nicholsprc scribbled: I just want to question why it seems that the black community seems to be bent on fostering racism. What about black on black violence and racism? Why are blacks killing each other in Africa? No... 04/11/2008

Dwight1950 scribbled: Wow! What an incredibly meaningless, ungrammatical pile of crap. So much for Princeton academic standards and the myth that Michelle is some kind of intellectual powerhouse. Makes me wonder how ... 05/05/2008

Dwight1950 scribbled: Wow! What an incredibly meaningless, ungrammatical pile of crap. So much for Princeton academic standards and the myth that Michelle is some kind of intellectual powerhouse. Makes me wonder how ... 05/05/2008

DanielPaul scribbled: From a liberal white male from the Northwest, drawn to the work from a recent rant by Christopher Hitchens, whose own work frequently cries out for a second opinion ... I find the work is intere... 05/05/2008

GPFrank scribbled: There are several comments: A. Michelle's paper is worth examining from the historical standpoint. It is now 23 years since it was submitted, while Martin Luther King's assassination was one gene... 05/05/2008

commoncents scribbled: The fact that we are being asked to read a term paper written 23 years ago by the wife of a candidate for the presidency strongly suggests that some conservative stakeholders are really desperate ... 05/06/2008

girlee scribbled: I prefer to not have a first lady who gives primacy to skin tone. Sorry, I took engineering. Can't be any more verbose than that. 05/06/2008

ajsrm scribbled: The thesis is consistent with the fact that she, never before this election, has been proud of her country. Hitchens seems to have figured out how such a nice fellow can find himself associated wi... 05/06/2008

artsmark scribbled: Pathetic. She was, and I suspect, is an intellectual fly-weight. 05/06/2008

darlingone scribbled: @artsmark/Dwight1950 You are right, any old intellectual fly-weight can get into Harvard Law School. @commoncents I agree - this smacks of swift-boat desperation. She must have been 21 or so when... 05/06/2008

rattannath scribbled: The paper is in English. Mr. Hitchins has not had enough experience with the language and its many variations to readily recognize prose styles differnt from those imprinted in his early duckling ... 05/06/2008

zbignu scribbled: @Darlingone said: "You are right, any old intellectual fly-weight can get into Harvard Law School." It's easy if that intellectual fly-weight is BLACK 05/06/2008

timothytjl scribbled: Intellectual flyweight??? Come on, this was written by an undergrad. I don't care if it's Princeton or Oxford undergrad studies are going to come across as amateur, it's part of the learning proce... 05/06/2008

darlingone scribbled: @zbignu You are right - black people don't have to take the LSAT. I think Harvard admits minorities based upon some kind of dance-off. 05/06/2008

denny1700 scribbled: I just find it ironic and amusing that Michelle Obama now has to condescend to deal with middle-class whites (Iowa, Indiana, etc.) in mostly white states, even though we REALLY know how she feels a... 05/06/2008

Chicago1 scribbled: OK. I've just read half of the first page and it is larded with grammatical errors. This is Princeton? It is still true that accidents of birth trump merit. 05/06/2008

Chicago1 scribbled: Now I've read some of the comments. I wrote an undergraduate thesis at around the same time at the University of Chicago. I was incapable of such bad grammar then; my best friend there, a black m... 05/06/2008

denny1700 scribbled: the worst thing about affirmative action is that it contributes or produces a two-tier system: one for blacks, and the other for non-blacks. Hitchens is perfectly right to bring up Michelle Obam... 05/06/2008

neoliberal scribbled: The topic is banal and the writing is truly horrid. I am SHOCKED that this is PRINCETON?!? How could this possibly have passed muster? You would have thought that the advisor, she so graciously... 05/06/2008

darkhorse08817 scribbled: Although there's plenty of stuff I don't like about Michelle Obama (I support her hubby and think she's a negative rather than an asset to his campaign), I don't understand why anybody would get wo... 05/06/2008

Citiwoman53 scribbled: I am so so so glad I did not have to write a senior thesis! Now I want to find the theses of my friends who went to better colleges than me. I'm sure to find some good laughs. 05/06/2008

atyree scribbled: Just as most college athletes are going on to do something else with their lives, most arts and sciences undergraduates are not going to be doing what they major in--be it sociology or physics or m... 05/06/2008

JohnMcKay scribbled: Sadly, Michelle Obama stands to be the first affirmative action first lady in the history of our great nation. I have faculty experience at three universities, and her writings are quite typical, i... 05/06/2008

