Surprising it wasn't the big dope himself. Plastic, phony, Hollywood events are right up his alley. Financial advice from Al Sharpton. Kevin Cosner to solve the BP crisis. We get what we vote for.

Nonsense. Get a life, have some fun, stand down from the urge to always have a battle, even in the little fluff events.

Of course it was necessary. Hollywood is all RICH 1% ers, but the Libs are supposed to look the other way. Also Holllywood gets BIG Film Production tax credits, even though the films produce no new jobs for the states that allow them. They also are big Democratic Party campaign donors....They also made sure that "Zero Dark Thirty" wasn't chosen as Best Picture (which offended Dianne Feinstein).

Joanna-try to lighten up.

This just proves that the Obamas are just celebrities.  It is inappropriate for a woman of her stature to engage in such bald attention seeking.  It reinforces the moniker for the president of Barack Hussein Kardashian.

There is a love Fest with the Hollywood/media elite, and this was just more of the same idol worshiping we have come to expect.  Serious people do miss the quiet dignity of the Bush administration, which would never have sent the first lady on such a m

The democratic party and democratic politicians at all levels seem to be smitten with the entertainment business. This shouldn't have been as much of a surpise as some seem to think it is.  With rumors of White House insdiers providing film makers with access to sensitive information, the First Lady's cameo is very harmless by comparison.

FLOTUSes exist for this kind of stuff.   I'm  expecting King William V to pull a similar duty in the future

The "Oscar" for the "Greatest Duping during an Election" goes to the American People! Never have so many, been promised so much, only to receive so little!  Gone with the Spoken Wind!

None of you libs find the relationship between Hollywood and our President nauseating? Spoiled, rich superficial brats preaching to us about the environment, finance, one percenters. How many of them have voluntarily payed the higher income tax? I could care less what the Sean Penns of the world think about anything. She shouldn't have been there.

Oh!! The First Lady Oopened the "Envelope" on the Osacars!! SCAN-DAHL!! Why is this being read into and politisized? RELAX fa Chrissake...

Lighten up Joan. Despite what you or some cranky conservatives may think, or wish to believe, we now have the most glamorous first lady since Jackie Kennedy, the most involved since Eleanor Roosevelt, and the coolest since Dolly Madison rescued Washinton's portrait. Enjoy it.

Have we already forgotten Ronald Reagan, the quintessential example of political use Hollywood for political gain?  It would be great if all he had done was open a envelope on a show few people watch 'til the end.

Bush launched a NASCAR race in Florida in 2004. The Obamas have Hollywood, the Republicans, Dollywood. I know which I prefer, and it's not Danaka Patrick.

Laura Bush also presented an Oscar award. So what if Michelle Obama presented for Best Picture. Lighten up. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, and THIS is what has your panties in a knot??

It really doesn't make any difference what either President Obama or Michele Obama do in the area of public events as those opposed will always come out verbally swinging.  And those supporting will come out praising them.  Read the comments.  Witness Clint Eastwood and his empty chair routine at the Republican Convention, Hollywood giant very welcome there.  Forget the media firestorm 5 minutes after the most memorable event to happen there.  The biggies in the Republican Party were gleeful at the big Hollywood connection, hey, a featured time spot before a national audience.  This Oscar appearance doesn't even compare to that event.  Don't get me wrong I thought the announcement of Clint Eastwood appearing at the Republican convention was a positive coup for Romney.  And for full disclosure, as they say, Romney was not my candidate.  It's the actual speech Clint gave that went awry.  And the immediate public Republican reaction ( Romney aides included ) was to be in full support of both Eastwood's speech and the empty chair.  

She's a joke and her inept husband is TOTALLY incompetant.  The media is in the tank for both of them. Today will bring another useless press conference about sequestration from our President, aka Doom and Gloom.  He will tell us the world is going to end on Friday.  He will have the usual thirty-five props standing behind him. His act is wearing thin. Divide and conquer is his mantra. It appears however, that the country is waking up.  People are NOT buying his rhetoric.

Joanna, did you and your friends watch the Oscars? Our First Lady (with members of the military who she so strongly supports) plus about a billion other people also watched. Having her announce best picture was nice. I saw no political agenda. What I, and most likely almost everybody else, saw was our First Lady participate in a popular annual event. It bothers me, and I am sure most people, when media types like yourself make this an issue. If Alan Arkin were here, I think he could provide THE appropriate quote from the winning film about this situation.

Joanna Weiss' unnecessary opinion!

