Making Michelle Who She Isn't -- Risky Obama Campaign Move
Many people, especially in politics, think the bad things that happened to the other guy (gal) aren't going to happen to them. "That was different," they reason. "That was then and this is now."
Well, politics is, as Michelle Obama has observed, "a game and a sport." And while there are new moves all the time, some tried and true ones are evident in every political campaign. One of those is about to happen to Michelle Obama unless she heeds her own counsel.
I've written about "slippery criteria" applied to women and minorities. Since they're often relatively new to high levels of organizations and less privy in most cases to how others got there, much of what goes on behind the scenes to block them is not accessible. Usually they're sent off on some wild goose chase seeking one additional accolade, one more element of proof that they're the best person for the job or promotion. And just when they achieve that goal, the game is changed -- new criteria emerge.
In an interview, Michelle Obama noted this about her husband's campaign. "The pundits said there was no way Barack could raise the money and that was the test -- raising the money -- until Barack raised the money and then that wasn't important." She described how they said "he couldn't build the political organization to outmatch opponents who'd been building theirs for years. He did and then that wasn't an issue."
Hillary Clinton tried to get ahead of constantly changing criteria. It cost her. Now Anderson Cooper (June 17) tells us that Michelle Obama is going to be remodeled. Based on what? According to whom? Not again!
I'm all for tweaking and even an occasional dramatic change in order to get where you want to go. We should all be constantly learning. But being someone other than who you are to please, especially media commentators, only displeases you. Besides, we are who we are, and our gestures and micro-expressions belie our lies. When we act as if we're someone other than who we are, we are on shaky ground and it's noticeable. It's also impossible to lead for long from such a precarious perch.
When women or men start reinventing themselves based on the latest "criteria" -- it's risky. Change is what Obama's campaign is largely about. But changing his wife shouldn't be -- not beyond recognition or even close to that. She has much to offer and has said she's looking forward to changing the lives of women for the better -- the women who don't have the back-ups she and Barack have, who work long hours for too little money and are just too tired to think. That will, in turn, change the lives of thousands of children at risk who are shamefully overlooked in our society.
I don't get the sense that Michelle Obama will sell her soul to help her husband become president. But she'll do some tweaking, learn to think even more before she speaks, reflect upon the various interpretations of her words, and, as she has said about big decisions, "go down every dark road" before doing or saying something potentially dangerous. That's just using political wisdom. But once they start trying to make her a composite of first ladies of the past -- a woman who looks lovingly spellbound at her man - perhaps someone who does cute, adorable things (to soften her image), then change will have gone too far.
Michelle has said about politics as a game: "We have to focus on not doing that. If you want to change it, you can't become part of it." Good words to remember. Very good words to remember when they start sending her off to become one more thing, then another -- to get it right.
More about "slippery criteria" at bardscove.com
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He isn't changing his wife. She's just trying to let people see the real her. It's the MSM and the republicans who have tried to define her as something she's not - bitter, angry, etc.
I don't htink they are talking about changing Michelle; only the public's perception of her. Wow, way to slant this out of proportion. Are you hoping to take down Obama so Hillary can slide back into her "inevitable' spot or what?
very good point!
More importantly, this is not reinvention but merely a process that is similar to Peeling the Layers of an Onion. People can characterize it whatever way they want. But what is wrong with showing a different part of you as opposed to a "different you." The latter, which I suspect is not happening here. Again, people can elect, to see what they want. I think a majority of the public will elect to see Michelle Obama as a person exposing different facets of her personality.
I think a "make-over" is an exaggeration being parroted by the media to undercut the Obama campaign's attempts to let people get to know Michelle. The idea that she's somehow a liability is a Republican fantasy they're trying to sell. Typical Karl Rove tactics - tell a big lie and keep telling it, because some people are stupid enough to believe it.
