Is Michelle Obama’s Slip in the Polls Unavoidable?
November 11, 2009
by Contributor
|As reported by Politico.com, Michelle Obama’s popularity has slipped from an all time high in March of 72% to 61% this month.
“That 11-point stumble – some might call it a tumble – seems at odds with the focus of a White House publicity team that is carefully crafting her image and building a decidedly current, wholesome, upbeat brand. But while Obama has broadened the reach of her office, White House observers say that the role and projects she has embraced so far are seen by some as disappointingly traditional.”
Is anyone else having a flashback? Just like the First Ladies who preceded her, Michelle Obama will be criticized as being either too “Stepford” or too much of a “Co-President.” Why must we always look at other women and see them as “too” something? I will never understand why women insist on being each others harshest critics. We seem to feel it is perfectly appropriate to pass judgement on everything from how they dress, what if any career path they choose, to how they raise their children.
Think for a moment about what former First Ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton had in common. In my opinion both were exactly the “kind” of Presidential First Ladies as they had been when they were the First Ladies of Texas and Arkansas. They were very different “kinds” of First Ladies, but both were women who were consistently themselves, and BOTH caught hell for it. Do I have an opinion on how Michelle Obama is running her career/life? My answer is no – because it’s none of my business. Frankly, I find the endless speculation about who is “pulling her stings” and “what will she make of herself” both offensive and tedious.
I think Michelle Obama had it exactly right in a recent interview with Prevention Magazine.
“I know what makes me happy. I pick the clothes that make me happy—sometimes people like them, sometimes they don’t. I try to listen to my own internal guide. My message to women: Do what makes you feel good, because there’ll always be someone who thinks you should do it differently. Whether your choices are hits or misses, at least they’re your own.”
Good for you Michelle!
I find it interesting that we hear from the media that Mrs. Obama is the vehicle used to bring others on board to her husband’s ideas; like she is some poster child for Obama brand. The reason I always liked both Secretary Clinton and Mrs. Laura Bush was the fact that they were their own person. When W was unpopular with the country, I don’t recall them calling out the big guns and putting Mrs. Laura Bush on the front page of the news to soften the public opinion of her husband. Mrs. Laura Bush was Laura Bush first and the wife of the President second. The media are using Michelle Obama to protect her husband from negative public opinion. That is a shame because she is so much more than a billboard.
Excellent piece, Thia.
I like what you said here:
This is good food for thought! Yes, women are endlessly tough on each other, and I know I have been guilty of this. It’s necessary to stop and reflect on this.
michelle obama is doing traditional first lady things, including speaking for her husband and his policies. the public is doing its traditional criticism of the first lady. if she can’t stand the heat, she should stay in the family quarters in the east wing. that’s the life of a consort, just ask prince philip. she can resume her life later, just ask hillary clinton.
it’s not just women who criticize michelle, either, and it wasn’t just women who criticized first ladies of past administrations. not everybody loved jackie kennedy, though nobody seems to remember it now. not everybody loved jack kennedy, either. those in the public eye are hated as much as loved. it seems as certain as death and taxes.
The role of first lady is a public office. It is very much our business what she does in that position. She has been handling the duties of her office poorly and thus deserves the criticism. If she were not performing a public role, there would be no press releases about her activities and she would not have a staff and an office in the White House. So far she has used her position solely to improve her husband’s approval levels. She has not selected any issues of her own to work on and she has projected an image of women that is right out of the 50′s stay-at-home mom image. To suggest that no woman should ever be criticized because women in the past have been unfairly criticized makes no logical sense.
I resent Michelle because it is implied by male Democrats that she is some sort of female presence or representative of women in the White house but she isn’t. Either is Valerie Jarrett over at the commission on Women and girls, she does nothing but take up space. Meanwhile the Democrats sell out women and their needs every chance they get and they don’t even sell us for a high price. I don’t care about Michelle’s fashion choices and I don’t care about her mothering skills. If that is what I wanted to talk about relative to government, or at all I would just read some “women’s” magazine. Michelle and Valerie are nothing but tools in the Liberal Democrat Patriarchy which arrogantly mocks women and our needs. Don’t even try to make me feel guilty for knowing this or saying it.
