MoDo Taxicab Confessions

NYT’s Maureen Dowd gets David Brooks‘ taxicab confession on “Should Michelle Cover Up?” Naturally, a woman known to don tutus and cowboys boots, loves First Lady Michelle Obama’s look. “Her arms, and her complete confidence in her skin, are a reminder that Americans can do anything if they put their minds to it,” Dowd writes in Saturday’s paper.

Journalists are never supposed to start a piece with a scene in a taxi because it signals either laziness about gathering facts or a tendency to embroider facts.

Nonetheless, I’m going to. David Brooks and I were sharing a cab to the British Embassy the other day to meet with Gordon Brown…

…The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps. Her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff and all the corporate creeps who ripped off America.

In the taxi, when I asked David Brooks about her amazing arms, he indicated it was time for her to cover up. “She’s made her point,” he said. “Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”

I’d seen the plaint echoed elsewhere. “Someone should tell Michelle to mix up her wardrobe and cover up from time to time,” Sandra McElwaine wrote last week on The Daily Beast.

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