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Michelle's Closet Agenda
I think it is because she is smart enough and subtle enough to have worked out that so-called Mom issues can make for meaty public policy. Take lead paint on toys: nice, hamesh-sounding thing for a Mom to care about, right? Not very threatening; not very surprising if a First Lady were to take that up. Oh, and it gives you a way to discuss globalization, free trade, the environment, public health and consumer protection legislation.
Military families? That’s a twofer. It’s all about parents and kids, and it’s highly patriotic. But start talking about better mental health support for veterans and you’re soon into the real costs of this disaster of a war, the whole terrible litany of scrambled brain tissues and shredded emotional lives. It’s the perfect show-don’t-tell way to support your husband’s policy of exiting the mess as soon as possible.
Work-family balance? What is that, really, but a polite way of putting the feminist agenda of equal pay and decent child care back on the table after so many years of neglect?
East Wing office or West Wing office, it isn’t going to matter. Michelle has already positioned herself to be as much a player in her husband’s administration as she wants to be. Which, I suspect, is quite a lot.
The woman’s a fox, in more ways than one.
Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a writer with a special interest in environmental issues. Brooks has worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
dagdavid
What an incredibly stupid article. Your long-winded anecdote is just that, long-winded and absolutely pointless. This is one of those articles where you start off with an assertion and then go back and try to find evidence. The Brady Bunch? Come one.
janeeh
I enjoyed the article in More and I enjoyed this little blog. Good points made on how those "pet issues" can and likely will be expanded into more global ones. But I appreciate also hearing that Michelle Obama clearly understands and values the job she needs to perform as her daughters' mom if this transition is going to be a good one for them. The last thing I care to see in the White House is another set of bratty presidential daughters.
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n--Y--FiredUpanxious1
What a bunch of hooey. Do you people just make up stuff? And since when do journalists predict the future? What a waste. And shame on the Beast.
thefamilygardner
This blog post gives a little twinkle of insight into an extremely complex woman and I appreciated it. I'm glad to hear an intelligent woman profess that Michelle Obama's tremendous drive and obvious capabilities don't just disappear because she says she is going to focus on getting her family settled.
theblender
perfectly insightful article! I had guessed at these conclusions, yet it's gives me great satisfaction to be confirmed. further, M Obama is lovely lady, quick and care-full...you conveyed it very nicely. that rebuke up there... geesh... probably a republican looking for fodder...cha know? LOL nice piece! ta
donatello
Said with a twinkle in her eye and a smile "Mom-in-Chief". This is a powerful position, not an idle one.
My mom was Mom-in-Chief and took on whatever role or position she desired and no-one, no-one dared think of her in a Brady Bunch or Dick Van Dyke way.
Zephyr
Thank you for the article. It's all about strategy. The "mom-in-chief" approach is a stealthy way to grapple with issues that would otherwise be deemed unbecoming of a first lady. She has to be stealthy to placate those who cling to the notion that the first lady cannot and should not engage in public discussion regarding complex national issues. She IS a fox.
JABMICH
Ms. Brooks, were you complimenting Michelle Obama or suggesting she is lying and conniving?
Ultimately, YOU appear the"fox" trying to convince us you admire her one hand, yet suggesting she has somehow been untruthful. That is 20th century feminism.. breed mistrust of other women. You giveth with one hand and stab with the other. Sorry, Ms. Brooks, you just don't get it and this is the 21st century.
tomfarr
Yes, Mrs. Obama will be a dynamo of political activism and the proof of this is that she insisted on picking her own dress for the photo shoot. I read a lot of fatuous stuff in the Daily Beast, but this beats most of it.
sallyma
Wow, i went to Ivy and have accomplished a long list of items that surpass what Michele has done. from what i read of Michele she is good at thinking she is smarter than she is. and this "story" blows me away! the women is a wonder b/c she knows her bows? comon! As i read on a feminst blog today, and i paraphrase, Michele is retro-fitting all women for a nice 50s style girdle!
Kneeb0ne
As someone who is supported feminist causes their entire life, I believe it is a bit counter-intuitive to dismiss Mrs. Obama's desire to first and foremost be a mom. Let her do whatever she wants, its her life. If she doesn't ever speak out on any cause during her husband's tenure as president, who cares, its her life.
Maybe she just wants to be a mom right now. People can choose to be different people at different points throughout their life.
She is Harvard and Princeton educated which hopefully makes her smart enough to realize that her number one priorities are her kids (as it should be for Barak also).
So please cut the lady some slack, she has two small kids which is enough for any one person to deal with moreover having to carry the torch for feminism.
bryanlevi
Hmm, that Brady Bunch reference really threw this thing off-track.
Other than that, an article like this would have more impact if the author seemed to have any point-of-view at all. What (I think) the author is describing is something that will be railed against by the Righties and rallied around by us Lefties.
And why shouldn't the First Lady have an agenda, particularly someone like Michelle Obama with stellar intellect, experience, curiosity in and concern for the world. It is, after, the 21st century, and it would seem a bit of a mockery to have a woman in that kind of postion to be sitting there with her hands folded and blank smile on her face, no opinions, etc.
MissLead
Who says she knows how to dress? She looked like a Lava Lamp in that red and black dress at her husbands acceptance.
somebody
So you're saying that Michelle Obama might be the next Hillary Clinton? Because that seems entirely plausible.
Thank you.
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