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The dust up over pictures of Michelle Obama’s angry countenance during the Mandela funeral yesterday has forced a very ugly reality into plain view: the Obamas are horrible off script.

Mrs. Obama hasn’t mastered the art of smiling and waving, and at this juncture, she may never master it. As the First Lady of the United States, her job is to exude diplomacy especially in tense situations.

Instead, the funeral was turned into a mockery with the President taking a selfie, somehow angering his wife, and getting placed in timeout for his “bad behavior”.

Accordingly, I present to you a lesson in class, from Ann Landers:

Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident. It can handle whatever comes along.

Jacob had it. Esau didn’t. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob’s wrestling match with the angel. Those who have class have wrestled with their own personal angel and won a victory that marks them thereafter.

Class has a sense of humor. It knows that a good laugh is the bet lubricant for oiling the machinery of human relations.

Class never makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes. Class knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of small , inconsequential sacrifices.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. Some wealthy “blue bloods” have no class. While some individuals who are struggling to make ends meet are loaded with it.

Class is real. It can’t be faked. Class is comfortable in its own skin. It never puts on airs. Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.

Class can “walk with kings and keep its virtue, and talk with crowds & keep the common touch.” (Rudyard Kipling)

Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because that person is comfortable with himself. If you have class , you have it made. If you don’t have class, no matter what else you have, it doesn’t make much difference.