Is Michelle Obama Really Endorsing the Radical Bill Ayers-Hosting Restaurant?

May 27th, 2010 11:40 AM

Michelle Obama drew the usual adoring-fan coverage in the May issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine. In a side feature called Places and Prices, the magazine reported "With cues from the first lady, Sarah Kerr details the best of what to see and do in this showcase of power, history, government, and now so much more." Included on this list: "Big, mural-bedecked Eatonville is named for a town in the fiction of Zora Neale Hurston and serves an indulgent catfish and grits (332-9672; entrées, $9-$24). In 2005, its owner started Busboys and Poets, a coffeehouse and gathering place for activists and hipsters, across the street (387-7638).

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This caused the radical-left restaurant Busboys and Poets to announce on Twitter on Wednesday night that "Busboys and Poets is one of Mrs. Obama's fav DC restaurants."

Is that really the kind of signal Mrs. Obama wants to send? After all, Busboys and Poets enthusiastically hosted the post-election Washington welcome for Obama supporter and Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers and his "inspiring resources." 

Washington Post reporter David Montgomery wrote a favorable whitewash of a story on November 18, 2008 which explained that the public demand for hero-worshippers of Ayers caused a change in venue: "The ex-Weatherman spoke to about 60 students at the law center and about 400 people last night at All Souls Unitarian Church...The event had been planned months ago, before the height of the controversy. Ayers had been invited to Busboys and Poets as a respected authority on education. But because of the crushing media interest and huge turnout, the event had to be moved to the church."

Here's how glowing the David Michaelis story was in Conde Nast Traveler, in throat-clearing early paragraphs: 

The first African-Americans to occupy the White House were classic meritocrats: authentic in their personalities, intellects, life histories, and accomplishments, an embodiment of the American work ethic rewarded. But the real stunner was that more than merit had brought Barack and Michelle Obama the Republic's ultimate prize: We the people had made our choice.

Now they're welcoming us back, these supersmart Chicagoans, the deeply grounded parents of preteen children, the most citified couple to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest since the Kennedys and the Roosevelts. They really seem to understand what a capital city is for.