What they really seem to be doing is letting people see more of Michelle so people see that she's a real person, not the scary stereotype as the Right wants to represent her. I think the more people see her, the more they'll like her - she's a likable person, very pretty and smart. It's completely appropriate for them to let people get familiar with the future First Lady.
Kathleen overlooks what's behind why America is so threatened by strong people like Michelle is perceived to be the no.1 catch-22 in America. The American myth that America is and must always be 'number one' in the world which does inspire excellence and achievement in Americans but also creates a ceiling like no glass ceiling that frowns on Americans who seem to stand above America and look down on it in the name of what America stands for. This is why America's hero's must always be anti-intellectual and broadly emotional even to the point of infantile because although Americans must be greater than non Americans they can never be greater than America. From Forrest Gump to John Wayne to Sly Stallone and Clint Eastwood from Sandra Bullock to Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston. Even Bruce Springsteen's image is as simple as his songs in America's eyes though he is very intelligent as an individual and Martin Luther King jr. who was not valued for the intellectual content of his message but the emotions it evoked must always be 'America's son' and never its owner. To improve requires outgrowing the past standards even the ones set by America and implies a judgment as to whether or not America is all that it would have its citizens be- catch 22! To be a good American you always be out performing but to be a good american you cannot outperform the very inspiration to do so- America.
Mrs. Obama is smart, articulate, gorgeous and doesn't need a "makeover," and she is too much her own person to ever submit to one.
However, in my 32 year legal career, I have prepared hundreds of witnesses and clients for taking the stand or testiifying in a deposition, and there are "tricks of the trade" that witnesses (and candidates and candidates spouses, too) need to learn to make sure they aren't trapped into saying something they don't mean by reporters. And I am quite sure that is precisely what the article was referring to. It doesn't have anything to do with changing who they "are" as people, nor does it require them to misrepresent themsselves or tell anything but the truth. It has to do with listening skills and and taking a few seconds to think before answering questions. This kind of preparatikon can make a major difference in how you are perceived by the person who is questioning you (and by the audience, be it a trial jury or the public). I am sure that Michelle has done the same thing herself for witnesses and clients when she was practicing law, and I'm sure she'll be a quick learner herself.
Gorgeous? Not hardly. But neither was Eleanor Roosevelt. People got used to that because Eleanor made the most of her best asset, her brain. Michelle needs to be heard more than she needs to be seen.
The description of Michelle as gorgeous was right on the mark. She displayed that physical beauty on The View this morning, but along with that beauty was the beauty of the inner person, something you obviously don't have. Take off your racist blinders and see our next first lady as she truly is (and will be)-- a beautiful, intelligent, and worthy representative of our country.
And Cindy is "gorgeous".
Just shows 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' and your opinion is vastly different from mine.
And none of this has anything to do with political issues.
To be fair, I don't think the NYT article is suggesting that M. Obama completely re-fashion herself - just that she needs to begin a concerted effort to present herself on her own terms, rather than letting the right wing nutjobs paint her as the next bitch-queen from hell, like they did with Hillary when she was running for first-lady. They've already started, so the O team needs to be proactive in putting her front and center so she can speak for herself.
Your argument in this article assumes that there is something fundamentally wrong with M. Obama, that they are trying to hide, when this is simply ridiculous. She's an amazing woman, who has has her words taken out of context and twisted to make her into a caricature. Rejecting that caricature is not making her into someone she is not, it is making clear exactly who she is.
Well, if you saw her on the View today, it's obvious that she's NOT being someone she's NOT...She is awesome, and she is being introduced to the general electorate
Michele is the OTHER REASON I was for Sen. Clinton.
I still would rather have President Clinton being the first person the new President talks to when that 3:00AM phone calls comes. Can you image Michele's response:
"Tell 'em to wait till 9:00AM- I've got a life here that comes first before this nation that has failed me so many times already."
She cannot change herself and the whole nations sees it!
Wow, I didn't know until just this minute that Michelle Malkin was trolling on this board!
