Michelle Obama's Barbecue Hypocrisy

[Geee]

American Spectator:

The first rule of political pandering: Know what you're talking about.

The classic example: In 2004, Sen. John Kerry, trying to bolster his regular guy image, spoke of Green Bay's hallowed ";Lambert Field." It's Lambeau Field. Ten dork points for Kerry.

This week, Michelle Obama walked into a culinary version of the Lambert gaffe.

In an e-mail congratulating Charlotte, N.C., on being named host city for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Obama mentioned that Charlotte has "great barbecue." As someone who grew up an hour from Charlotte, I can tell you that few natives would say that. Nobody travels to Charlotte for the barbecue. It might have a good barbecue restaurant or two, but the really good stuff is outside of the city.

Obama's been mocked for the obvious pander, as she should have been. But to me the offense wasn't her ignorance of North Carolina's barbecue geography. It was her blatant violation of the second rule of political pandering: Don't pretend to like something you don't.