Michelle Obama, who will meet the Queen of England tomorrow on her husband’s first overseas swing, is the most media savvy and, ipso facto, phoniest first lady we’ve had since…actually, possibly ever.
The goal of the modern first lady has traditionally been to be a stoic trouper, or, Hillary like, to find her own thing, or, in the manner of Pat Nixon, to hide in plain sight. Or to be the backbone of the family: In the case of Barbara Bush, to keep her boozy family in line; in the case of Nancy Reagan, to protect her not-entirely-with-it husband.
Never before has there been someone so obviously enthusiastic about and dedicated to
public image making, to selling her husband. Nobody in the history of this quasi-office has been so aggressive in a PR way.
There’s no awkwardness to this lady—in one of the more awkward jobs this side of vice president. No reticence. No sense of being caught up in something far from her own making.
(AP Image)
Oddly, at the beginning of the long Obama campaign, Michelle did seem unhappily caught in the limelight. And resentful about it.
Even strident (the worst thing a candidate’s wife can be).
But jeez did they get her under control—or, as likely, she got into it. She made the role her own—that is, recognized it as a role. Whereas all the others got it wrong: They were trying to be real.
Michelle’s into the performance. She’s happily in our faces. Happy to put
her arms in our faces. It’s all about large gestures.
If she’s on
the cover of Vogue, or shamelessly
pushing her children into the lights, or getting out in the
damn vegetable garden, she’s always good. She’s great. You wouldn’t have any idea that she’s a lawyer, mom, and hospital administrator. She’s no dweeb. Rather this is Barbara Walters, and Angelina Jolie, and Perle Mesta, in one. And it surely isn’t Jacqueline Kennedy, that shopping addict and wounded bird.
But most of all, and no doubt by the most careful design, this isn’t Hillary Clinton. Last week,
the Economist got on to the dumbing down of Michelle, theorizing that the administration wanted to avoid a Clinton-like harshness and professionalism and grabbiness (who wouldn’t want to avoid that?).
But the
Economist missed the point that Michelle was going for a vastly larger role—that hers is a bigger grab. She’s out to be the most popular person in the country; the real heart of the new administration (she, perhaps, understands that her husband’s heart is a bit cool); the true goodness of America.
Hillary Clinton wanted to be a Washington lawyer. Michelle Obama wants to be Oprah.
More of Newser founder Michael Wolff's articles and commentary can be found at VanityFair.com, where he writes a regular column. He can be emailed at michael@newser.com
