There's a piece on the cover of the New York Times today about Michelle Obama's image "problems." Framed this way, it gives the Times the chance to repeat a lot of unfounded rumors; which is called rumor-mongering. Meanwhile, I just watched Michelle on the View. (Only for Mrs. Obama will I watch the View, which always makes me feel like my brain is melting.) She was lovely and funny and warm. Genuine, not phony. And how gorgeous. Michelle Obama has no image "problems." She is completely likable.

But what she did that, so like her husband, amounted to a stroke of genius, was reach across that curved lady table and take the hand of right-wing bimbo-shill Elisabeth Hasselbeck, praising her for being "solid." "We can disagree," said Mrs. Obama. In taking that hand she acknowledged the humanity of even this blonde mouthpiece for the Bush administration. And no, I don't think it was just politics. This is the gift of the Obamas: their ability to see past not only race but politics. They show a distinct lack of anger—as opposed to the non-existent rage that the race-baiters on Fox News are always accusing Michelle of manifesting. I must admit that off and on I have been a little wary, because I think blacks in this country have plenty to be angry about (one in nine African-American men between the ages of 20 and 34 in prison, for starters). I'm a child of the 60s and 70s. I thought Angela Davis was cool. But maybe the Obamas have the right idea: come together, as the Beatles said, right now. Lord knows, the world needs us to work together to fix all of its problems. Mr. and Mrs. Zeitgeist will lead the way.