Robin Givhan: First Ladies Most Provocative When They're Abroad

Washington Post:

Recent first ladies have often been at their most provocative when they've traveled abroad. As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to China for the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 to deliver a major address. In the weeks leading up to her speech, Clinton administration officials debated whether it was wise for her to go, whether she should confront China on its human rights abuses and how it should be done. She ended up delivering her now-famous speech in which she equated women's rights and human rights. "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference," Clinton said, "it is that human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights once and for all."

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Comments

[ruthinking]

08:34 AM on 04/14/2010

Whew, nice to see the comments here. I read this online on the WPost, and the hate made the cream in my morning coffee curdle. What is wrong with the haters? have they no life of their own? Yikes!

[booboopickle]

05:08 PM on 04/13/2010

Im a big fan of our first lady, but didnt they seem to try to make her look particularly dark in that photo?

[Balzac]

01:57 PM on 04/13/2010

People pay attention when the First Lady speaks. She has the most power among women of the world, even though she's the spouse of a leader.

[Oscar Kimani]

01:23 PM on 04/13/2010

i have a huge crush on the flotus!

[ribanbel]

12:17 PM on 04/13/2010

Robin quit bashing the First Lady.it's NOT her fault Craig dumped you way back in the days

[griggsville]

11:54 AM on 04/13/2010

Anyone else every notice how default professional photography lighting seems to make black people darker than they actually are? This pic of Mrs. Obama reminds me of how our school pictures always seemed to be too dark.

[lily31]

12:45 PM on 04/13/2010

They could easily fix the problem if they only understood how their camera's light meter works. All they have to do is use their spot meter and give the exposure one less stop of. They can even build in a setting for African American skin and switch over to it when following the first lady or the president.

Conversely, the can have a setting for Caucasian skin which will give the exposure one more stop of light.

In the meantime I wish photographers would erase this type of exposure before it ever gets out of the camera... it is either a political statement or evidence of how unskilled the photographer is. In either case it sucks!

[1088]

11:15 AM on 04/13/2010

The President will go insane without his boo for 3 days!