The Obama family — let's call them the "First Family" now — will, all politics aside, bring a new light to the White House. There haven't been young children running through those hallowed halls since John F. Kennedy was president, and they are a positive portrayal of the black family that will inspire Americans of all races and backgrounds. But what of Michelle? Her detractors loved to say that she's not First Lady material. She is now.
That doesn't mean that she'll be anything like her predecessors. She was raised on the South Side of Chicago, she's 6 feet tall, and she has a BA from Princeton and a JD from Harvard. Also, she seems to prefer Narciso Rodriguez to Oscar De La Renta, a favorite of first ladies for decades and decades. If you're only looking at resumes, Michelle is most like a certain ex-opponent of her husband's. But unlike Hillary Clinton, our newest first lady has said numerous times that she has no interest in involving herself politically in Barack's administration. Nevertheless, she will probably have a great deal to offer in the 4-8 years she spends in the White House. Besides the obvious, how else will she differ from the ladies below?
Laura BushHometown: Midland, TX
Education: BA, Southern Methodist University; MA, University of Texas
Before the White House: Teacher, Librarian, First Lady of Texas
First Lady Platforms: Women's heart disease and cancer awareness; treatment of women in the Middle East
Hillary ClintonHometown: Park Ridge, Illinois
Education: BA, Wellesley College; JD, Yale School of Law
Before the White House: Attorney, Law Professor, Co-Founder of the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, First Lady of Arkansas
First Lady Platforms: Health care reform, domestic violence, foster care and children's issues, international women's rights
Nancy ReaganHometown: Bethesda, MD; Chicago, IL
Education: Smith College
Before the White House: Actress, First Lady of California
First Lady Platforms: The "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign
Jacqueline Kennedy (Onassis)Hometown: Southampton, NY
Education: Vassar, The Sorbonne, and George Washington University
Before the White House: "Inquiring Camera Girl" for the Washington Times-Herald
First Lady Platforms: Restoration of the White House
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Young, Black, Fabulous
I'm all about the Michelle! She is the one who won me over for Barack. I choked up today when I realized that MICHELLE LAVAUGHN ROBINSON OBAMA is my FIRST LADY!! Another giant's shoulders for young black women to stand on!
I'm white, but for some reason I identify with this first family more than I have with any other in my lifetime. I just get the feeling looking at them that they are more like me than the Bush or even the Clinton families. Seeing them standing up there on that stage… My black best friend was overjoyed, my girlfriend was in tears, and I was more proud to be an American than I ever have been.
I ADORE Michelle Obama. She's fierce, intelligent, gracious and from what I can see, a true partner in her marriage with Barack. She's a truly admirable woman and you couldn't ask for a better role model for young girls.
Cutest first family EVER!!!
I was so happy to see the first family walk out. Now, young black women can aspire to be like michelle obama than new york or superhead.
^^wild guess: any young black woman who was already aspiring to be like supahead or new york is prolly not to moved by michelle obama.
i heart michelle. i love hearing her speak. she's the bomb.
I LOVE this woman– she's not perfect, and yet is so for the white house and is just what this nation needs to look at. She's smart, she has great timing, I want to see more of her over the next eight years.
^^wild guess: any young black woman who was already aspiring to be like supahead or new york is prolly not to moved by michelle obama.
You know, I disagree. I think that even New York is sitting somewhere realizing that she is has a lot to learn, and a tremendous amount of growing to do.
I never understood why people didn't think she was "First Lady material". By what standard? Laura Bush? Hillary Clinton? Betty Ford?
I think Michelle Obama is one of the best-qualified First Ladies in history.
Summer, that is such a ridiculous comment. People are multi-faceted. Are you so one dimensional that you can't conceive of that.
Why do we need other when we can do the belittling all by ourselves.
She'll do fine.
I'm not Harvard educated, but my husband and I just paid off our damn college loans a few years ago. I'm not white, but my husband and I are Indian. I don't have a 10 year old and a five year old, but I have a four year old. I'm not her but I relate to her very much. I am hsppy.
Sorry, sp: HAPPY. VERY HAPPY!
I love Michelle! I and my few remaining friends (we're kinda…like…old) hollered and cried upon the election results, never thought we'd live to see the day but we did. Anyway, she's stylish, classy, educated, loving but feisty when necessary, carries the height proudly (back in the day tall girls tried to shrink) and is beautiful. I hope she reads this; I would like to see her educate our young Black women on health, the importance of education, being ladies, loving themselves, the value of marriage before births, ad infinitum. Oh, and that ugly neck-movement thingie, as in 'I'm bad'.
Amendment: ALL young women ((I watch the 'judge' shows.) I beg everyone's pardon.
LOL
I hear you.
I LUV Michelle.
Americans — women, black people, black women, etc. included — have a very antiquated view of what a first lady should be like. It generally involves a stay-at-home woman wearing designer clothes that are about as exciting as a cold bowl of oatmeal and standing behind her man with a Vicodin-induced emptiness and a Stepford smile standing behind her man. Michelle (like Hillary, Barbara, Betty and Eleanor) doesn't conform to this publicly or privately and so this makes her "flawed" and somewhat disliked. Nothing drives Americans crazy like women with great ambition and drive, who make "doing it all" look easy when it certainly isn't in reality, who dare stand beside their men and not behind them.
Iam not an American, a Ugandan by Nationality. I love Michelle Obama she has inspired lots of women here.
I Love Michelle & Barack Obama! They are an awesome couple and you can see that they are One. They have tons of Love & Affection for one another and it is something that you have never ever seem with any of our other Former Presidents and their families. They are so real without any pretendng. I beleive Michelle will be an Excellent First Lady bringing to the table tons of her own Style, Knowledge, Leadership skills and more. Just look at them, they are a Beautiful American Family that happens to be African American as my family is too!!!!!!! So be careful what you say about them, they are Divine! Watch yourself!
Watching Michelle & Barack together gives me hope that marriages can work.Their LOVE is infectious.It shines in their children's smiles. They even make me smile; and I am a 66yr. old unhappily married female. They make you feel like they are the happy ending to a great movie. God bless them and keep them safe.They are in my prayers daily.They are beautiful Christmas Blessing to America and the World.