Oh, please. Get a grip. So what? The First Family had a little fun at one of the country's premier social/cultural events. Boy oh boy. What's next? The PRESIDENT inviting championship athletic teams to the White House to get HIS puss all over television? Western Civilization is coming perilously close to extinction. 

Every president has thrown at least one ceremonial first pitch since William Howard Taft.  Major League Baseball owns both major parties.

I'm a Democrat with a big 'D' and I am an enthusiastic supporter of both Barack and Michelle Obama. However, I believe it was wrong for Michelle to give the award for best picture. The Oscars are about entertainment and should not be about politics. Even though she said nothing political, the fact is that the POTUS and FLOTUS are by definition political creatures. If we had a royal family separate from our political leaders, it might be OK for a prince or princess to participate, but we don't. Bad choice, Michelle.

That hussey! She cut down on my time with Jack!

It would be more appropriate if she always wears outfits from Target to be true to her cause on frugality and the poor.  Unfortunately she can't help herself and spends enormous sums on the most expensive designer outfits.  This sends the wrong message. She represents the needy and the disadvantaged? What a joke.  

The venom that is often directed toward this President and his family is distressing.  It leads me to believe that even though we have elected a black President, a significant portion of the country is still too backward to accept that reality.  Whatever you think of the man's policies, he and his family present a positive image to the world and to the young people of this country. I dig the comment that Michelle Obama is the most glamorous First Lady since Jackie Kennedy.  But it seems that many folks can't deal with an intelligent, self assured and, yes, beautiful black woman in this role.  I think that she is a great role model.

Still Michelle Obama can do nothing right in the opinion of certain people.  Joanna, you are wrong to feed into this.  Caring about what Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh and their hateful hoards will say is only to lower yourself to their primordial level.  Michelle's appearance was relatively benign.   For the sake of this country and its future--and, believe me, our future depends on this--we must put down all of this petty anger and prejudice and fully welcome African Americans into the American family.  If you feel this has already happened, then go to a black neighborhood and talk to some folks.  You'll be surprised by what you hear.

I was at first slightly taken aback by the First Lady's being handed The Envelope. Did those Price Waterhouse guys, always traveling in pairs like nuns, appear at the White House door with a briefcase before they hopped a plane for Hollywood? 

But as I thought about it, it seemed that the hype that is Hollywood is also an American industry - something frequently called "the industry" by those who work there and see themselves as workers rather than as what they seem to the uninitiated, the princes and princesses of a magic kingdom (no, that's several miles away, in Anaheim). What White House can afford to snub American industry? 

The US President starts off the baseball season with the first pitch doesn't he? And is baseball only a sport or is it also a big money industry?

Are the resources of the military not at the disposal of all those action movies? And can the government thus shape the message, there being no free lunch? Isn't Hollywood sometimes a government "bully pulpit"? Don't recent presidents, all of them in the lifetimes of people around today, at least starting with FDR, fully understand that Hollywood can be used to get across their message? 

So I find it rather ironic that "Argo", the winner, has Jimmy Carter setting the record straight: most of the heavy lifting in that crisis was performed admirably by the Canadians, and not the Americans, who were the beneficiaries of Canadian aid.

That's the subtle irony that hangs over Michelle Obama's announcement of the winner: a pro-US propaganda film which reminds us of how much we lost when we stopped being able to install leadership in Iran, when the reign of the CIA was no more and we had to escape or await Iran-Contra to set us free.

Her dress was gorgeous (even though Iranian television re-wrote it for their viewers).

I'm surprised that you didn't toss in the "she wears too many sleeveless dresses" line that my mother-in-law always uses when Michelle Obama does something that gets attention.

Funny how so many of those who complain about the Obama's "Hollywood connection" forget that's where their idol Reagan first achieved fame and had his introduction to politics. And then there was Clint Eastwood's prominence at the Republican convention.

How about that bit in the Olympics opening show, boatwrote? How'd that stack up with Michelle?

The trap worked- now let's see how many reactionary commenters stay stuck in the glue.

"You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it." - George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) in Easy Rider

What indeed has gone wrong? An appearance by the First Lady sets off a stream of vitriol that takes on partisan flavors. I believe the politicians from both parties have created divisiveness and mistrust in the country over the years, and we are reaching an important juncture. We can either continue to run down the establishment or unite to solve the problems. Neither party has the moral high ground to defend the status quo, so let's stop displacing the anger on FLOTUS, and get on with the job of making this a helluva good country again.

