Here is US First Lady Michelle Obama looking the best I've ever seen her. Love, love, LOVE her hair. Is it a cap-cut or just pinned up? While a bit of retro flair does suit her, I hope she moves away from the Jackie-O clone look she had been sporting. It makes me uncomfortable. I am interested in President Obama and his wife to the extent of how they make use of his tenure in Office; not being complicit in resucitating 'Camelot' as some in the media have been trying to do.
Another lovely picture of the First Lady, this time with Oprah having dinner in NYC. Harpo's done nothing but try to insinuate herself into the Obamas lives since Barack became leader of the Democratic Party. She's shameless, utterly shameless. That being said, the Obamas sure do seem to like rubbing elbows with the celebrity elite. It's a fine line from Commander-in-Chief to Media Whore so I hope the Obamas are mindful of this.
While I believe that Presidents' wives have a definite role to fulfill so they doesn't sit around useless and end up drunks like Pat Nixon or Betty Ford; that role should be to essentially make her husband look good in public and complement what he's doing in terms of policy. I don't think "too much" First Lady is a Good Thing. As a taxpayer, I wouldn't want to see the spouse of my leader of government being more of a socialite that working on projects of social and community conscience: planting some veggies and wearing $540 designer French running shoes to volunteer at a food bank don't cut it.
I appreciate that many political wives are multidimensional professional women in their own right, however surely they understand that to be a political wife (or husband) is to take the back seat in certain respects. Call me old-fashioned but the whole family takes a gigantic 'time out' from their regular lives when a head of that family becomes 'Leader of the Free World.' That's just the way it is, I don't think it an unreasonable expectation and Michelle Obama is treading a fine line.
Maybe it's just me, but with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression going on, I don't think the First Lady should be out noshing it up at some 5 star restaurant in New York with celebrities. Or wearing $540 shoes to volunteer at a food bank. Dear, it makes you look Out. Of. Touch. and that's not good. Your husband is a civil servant, not anything remotely annointed so let's keep our perspective clear and not buy into our own hype shall we?
Warning: My partner in crime, Mozilla spellcheck, is on the fritz, so please excuse any atrocious errors in the following rant.
ReplyDeleteI must confess, while I voted for Obama, the "he's the second coming of Christ" thing is exhausting. Yes, he's an incredibly smart, accomplished man. And yes, Michelle is equally as smart and accomplished. But they're still imperfect human beings like the rest of us. That being said, I'm praying he can get us out of this horrifying financial mess.
And I agree that they both should be mindful of their spending when people are losing their jobs/homes every day. Hugh was laid off in January, and while he was able to find another job (which he hates, but it's better than being homeless), I can say firsthand that the terror we felt during those days of uncertainty was staggering.
Ps: Fuck Oprah. I used to like her, oddly enough. I admired that she emerged from an impoverished upbringing to build an empire on her own. But she morphed into this media-whoring monster somewhere along the way, what with the self-promoting magazine (does she really have to be on every cover?), and then the nauseating attempts to align herself with the Obamas in every possible way. Admiration is one thing, public displays of obsession are another. Anyway, I'm officially off the Oprah bandwagon.
I agree with the Oprah dissing and think we need to get on with it. She's got enough money.
ReplyDeleteGood God Codzilla, I can imagine how terrified you must have been. I just read this in USA Today, about tent cities and people living out of their cars after being let go and losing their homes...unbelievable:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-04-new-homeless_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Those tent cities are heartbreaking. Here in Boise, Ben & Jerry's just opened a shop downtown, and apparently they got HUNDREDS of applications for the register job. Sadly, a good portion of those applicants were engineers, MBAs, etc. But you have to do what you have to do, I guess. What a shitty situation all around.
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