A Smear-cheer for Michelle Obama

Deadline Poet

By Calvin Trillin

This article appeared in the July 14, 2008 edition of The Nation.

June 25, 2008

(As performed by the Swiftboat Singers)

Who's not a retiring, shy Southern belle?
Whose Harvard degree is the way you can tell
That she's so elite she once ate a morel?
Who doesn't wear flag pins in either lapel?
Michelle.
Rah! Rah! Smear! Rah! Rah!

Who might be a part of a terrorist cell?
Who might have the powers for casting a spell?
Whose fist-knocks may summon the devil from hell?
Who could be, we reckon, a Muslim as well?
Michelle.
Rah! Rah! Smear! Rah! Rah!

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About Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation's "deadline poet." He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1963 and has written the syndicated weekly column "Uncivil Liberties" since 1986. He has authored many, many books, including Tepper's Not Going Out and Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist. more...
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