Michelle Obama thanks “prayer circles” and “people who are keeping the spirits clean around us”

Obama: “Everybody I know in our communities are praying for us.” On October 13, Michelle Obama appeared on the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show:

OBAMA: So, once again, we have the power. We've got this man in office. I think we're all proud of Barack and his accomplishments. Everybody I know in our communities are praying for us. Every day we feel that. And let me just tell your listeners that it means all the world to us to know that there are prayer circles out there and people who are keeping the spirits clean around us.

TOM JOYNER (host): Yes, they are.

OBAMA: So, that means a great deal. So, we've come a long way, but we got to keep it coming.

Right-wing media attack Michelle Obama for “spooky phrase” and “questionable” comment

Beck invokes The Omen and says Michelle Obama is creating “spooky phrases” that he has “never heard from a Christian.” On the October 14 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Show, Beck invoked the horror film The Omen while attacking Michelle Obama for her comments. Beck said, “I've never heard that. I've never heard that from a Christian -- I'm not questioning her Christianity, here.” Later, executive producer Steve “Stu” Burguiere said, “Thank you, Michelle Obama. Creating jobs.” Beck replied, “Jobs? Spooky phrases.”

Malkin accuses Michelle Obama of “feeling entitled to America's pride and prayers.” In an October 13 blog post titled “Bitter Half Watch: Mrs. O needs you to clean the 'spirits' around her,” Michelle Malkin wrote, “In an interview to rally black voters on the Tom Joyner Show, Michelle Obama chose some rather odd words to motivate black voters of faith.” After excerpting part of Obama's comments, Malkin wrote:

“Keeping the spirits clean around us?” Huh? She sounds like the liberal caricature of Christine O'Donnell. Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble.

As for the “prayer circles” and “Everybody I know in our communities is praying for us” and “we're all proud of Barack and his accomplishments” jabber, have the Obamas learned nothing about the price of arrogance and the value of humility over the last two years.

Question: Does Michelle O ever pray for anyone other than Barack?

Instead of feeling entitled to America's pride and prayers, why doesn't the First Lady show some pride and say prayers for Americans outside the White House, not seeking office, not calling on her to raise campaign funds for them, and not expecting her to clean up their problems.

Ah. Forget it. Being the “most powerful woman in the world” means never having to apologize for one's galactic hubris.

Savage says he finds comment “somewhat questionable, in terms of the biblical literature.” On the October 13 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation, Michael Savage aired a portion of Michelle Obama's comments and said, “The Bible, in Leviticus, says, 'You shall not practice divination nor soothsaying.' ” Savage later said, "[I]f Ms. Obama -- or the first lady, whichever you wish -- believes that the black churches should be praying for the president, she's certainly entitled to suggest that. But if she's telling them to keep -- they should do so to keep the spirits clean around them, I find that somewhat questionable, in terms of the biblical literature."

Limbaugh: “I've never heard of prayer circles and keeping the spirits clean around us.” On the October 14 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh mocked Michelle Obama, saying, “I've never heard of prayer circles and keeping the spirits clean around us. I mean, I've been praying for things like my family and friends' health, the country, things of this nature, and now I learn that we're supposed to be praying for the hygiene of the spirits?”

Right-wing media have previously attacked Michelle Obama for similarly innocuous actions

Conservative media figures have attacked first lady for fighting childhood obesity and saying inequalities persist. As Media Matters has documented, the right wing has attacked Michelle Obama for fighting childhood obesity, taking a vacation, wearing designer clothing, and pointing out that racial “inequalities still persist.”