“Let them eat cake!” is the response attributed to Marie-Antoinette, queen consort of Louis XVI, when informed that the poor had no bread.

It seems Michelle Obama has her own twist regarding those whose income is low enough to qualify for the $600 government’s so-called stimulus tax relief package. Criticizing the short term advantage to an audience of mostly African-American women in Michigan she stated, “What can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything. But maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn’t pay down every bill every month.”

It would have been wise for her to have stopped right there. But she added, “And it may even feel good that first month when you get that check. And then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings.” (Read more at USAToday’s political blog.)

OK, maybe she said it in a joking manner, but humor experts always say to look for serious underlying meaning whenever anyone is trying to be funny. So, regardless of whether one favors this rebate, the joke makes it sound like those with less have no ability to delay gratification. Get a penny, spend a penny.

More compelling news took precedence when the earring comment was uttered, prompting David Gergen to say yesterday on CNN that Obama was lucky on this one. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/10/acd.01.html

And, I wouldn’t have brought up this seemingly minor gaffe were it not for a pattern I see. The Obamas seem to be out of touch with the rest of us struggling “bitter people,” especially female people.