Rush Limbaugh Accuses First Lady of ‘Uppity-ism’

All those jeers Michelle Obama endured at the Ford 400 in Miami Sunday were probably music to the ears of right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh, who argued on his radio show Monday that NASCAR fans in attendance were apparently fed up with the first family's uppity-ism.

The NASCAR crowd doesn't quite understand why, when the husband and the wife are going to the same place, the first lady has to take her own Boeing 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his 747, Limbaugh said. NASCAR people understand that's a little bit of a waste. They understand it is a little bit of uppity-ism.

The racial connotations of uppity are such that in 1952, readers could find uppity (N-word) in the Oxford English Dictionary, which it defined as anybody above oneself, self-important, 'jumped up,' haughty, pert, putting on airs.

They know that in their hearts, the Obamas don't like them, Limbaugh of the NASCAR fans. We've taken notice of this -- as has, by the way, Chris Matthews and a lot of congressional Democrats.

Matthews, the liberal commentator who hosts Hardball with Chris Matthews, remarked that the man he wrote about in his new book Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero seemed more like a leader than the current commander-in-chief.

I think everybody feels an absence of communication from the time he's been elected, Matthews told MSNBC about Obama Sunday. And it's not about not being left-wing enough or too left. That's not his problem. It's connection. And Mrs. Obama, she's an amazing asset. And what has she done?

The first lady apparently did quite a bit for Limbaugh when she got a bunch of boos, which he maintained she had coming.

The NASCAR people and the rest of the country, not so hip to 12- and 15-day vacations in Spain with 35 people along for the ride while they can't get work, while they can't get raises, while the price of gasoline is going up and the price of jet fuel and airline tickets, Limbaugh said.

The 50 percent approval rating the first lady scored on a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey in 2010 after returning from her summer vacation in Spain with her daughter Sasha showed she was 14 percent less popular than in April 2009.