How could I not recognize Malkin's lame, angry, junior-high-school style of attempted "humor?"
Stick to the rightwing blogosphere where we can MORE EASILY ignore you, Mitchy.
(And no, I can't "image Michele's" response, genius.)
It's amusing to watch you guys saddle up that dead horse. I hear a fading cry as it takes you off a cliff to oblivion: "White-eee
If you were a Clinton supporter- surprised you do not endorse a strong woman- regardless of color!
As a strong white woman- I love who Michelle Obama is- smart, articulate, and right on the issues.
Doubt you were a Clinton supporter- they are not racist!
This is a pretty weak comment. Cl inton was running against O for president, not against M ichelle as prez wife.
She has always said, she is a mother first. No matter what your job is, you are most responsible for what you create and bring into the world. If all women cared for their children in the same way, the world would be a better place.
You like many other ignorant people in America have no issue with strong women...as long as they are white. Her husband is sacrificing so much and yet, because of his hue, he has even more to prove to ignoroids like you.
I am GLAD that HRC showed who she truly was with the race baiting, because she lost a base that had been devoted to her husband. She was and is her own enemy.
Who cares? I'm not voting for Mrs. Obama. Could we have more issue-related coverage, please? I'd really love to see what writers think of Krugman's recent assessment of the shortcomings of Obama's tax proposals, which, while better than McCain, do not go far enough in taxing the wealthy in order to pay for universal health care.
Aren't you in the wrong place for comments.
Fox News would be a better fit!!!
sorry, dcmata--i must be in the wrong place if i want to talk about progressive issues rather than mrs. obama's make-up. i don't think fox is a place where we;re going to get any discussion of how feasible candidates' policy ideas are. you go ahead and keep up your mindless cheerleadi
But the whole Obama campaign is about to reinvent itself. Remarks picked up on in Britain but not widely reported in the U.S. I think, revealed Obama sees himself as a friend of free markets. So instead of the man of the people guy, the friend of ordinary folks that Democratic voters nominated they are going to get a candidate who is the puppet of Corporate interests.
Tax cuts for the rich and more misery for the poor. Business as usual in the America Bush made..
Against a turnaround like that, Michelle's new hairstyle is going to look pretty innocuous.
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You don't believe the Press is looking for stories, regardless of how insignificant???
Britain's press is nortorious for gossip!!
Aren't you really touting your own perverted vision?
Go back and watch his speeches from his Senate campaign and last fall. He's always been in favor of cpitalism and free markets so long as free trade agreements have labor and environmental provisions designed to level the playing field. You are talking about Naomi Klein's piece in The Guardian which unfortuantely exposed her as poorly informed on Obama's record.
Tax cuts for the wealthy, wars galore, in bed with oil, weapons/defense, pharmaceut
McCain has become one of the dangerous Cookie-Cutter Republicans(Sorry, Cindy, about mentioning cookies-know it's a sore spot for 'ya).
Thank you, K. Reardon, for not comparing Michelle to the late First Lady, Jackie.
Lordy, there's nothing wrong with Michelle Obama as she is. I think she's terrific. Just be yourself Michelle..
Every first lady or first VP spouse goes through changes.
It is not natural for someone to stand by their spouse and smile all the time, never having or voicing their opinion. Hillary had to "change" for Bills presidency. Look at who she is now compared to when she was first lady.
Of course Michelle has to learn how to adapt to what the public expects from a first lady. Even Cindy couldn't naturally be that stiff.
Having seen Michelle Obama in person, I can tell you she is one of the most authentic and grounded person I have ever encountered. It is a shame that 3 seconds of video from an hour long speech has been turned into this gigantic circus that speculates there is something wrong with this women. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Michelle Obama. If all our politicians, and all our public figures, were as honest and straight speaking as she is, I think we might actually be able to solve our Nation's problems like the Adults we, supposedly, are.
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