historians and political scientists can no longer rely on the standard party line model to explain the country’s split.
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