Women Celebrate Michelle O.

The 'tough' but 'normal' First Lady has a lot going for her, and is making the best of it all
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2009 12:22 PM CDT
Women Celebrate Michelle O.
On April 21, 2009, first lady Michelle Obama uses a shovel as she plants a tree with volunteers at a national service project at Kenilworth Aquatic Garden in Washington.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, FILE)

Michelle Obama: Whether you see her as a role model for working moms, an angry black woman, a sensible style icon, or an irrepressible hugger, everyone seems to have an opinion about the new first lady. The Guardian got 12 prominent women to muse on the different sides of Michelle; here's what they have to say:

  • Rachel Cooke muses that in spite of having so much in common with progressive-yet-reviled Hillary Clinton, Obama has made the first lady role "less dusty, less embarrassing, less tight-assed."
  • Mariella Frostrup muses on the dour and dirty sexual politics of White House residents past, giving the Obamas a thumbs up: "It's rare to see a couple move so naturally around each other. Body language is such a giveaway."
  • Carol Cadwalladr is floored, not that Michelle hugged the Queen, but that HRH hugged back.
  • Elizabeth Day, no slouch herself, celebrates Obama's comfort with her near-6-foot frame: She's "the first woman in the public eye to celebrate so defiantly both her height and her curves." And like Barack, you want Michelle on your team: "Especially in basketball."
Find more at the link below.
(More Michelle Obama stories.)

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