J.P.Mortimer scribbled: If this rubbish can even partially fulfill the requirements of a B.A. in sociology at Princeton then one can only wonder how dumbed-down the admissions process has become. As Christopher Hitchens w... 05/06/2008

artsmark scribbled: That she's an intellectual fly-weight, is no disqualification for O'B. Most women are attracted to men smarter or more cunning than they are...in that respect Hillary is a lot like Michelle. 05/06/2008

yazoo13 scribbled: Say what you will, I have seen ninth graders write better papers and make fewer grammatical errors. Even the most basic of writing skills seem to have eluded Michelle. Sadly enough, I see that he... 05/07/2008

quiznos scribbled: After reading most of the comments here, I see racism is alive and well! For all of you that use the euphemism of "Affirmative Action" whenever you see a Black person, why not explicitly state you... 05/08/2008

Fray222 scribbled: Hitchens is the master of low blows, only he would think of attacking a presidential candidate by dissecting his wife's undergraduate university papers. 05/09/2008

Arouet scribbled: Enough with these people who use religion as a means of separatism and to deny equal, legal, dignity. If this is the kind of rubbish that educated people preach to the ‘underdogs’ in church can ... 05/09/2008

J.P.Mortimer scribbled: To paraphrase Enlightenment philosophe Denis Diderot, "The world will never be free until the last politician is strangled with the entrails of the last preacher." And to quote the greatest philoso... 05/11/2008

J.P.Mortimer scribbled: Mr. Arouet: The URL for article you refer to ("Untangling Barack Obama's audacious mumbo jumbo) is http://ebar.com/common/inc/article_pr... A very useful hyperlin... 05/11/2008

olorunfemi olumide tolu scribbled: Am olorunfemi olumide from nigeria,is my dream to study in sweeden.i wish to study medicine in sweden.pls make my dream come true 05/12/2008

David123 scribbled: I doubt that President Bush, today, could write anything as coherent as Michelle wrote when she was 20 years old. That's the scary thought. After reading the paper I didn't think is was all that b... 05/12/2008

mamey scribbled: I'm certainly not impressed by the quality of Michelle Obama's writing and grammar. My daughter is a freshman at Princeton, from a public school, and her freshman papers are much better written (a... 05/12/2008

gzuckier scribbled: 225 pages is one long undergrad thesis, even double spaced with long margins. If it were me typing, I'd be lucky to even finish it, let alone perfect the wording at that size. I consider myself hug... 05/13/2008

mrdbond scribbled: Ah yes, David123, "Also remember, in 1985 there were no personal computers or lap tops and only business offices had Word Processors" - I guess YOU (and most other 20 yr olds or whatever) don't rem... 05/14/2008

delsiefulton scribbled: Michelle Obama's undergrad thesis was a stepping stone. It was a segment in her life. One segment of our lives or thoughts does not define who we are. She has come a long way in the past 23 ye... 05/24/2008

whatthe scribbled: Thanks, Christopher. Keep writing. Did you notice that Michelle didn't share any anecdotes re. an intriguing but unsubstantiated sentence in the Introduction: "...it often seems as if [to the Whi... 05/31/2008

littlefiona scribbled: If you look hard enough at something and you wish to see what you want to see, you will see it. There is nothing wrong with this thesis or her beliefs. Stop being so afraid, it's not race you shoul... 06/13/2008

gzuckier scribbled: yeah, it's not terribly grammatical or well written; then again, it's a mile ahead of what our president bush can produce even know. and he is white, you know. and the beneficiary of every advantag... 06/13/2008

narc1 scribbled: This paper is well-written. 99% of America can not write like this. That is the truth. It is too sophisticated for most of you which is why you don't understand it. As a recent graduate from an Ivy... 06/16/2008

Kmurra scribbled: I decided to look at Michelle Obama's thesis, after reading Christopher Hitchens' comments concerning it. Hitchens claims in his article that Michelle Obama was influenced by the definition of bl... 06/18/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: Sorry, narc1. M.L.Robinson may have written better than most Americans, and certainly as well as most majoring in Sociology. Unfortunately, her thesis is not praiseworthy. The mis[s]pellings, mi... 06/18/2008

Truth in Action scribbled: I find in very telling that many people defending M.L. Robinson's thesis attack President Bush to do so. What does President Bush have to do with this thesis? Nothing. What does matter is the... 06/18/2008

Kmurra scribbled: In case I was not clear, my comment concerning Michelle Obama's age, (when she wrote the thesis), did not concern whether she was or was not a great writer or speller. What I meant was but that th... 06/18/2008

