Michelle Obama said that for the first time in her adult life she was proud, and/or really proud, of her country.  Let's stipulate that this was a kind of graceless thing to say and leaves out some basics.  But let's look at this issue.

She is not talking about loving her country, as Cindy McCain countered.  Pride suggests a feeling about action taken by the country as a whole -- meaning, I guess, primarily by the government but also through cultural trends, for want of a better word. 

Michelle Obama was born in January 1964. When does adult life start?  At 18 when we can vote? At 21 when we can, well, drink etc?  At 25 when some say the brain is finished maturing.  At the very latest, her adult life began in 1989; at the earliest, in 1982.  This means that she is definitely talking about the Bush-Clinton-Bush years, and probably also the Reagan years.

So she really has stuck a finger in the eye of the Clintons, hasn't she?

Most of us can probably agree that we are not proud of Reagan administration actions or of the money-centered, greed is good good capitalism of the '80s, among many other things.

So that leaves, say, 1989 through 2006.  I was pretty proud of the election of 2006, so I'm leaving it out.  What WE proud of during that period, if anything.

That's the Bushes and Clinton.  So I ask myself, do I agree?  Is there anything I'm proud of during that period?

The first thing that comes to mind is the intervention in Kosovo, both that it happened at all and the way that it was managed.  I realize there's a lot to criticize about it, but we didn't go into a ground war, and another genocidal disaster was averted.  This came, by the way, following the very un-prideful record in Ruwanda and in the early years of the Yugoslav war. Clinton led the nation in doing something worthwhile and, in my view, good.

I'm also proud that we elected Clinton in the first place, albeit with the help of odd Ross Perot. But at least we didn't have another Bush term. Triangulation? Not so much.

Other things I'm proud of: The American With Disabilities Act and the Family Leave Act.  These were advances in inclusion and fairness for the whole society.  I guess I'm proud that he wasn't removed from office, and that the main reason was probably the people didn't want him to be.

Not much more that I can think of. The continuing erosion of a social safety net and the expanding disparity between haves and have nots (and have-mores, in Bush 43's telling phrase) is nothing to brag about.

Maybe where she went wrong was, first, being too honest, and second, not giving a nod to the basics that make this a unique and enviable country despite all.  And for not also nodding to the quiet and noisy advances in race, gender, and sexual orientation that continue despite Washington.

I am glad Bill Clinton was president; I was a big fan.  I liked his presence, and that he wasn't Those Guys.  I also am sometimes surprisingly proud of Americans In General.  But as far as national or societal movements or actions, there's not a lot, is there?