Thursday, April 02, 2009
The First Lady
My sense is that Michelle Obama understood the political fallout from her "proud for the first time" comments during the campaign, and never wants a repeat of the damage that news cycle inflicted on her husband. Their marriage lacks the drama of the last Democratic occupants of the White House, and amen to that.
It is traditional for the First Lady to accompany the POTUS on significant foreign trips, and here's where we run into trouble. Now, I am not jumping down her throat the way Ace is, but Ace rightly points out that the coverage of the First Lady defies all rationale. Tina Brown gushes in her lede at The Daily Beast:
Tina Brown goes on to unfavorably compare the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni ("she would suffer in comparison") as well as the late Princess of Wales (who "took a long time to get it right," referring to fashion) to Michelle Obama. While I am on the one hand quite happy that a Princeton woman is getting her props, this is absurd. I am sure Michelle Obama likes to be liked -- who doesn't? -- but even she must read things like this and laugh."The excitement British women feel about the arrival of Michelle Obama in London for the G-20 summit is spiked with awe. She’s so big-time. So self-confident. So devoid of rainy, British diffidence. In a country where most political wives and female members of Parliament are the stylistic equivalent of a tufted ottoman, Michelle’s kind of striding self-assurance, glamour, and broad demographic appeal feels thrillingly 21st-century. The fact that she's African American adds an inspirational magic."
Maybe someone should call Shimon Peres and ask his opinion.
UPDATE: Now, this isn't right -- Huffpo is dissing the First Lady's wardrobe selection for her European trip. Hey, I buy most of my clothes from J.Crew, so people in glass houses, etc. But it's possible the East Wing staff is thinking, "If we've lost Huffpo, we've lost the country." I think I better stop commenting on women's fashions (since I know almost nothing about it anyway) because it may start to cause concern on the part of my female significant other.
CWCID: Ace
6 Comments:
By 
Christopher Chambers, at
Thu Apr 02, 06:14:00 PM:
The Queen seems to love her, too (definitely more than she loved Diana). The Brits are eating that up. The only people who weren't happy/entranced blah blah? Guess. Give up?
The West Indians and Nigerians living in Brixton (along "Electric Avenue"). Michelle was invited to mix and mingle with about five thousand people and didn't show. The folk's weren't pleased.
As for Sarko's wife, can that situation be any more French? Remember when you lauded him for being such a wonderful change from other Frog leaders?
By 
, at
Thu Apr 02, 07:43:00 PM:
We owe Michelle Obama the opportunity to set her own "style" (whatever that means), but I agree that this "second coming of Camelot/Black Jackie Kennedy" treatment is just downright ridiculous. She likes J. Crew (or so I conclude, after all the fashion coverage of the inaugural) and otherwise fairly classic styles. As do I. Unpretentious. All good.
But given my druthers, I'd much rather look like Carla Bruni!
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Apr 02, 09:31:00 PM:
Shimon Peres, huh? His first cousin is Lauren Bacall.
Here's what Bacall looked like in the 1940s:
http://jungletrader.blogspot.com/2009/02/bacall.html
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Apr 02, 09:59:00 PM:
P.S. I just read Mr. Chamber's comment.
1. Re: "...can that situation be any more French?"
Carla Bruni was born in Italy.
2. Re: "Frog"
Get your head out of your butt, Mr. Chambers. There was a reason that African-Americans such as Josephine Baker moved to France.
Ethnic slurs have no place here.
By TigerHawk, at
Thu Apr 02, 10:11:00 PM:
Ethnic slurs have no place here.
Well said, DEC, and thank you for upholding standards around here when I am otherwise engaged.
That said, there are ethnic slurs and then there are ethnic slurs. Around 25 years ago (I will still in law school and Japan was riding high) The New Republic ran an editorial with the headling "Stop Bashing the Japs." This triggered a bunch of letters that made the same point, to which TNR replied that "Japs" was like "Brits, Yanks, or at worst Frogs," and not like other much worse ethnic slurs. My Japanese-American roommate agreed.
That said, my Francophilia is well known, and since Sarko's election we have an unrepealed ban on mocking the French...
By Rebeca, at
Thu Oct 01, 07:31:00 AM:
In a growing wave of media attention First lady Michelle Obama did may be the smartest thing she could do to tone down the media frenzy that began brewing Monday before she left Tuesday night for Copenhagen, it surrounded the fact that a young Chicago student was beaten to death by a gang of teenagers.
