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2008-08-27 18:09:02 UTC
Michelle Obama Moves First Lady Role into 21st Century
By Adele Stan, Huffington Post. Posted August 26, 2008.
Michelle Obama's appearance last night conveyed an admirable unwillingness
to diminish herself and her gifts to fit a sexist ideal.
DENVER -- Back in the dreary days just before the New Hampshire primary, an
immigration activist had this to say about Barack Obama's candidacy and
racial politics in America: the real test of the nation's evolution on race
in the presidential race come when Americans wake up and realize that a
President Obama delivers to the nation a black first lady. The White House
redecorated by a black woman. The White House Christmas tree decorated at
the direction of a black woman. State dinners presided over by a black woman
-- a black woman from the South Side of Chicago. I think my friend was onto
something.
The first lady role has always been an expression of a particular ideal of
womanhood: demure, soft-spoken, sexless, harmless. First ladies who deviated
from that narrative -- Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton -- suffered
endless derision. Michelle Obama, with her impressive accomplishments, deep
intelligence and confident presence will no doubt agitate the same sneering
chorus of frightened men.
That's before we even consider our national pathologies around race. To
begin with, the attributes ascribed to African-American women by our media
and national mythology stand in direct opposition to the demure,
soft-spoken, sexless ideal. Add in Michelle Obama's physical stature and
unaffected mannerisms, and the chorus of scaredy tomcats who today make
their home in right-wing media will no doubt be driven to an elevated level
of madness.
But last night's speech by Michelle Obama to the Democratic National
Convention should go a long way to reassuring Joe Average, if not Joe
Wingnut, that Michelle Obama has figured out how to be a first lady for her
time. Never before in recent memory has a potential first lady seemed so
confident and comfortable in the glare of the spotlight. Not only did she
deliver a speech with an effective message (family, family, family), but she
delivered it flawlessly. In her delivery (if less in substance), Ms. Obama
revealed a great deal about herself -- not least of all, her unwillingness
to diminish herself and her gifts to fit a sexist ideal. Yet, her message
proved the perfect foil to her strong and flawless presentation, much as, in
her sense of style, Michelle Obama's evocation of Jacqueline Kennedy does
the same. (I want that green/blue dress.)
Michelle Obama last night set out to convey to the American people a set of
values reassuring in its evocation of traditional notions of family:
Michelle Obama raised by a father who was "our provider," a stay-at-home mom
and a protective older brother. Still, a glimmering of our transitional
moment in gender roles and relations is found in Ms. Obama's expressed
appreciation not only for her mother's caring nature, but also in her
assertion that she saw in her daughters' eyes her mother's intelligence. And
she permitted her father's finer qualities to be attributed, in her
brother's introduction, to her.
Michelle Obama last night also spoke a truth that has yet to be addressed in
the story of this historic election: the unique situation of
African-American women in the 2008 primary. Every insulting remark with a
racial tinge aimed at Barack Obama, and every sexist depiction of Hillary
Clinton -- all these were felt by African-American women in ways not
imaginable by those who have not endured those harms as their own.
While Ms. Obama did not address that very particular situation head-on, she
did allude to it in a more celebratory guise:
It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate
two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote,
and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr. King lifted our
sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.
I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history -- knowing that my
piece of the American Dream is a blessing hard-won by those who came before
me.
If you look at Michelle Obama's valedictory last night, you can take it at
face value , and hear a message about the value of traditional family, laced
with the sort of mythologizing with which political storying is rife. But
read a bit between the lines, and you'll see something more nuanced,
something a little paradoxical, a little mischievous.
Hillary Clinton, whom Michelle Obama rightfully appreciated last night in
her speech, cleared part of Michelle Obama's path for her: an educated
woman, a career woman, an attorney, no less, serving the nation as helpmeet
to the man in charge. But there's a good bit more of the brush to be
cleared, and Michelle Obama last night left the distinct impression that
she's up to the job.
By Adele Stan, Huffington Post. Posted August 26, 2008.
Michelle Obama's appearance last night conveyed an admirable unwillingness
to diminish herself and her gifts to fit a sexist ideal.
DENVER -- Back in the dreary days just before the New Hampshire primary, an
immigration activist had this to say about Barack Obama's candidacy and
racial politics in America: the real test of the nation's evolution on race
in the presidential race come when Americans wake up and realize that a
President Obama delivers to the nation a black first lady. The White House
redecorated by a black woman. The White House Christmas tree decorated at
the direction of a black woman. State dinners presided over by a black woman
-- a black woman from the South Side of Chicago. I think my friend was onto
something.
The first lady role has always been an expression of a particular ideal of
womanhood: demure, soft-spoken, sexless, harmless. First ladies who deviated
from that narrative -- Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton -- suffered
endless derision. Michelle Obama, with her impressive accomplishments, deep
intelligence and confident presence will no doubt agitate the same sneering
chorus of frightened men.
That's before we even consider our national pathologies around race. To
begin with, the attributes ascribed to African-American women by our media
and national mythology stand in direct opposition to the demure,
soft-spoken, sexless ideal. Add in Michelle Obama's physical stature and
unaffected mannerisms, and the chorus of scaredy tomcats who today make
their home in right-wing media will no doubt be driven to an elevated level
of madness.
But last night's speech by Michelle Obama to the Democratic National
Convention should go a long way to reassuring Joe Average, if not Joe
Wingnut, that Michelle Obama has figured out how to be a first lady for her
time. Never before in recent memory has a potential first lady seemed so
confident and comfortable in the glare of the spotlight. Not only did she
deliver a speech with an effective message (family, family, family), but she
delivered it flawlessly. In her delivery (if less in substance), Ms. Obama
revealed a great deal about herself -- not least of all, her unwillingness
to diminish herself and her gifts to fit a sexist ideal. Yet, her message
proved the perfect foil to her strong and flawless presentation, much as, in
her sense of style, Michelle Obama's evocation of Jacqueline Kennedy does
the same. (I want that green/blue dress.)
Michelle Obama last night set out to convey to the American people a set of
values reassuring in its evocation of traditional notions of family:
Michelle Obama raised by a father who was "our provider," a stay-at-home mom
and a protective older brother. Still, a glimmering of our transitional
moment in gender roles and relations is found in Ms. Obama's expressed
appreciation not only for her mother's caring nature, but also in her
assertion that she saw in her daughters' eyes her mother's intelligence. And
she permitted her father's finer qualities to be attributed, in her
brother's introduction, to her.
Michelle Obama last night also spoke a truth that has yet to be addressed in
the story of this historic election: the unique situation of
African-American women in the 2008 primary. Every insulting remark with a
racial tinge aimed at Barack Obama, and every sexist depiction of Hillary
Clinton -- all these were felt by African-American women in ways not
imaginable by those who have not endured those harms as their own.
While Ms. Obama did not address that very particular situation head-on, she
did allude to it in a more celebratory guise:
It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate
two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote,
and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr. King lifted our
sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.
I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history -- knowing that my
piece of the American Dream is a blessing hard-won by those who came before
me.
If you look at Michelle Obama's valedictory last night, you can take it at
face value , and hear a message about the value of traditional family, laced
with the sort of mythologizing with which political storying is rife. But
read a bit between the lines, and you'll see something more nuanced,
something a little paradoxical, a little mischievous.
Hillary Clinton, whom Michelle Obama rightfully appreciated last night in
her speech, cleared part of Michelle Obama's path for her: an educated
woman, a career woman, an attorney, no less, serving the nation as helpmeet
to the man in charge. But there's a good bit more of the brush to be
cleared, and Michelle Obama last night left the distinct impression that
she's up to the job.