Kmurra scribbled: Are we comparing Michelle Obama to Adolf Hitler now? This comment trivializes the harm and evil inflicted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and is a totally irresponsible reference. On a personal note,... 06/19/2008

cart1 scribbled: I just wish Michelle's advisor would have advised her not to put her own opinion into the paper. Eveyone knows you dont do that in a reseach paper. 06/19/2008

craigp scribbled: Concerning the comments having to do with misspellings and punctuation, I would like to remind you that this 225 page paper was TYPEWRITTEN! I would love to see those of you who criticize her for t... 06/19/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: 1. I typed. I used white out, both liquid and paper. I realigned the paper and typed in my corrections. I was taught how to do this in high school typing class. At times I had to retype a page... 06/20/2008

Craigie58mse scribbled: I appreciate the effort, but I wish you had been able to do a competent job of converting the thesis to a Word file. It is very difficult to edit out all the errors back in the tables part. 06/21/2008

narc1 scribbled: LOL I hear an apologetic tone even in people's agreeable comments. You do not have to apologize for this undergraduate thesis whatsoever. Punctuation? Misspellings? Seriously? Nobody gets a profess... 06/23/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: 1. I know plenty of people who used typewriters to write long essays, stories, etc. and they all say a few mistakes in spelling, punctuation, etc. are normal but not on the scale that Ms. Obama ha... 06/23/2008

Critic scribbled: Anna1257 writes (in part): "1. I know plenty of people who used typewriters to write long essays, stories, etc. and they all say a few mistakes in spelling, punctuation, etc. are normal but not on... 06/24/2008

craigp scribbled: Anna1257, you are a flaming idiot. How is it possible that your criticism of Mrs. Obama's writing/spelling abilities contained several misspellings and grammatical errors!? I would not be at all s... 06/24/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: Dear Craig P. and Critic, You both sure have a lot of time on your hands to so closely scrutinize a hastily written response I put up about Michelle Obama's poor excuse for a thesis. Frankly, I'm ... 06/25/2008

Critic scribbled: Anna, if you're paying for your courses in "English Writing" (do you mean "English Composition"?) you should consider demanding a refund; you are obviously receiving sub-standard instruction. There... 06/25/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: No, I mean English Writing which encompasses the fields of both English Composition and English Literature. I'm guessing you've never gone to a decent College of Arts and Sciences or you would have... 06/25/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: Anna 1257, your comments were well ordered, mostly applicable, and generally correct. Therefore, you should not be surprised to find yourself a target of partisan sniping. To articles 1 and 2... 06/25/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: continued: Critic, relying heavily on the ad hominem tu quoque (i.e., “you, too”) fallacy, believes that a person who makes a certain mistake disqualifies himself as a critic when that mistake app... 06/25/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: Conclusion: I think craigp was trying to be funny with the anecdote about making his 3-year-old cry. But that did sound intentionally and unnecessarily mean. “…Michelle… chose a thesis topic... 06/25/2008

jack2951@aol.com scribbled: This has become a little chat room involving a few folks who are more interested in tweaking each other than in the original subject. Is there any way that the person managing this net can spin th... 06/26/2008

craigp scribbled: Mindtorque, My main point was that Anna1257 lost her credibility when she wrote a criticism of M.L. Robinson's spelling that included misspellings! In my opinion, she demonstrated a severe lack of... 06/26/2008

narc1 scribbled: Hillary Clinton's thesis is up on the internet. But they dug it up and brushed it off (i.e., fixed ALL the errors) before putting it online. You are getting Mrs. Obama paper without professional ed... 06/26/2008

whatthe scribbled: What Michelle didn't say might be more important than the sum of her thesis. She didn't share any anecdotes re. an intriguing but unsubstantiated sentence in the Introduction: "...it often seems a... 06/28/2008

narc1 scribbled: Whatthe, have you happened to edit *academic* (read: not mainstream) sociological publications (articles for journals rather than books)? Specifically, have you edited students' or even professors'... 06/28/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: 1. There should be no disconnect between readable writing and professional writing. What do I mean by this? A piece of writing is only successful if it is readable. That means there as at least som... 06/30/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: I want to address several things about the comments below. First, (and this is the last time I will address this issue because it's getting ridiculous) I know my writing skills are not perfect bu... 06/30/2008

narc1 scribbled: Any unbiased Sociology professor would recognize the merit of this thesis--Princeton or not. Any profs on the forum? 06/30/2008

narc1 scribbled: This Sociology thesis is qualitative research on how Black students identify with, contribute to, and benefit from the Black community and White community differently across time--that is, before, ... 07/01/2008

narc1 scribbled: Some people question other people's intelligence because they are insecure about their own. The sentence structure in this paper is, indeed, sophisticated. For instance, one of her sentences reads ... 07/01/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: Again, I will state that any writing cannot truly be successful unless it is readable. Michelle Obama's paper here is not readable. I'm not saying it was not well-researched or her arguments don'... 07/01/2008