Really, I think eveyone's making entirely too much of this - it was fun, Michelle's gorgeous and engaging. lighten up!

The film industry employs tens of thousands of people and is a bona fide part of the fabric that make up the US and its citizens. There's nothing wrong with the White House giving recognition. After reading the comments, its easy to see the whiners are not and never will be friends of the Obama's, so their opinion is not important. 

Did Joanna Weiss really write this column?  I usually find her columns thoughtful and interesting, but this one is the journalistic equivalent of guano.  Is Ms. Weiss auditioning for a position with the Drudge Report?  It's not just that I disagree with virtually every single word she has written here, but I don't even understand why it was written in the first place. 

Who cares? The economy is going over the cliff, Congress is totally dysfunctional and we are really spending time on whether the first lady should make a cameo on a TV show? The right wing press would have come up with something else to deflect attention from our real problems as part or their "Lets invent at least one faux issue for every broadcast describing some imaginary wrong Obamam did." Maybe our consituents won't look behind the curtain and take notice of the real issues facing the country? It is unfortunate you gave this non sense any ink as it only propagates the problem.

Would have been interesting if Django won.

Hey, what's the big deal, right? Probably only cost about $1million for her to be there...drop in the bucket of money they have spent on vacations and date night since they have been in office...they are not experiencing a recession, we are.  Nothing new and people re-elected him...

She is a phoney and had no place at the oscars. You would never see Jackie Kennedy lowering herself or the office doing something like this. NO Class.

Headline should read "Joanna Weiss's gratuitous criticism of Michelle Obama’s Oscar turn." A dreadful column.

Lighten up, Joanna. Were you born old, cranky and humorless? We knew what to expect from Seth McFarlane, and got it. He was hilarious most of the time, but never malicious, and the event was anything but listless.

The Academy Awards...not a teaching moment, but a night to dress up and have fun. Forget about liposuction and fat lips...Hollywood is what it is, and you won't change it. As for your gag reflex when a winner spoke, calm down. She got the award, and can say whatever she likes. It is the idiotic questions the actors are asked as they are "interviewed" on the red carpet which should make all of us wonder about IQs of interviewers.

I like Obama and Michelle. That said; the First Lady has no place at the academy awards. It was gratuitous and frankly, it takes away from the U.S. Presidency. W started this kind of nonsense and I thought he demeaned the Office. The President and his family have no place on talk shows or the like.

...and I give a p--p why...I have to write a column, I have to write a column, I have to write a column...does it have to be an important or meanigful topic or even mildly significant? Of course not...Who gives a p--p...

Journaism at its finest.  Join your brethern and tweet.

It wasn't Hollywood "producers" who came calling but Harvey Weinstein a major campaign contributer who, no doubt, was collected his "I owe you."  How about the military escort ? Were they about to be sequestered ? 

Somehow this editorial missed the point that the White House was quite an appropriate presenter of an award for a movie that is based on information recently declassified by the government.

Such a grouch, Ms Weiss. Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?

It was harmless and maybe a little fun. Those who complain already hate her so that makes no difference. Why do you care enough to write about it? Are you jealous? That's about the only excuse for this column that I can think of.

I felt like puking. When does the hypocrisy end with these Far-Left Libs.

"Kitch"  I see earlier you were accused of being a "liberal layabout"  oh my - shows you how unaware some of these posters actually are.

112 comments on the first lady attending the Oscars?  I mean how much of a zealot can a person be to either run around defending appearance or attacking it.  What a bunch of losers - so much interesting stuff to discuss and we get this.  Some folks need to get a life.  I know a few pols on the left and right who desrve Oscar's but do they get them - No.

Yet another irrelevant column from one of the Globe's most irrelevant columnists. Do you ever do a piece that takes real investigation, real sources, real craft, real talent? If so, I must have missed it. 

Republicans complain about the Obama's no matter what they do so they might as well enjoy themselves.

Ms. Weiss: The first lady is either Michelle Obama, Ms. Obama or Mrs. Obama. She is NOT "Obama". Your reference to her name was crude. You should know better.

I can't stand Obama as president, as a person, I would have a beer with him. Michelle?  A pain in the, yea.  That being said?

The only think I did not like were the "people props" in the background.  The rest was all good fun.

Actually I agree with Joann and the point she was making about the film's violence.  The issue that I haven’t read comments about. When I went to see Lincoln, not too long after the Newtown shooting, I sat through previews for both Argo and Django Unchained, and thought to myself how dreadful violent they were.