When I see or hear about Michelle all I can think about is her saying “if you can’t run your own house, ow can you run the White House?” in regard to Hillary’s lack of ability to control her husband’s wandering ways. I wonder if the message to all those who have cheating spouses is that it’s their fault. Beyond that I have no other opinion and I don’t need to know who she is. She isn’t running for office in anything I get a vote for.
Sad. I find it utterly sad to discuss Michelle Obama other than to lament her presence. period.
She has stood by and watched her pastor trash women and this country and lie while doing so. She has stood by and taken a raise by THREE TIMES from the hospital she worked for after her husband become a state senator while doing less work (and interestingly enough when she left the position it has yet to be filled). She has had her license to practice law revoked by the Illinois Attorney and Registration Committee. She has said nothing about her husband and the Democratic Party’s trashing of Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has said nothing about the fantastic job Hillary Rodham Clinton is doing as Secretary of State. And, even more importantly, she has said nothing about the gang rape of that young woman or any other issue relating to women since she has taken office. Except, of course, to complain that her ‘victory’ garden died because of something the Clinton’s did to the White House Grounds 10 years ago.
In addition to the afore mentioned atrocities, Michelle Obama has TWICE the waitstaff of any other first lady and is spending money like it belongs to someone else (oh wait, it does) while her husband tells out of work and can’t find work struggling Americans to tighten their belts. She is a poor photo op in world where the MSM can’t tell the truth if our lives depend on it (and it does). She is no more a good person or a moral leader than her husband, and in my opinion she is worse because I think she is smarter than he is (not that that is saying much).
Michelle Obama is just one more woman standing by her man as he trashes the world. Fancy words, pretty clothes, and spin aside she is just part of the problem.
By the way in 2008 after the mocking misogyny the liberal democrats hurled at Hillary and Palin, when there started to be an outcry about their behavior the Obamacrats tried to slip Michelle in as the victim of sexism du juor to distract “feminist” groups. This is probably nothing but a rerun of their tactic against women and our legitimate issues since Male Liberal Democratic Misogyny is again being called out over the health care bill and their failure to represent women. Don’t be distracted by this stupid tactic women it makes you look stupid. No one wants to discuss First Lady politics here we have real issues.
jenniferintexas, thank you. I thought I was the only one who saw her like this.
She doesn’t impress me nor does all the “brand” making that swirls around her. She’s been told to “sit down and shut up” more times, no doubt, then we know about. Guess the money and power is a good trade-off for her. Who knew!
Loralee,
Smart girls must stick together and call dumb when we see it.
“I wonder if the message to all those who have cheating spouses is that it’s their fault.”
Or that, if you want to be in the public eye as a woman, you’d damned well better have not a single sexual hair out of place. Along with the other totally reasonable requirements (attractive but not slutty, well-dressed but not expensively dressed, old but young, fresh but experienced, strong in a weak and deferential sort of way), that should qualify roughly ZERO women for positions of public power!
Well, unless you want to be The Wife To Power. Then, just keep your husbands peccadilloes silent, and you’ll be left alone to smile pretty and wear designer dresses.
And I don’t care about her race. She has $600 shoes, and thanks to her hubby’s little sleight-of-hand, her poorer black sisters now have $500 abortions to look forward to.
Janis,
I don’t care about her race or her husband’s sexual antics, I am judging her on her own merits and she sucks. big time. BIG TIME.
Agreed totally — I’m just going after her on that comment. And how, if we start down that road, the only woman we’ll ever be able to elect to anything will be a nun. And even then, she’ll just be called frigid. *sigh*
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[...] Is Michelle Obama’s Slip in the Polls Unavoidable? – New Agenda Report [...]
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