Anna1257 scribbled: Finally, the fact that a sociologist would insinuate any sort of insecurity on my part about my own intelligence is unbelievably presumptuous because said sociologist does not know me personally an... 07/01/2008

Iwill scribbled: I've been reading through these comments and *whew* what an involved argument is going on here. Many of you people need to lighten up, I agree with mindtorque, anna1257, and others that the person... 07/01/2008

narc1 scribbled: Anna, I was not even talking directly to you or personally thinking about you. You should first question if someone is referring to you before you go on a rant. Besides, I find the paper very reada... 07/01/2008

narc1 scribbled: I mentioned people's insecurity about their own intelligence because of the questioning of Mrs. Obama's intelligence based on criticisms of her paper, some of which are very much unfounded. Did I m... 07/01/2008

whatthe scribbled: What Michelle didn't say might be more important than the sum of her thesis. She didn't share any anecdotes re. an intriguing but unsubstantiated sentence in the Introduction: "...it often seems as... 07/01/2008

Iwill scribbled: Dear narc, I can summarize any document does that mean it's readable? Perhaps I didn't explain what readable means. I was obviously in error in assuming that the definition is known by those who ... 07/01/2008

narc1 scribbled: You feel attacked, that's on you. It's very readable, as I said. 07/01/2008

whatthe scribbled: Narc: I have proofread many theses at the Univ. of Washington. I would have given Michelle an A for effort and a C- or D for sentence construction. 07/02/2008

narc1 scribbled: Hey Whatthe, I would give her an A- for sentence construction and an A for effort as well. It's overall good to me. Would I say it's award-worthy? No. Would I say it's worth it's distinction? Yes.... 07/02/2008

TomF scribbled: I'm amazed at how someone can turn a 50 page thesis into 225 pages. Is it normal to have margins and line spacing as big as the grand canyon. I wonder what her views are on protecting our forest, b... 07/03/2008

pearisburg scribbled: The astonshingly mediocre quality of Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis is evidence of a larger problem in academia. Most American universities admit Black students whose SAT scores are, on average... 07/08/2008

craigp scribbled: Actually most top 20 American universities' have a Black student enrollment of about 3%. Very few colleges even practive affirmative action (what you are describing), and the Black students that do... 07/08/2008

gtnaway scribbled: Anyone want to re-read this and change the word "Black" to "White" ??? Picture a white person attending an all black college (or university). Oh, wait! We can't! Talk about discrimination! ... 07/09/2008

craigp scribbled: Actually a white person CAN attend an all black college. Take Joshua Packwood for example. This summer he was the first white valedictorian at Morehouse (a historically all black college). I re... 07/09/2008

pearisburg scribbled: That black students are, on average, underprepared for college is not in dispute. See the following as but one source of data on this issue: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0502/p2... 07/10/2008

craigp scribbled: The article you posted is on the lack of achievments in science majors which is down in ALL racial groups in America, including Whites. Secondly, this article only focuses on low income Black s... 07/10/2008

VinceShamwow scribbled: Sheeeeeeeeeet Negro that's all you had to say. 08/19/2008

DaveTrautman scribbled: "I would give her an A- for sentence construction and an A for effort as well. It's overall good to me." Did you read the same thesis I did? The writing is so bad, and the thesis so boring and nar... 08/26/2008

chbradshaw scribbled: What a piece of garbage. I would have received an "F" for turning in such a grammatically incorrect, non-sensical diatribe in high school - much less college and an ivy league school at that. She... 09/08/2008

MIKEinNYC scribbled: Let's cut this lady a break. This paper was written 23 years ago before the advent of modern word processing programs that would have caught spelling and grammatical errors. It was probably hand-ty... 09/08/2008

secret-coupon scribbled: if we spent the same money on sending blacks to college that we do on sending them to jail, we'd have a much better educated black community. wake up people 09/24/2008

Mindtorque scribbled: MIKEinNYC - a small observation. It is not the case that all other people ("ethnic group") came her voluntarily. Individual Africans came here involuntarily, and today many come voluntarily. 50... 10/04/2008