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.
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Joe Mathews is a journalist, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as Justice Department reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as a city desk reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy.
Gerald Posner is the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism (www.posner.com). Posner lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
Amanda Fortini has written for The New Yorker, Slate, Elle, and New York, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
To coin a "Supreme Court" phrase: this article has no socially redeeming value.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Who says she knows how to dress? She looked like a Lava Lamp in that red and black dress at her husbands acceptance.
So you're saying that Michelle Obama might be the next Hillary Clinton? Because that seems entirely plausible.
If the story is so stupid, why did you waste your time making a comment about it.
While I didn't gain any profound insight from this article, it does point in the right direction. No matter what Mrs. Obama decides to do, everyone will be watching and if history is any indication, she will do it with style and grace.
I like the idea of a First Lady who is smart and strong. Smart enough to know how to ease her perspective into policy and strong enough to be able to do it with a grace and grit that the smart one's know not to underestimate.
How sad that she has to disguise her intelligence, and plot her way into meaningful debate on issues that matter behind seeminly non-threatening topics of family and child rearing. Even sadder that this article, which supposedly supports feminism, deems this approach smart and encouraging.
wow. tough crowd!
the importance of m.o. not allowing herself to be "handled" (or mishandled) is totally on point; yes, it may "just" have been a dress in this case, but if she applies that self-possession and clarity of objective to everything, i think the american people can expect wonderful things from her!
also: hmmm, wasn't there another woman involved in this election who was recently lambasted for her wardrobe choices? or, if you believe her, for letting herself be "mishandled"? m.o. is the perfect counterpoint to ms. palin, in every way.
I think Michelle Obama is a very attractive lady and she always looks smart.....she will bring a lot to the White House as she is a very intelligent lady and can hold her own when interviewed.
Can't wait for Jan 20th.....it will be such an emotional and historic day for us all.
Michelle Obama didn't run for office, her husband did.
I think she will be one of the most pertinent First Ladies the US has seen in recent memory. I agree with Geraldine Brooks that through seemingly soft issues, Michelle Obama can address some very important "hot" problems. That's clever. Like Barack, she IS a fox.
And what I LOVE about Michelle is the self confidence. She"s just a bit younger than my generation and from what I can see there's no guilt there about being smart andsuperbly educated while devoting the major part of your time and energy to your family, and children.
I remember chatting with a girlfriend as both of us began our new lives as working moms with husbands in the picture. The first problem for us was figuring out how to ditch the guilt of not fulfilling our professional potential to the tip top for once so we could go home and take on the much more vital job of taking care of our families.
When an American woman allows herself to be a committed mother letting the professional life take a back seat for a while, she begins to grow up, accept her true role and make the most of her life.
Michelle Obama's self appointment as Mom-in-Chief shows that the battle for professional equality that women have fought for years is only beginning to pay off now.
She understands her role perfectly and maintains the Obama campaign rule of "no drama."
I agree with JABMICH.
It's hard to say if this piece compliments Michelle or simply does the opposite in a covert manner.
Why are none of my comments posted!!!!
skura writes, "It's hard to say if this piece compliments Michelle or simply does the opposite in a covert manner."
imo the piece's author was a bit too enamored of using that pun (like a Fox) as her closer - it's what generated the article's emotional ambiguity.
Thank you.
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