Of course Michelle Obamas mention of slaves was part of a much larger point… that we’ve watched two young black women blossom in the very house that was built by slaves. She was saying it as a way of praising our country.

We’ve come to accept it that Malia and Sasha (and Michelle, and Michelle’s mom) live in the White House, but by providing that historical backdrop, she repositioned a fact as a happy miracle. Those who called it race-baiting missed the point entirely and were actually characterizing it as the polar opposite of what her actual claim was.

Once you comprehend her meaning, you understand the need to state the fact in the simplest and starkest manner possible. Slaves built the White House. Had she said that she wakes up every morning in a house built by slaves among others, the statement may have been more accurate, but it would have been no more true, and a lot less powerful. It’s a shame that it’s so difficult to accept a thing of beauty (in this case the artful turning of a phrase) for what it is.

Perhaps if these folks took the time to truly comprehend Ms. Obama’s words, they would have found no need for pointeless fact checking. Hopefully in seven or eight years, when a Republican woman appropriates this phrase for her own use, we’ll all be able to appreciate it’s beauty and wisdom.