First Lady Michelle Obama, once considered quite an asset to her husband both on the campaign trail and in the White House, has taken some heat of late. And no, it’s not for allegedly hen-pecking her husband this time.
What is happening, however, is that her approval ratings are falling. Plummeting, in fact. Now, you might be wondering why anyone should give a rat’s ass about the approval ratings of a First Lady.
Historically, in fact, a First Lady’s primary job was eye candy. Now, though, a woman married to the president is held up to a whole new level of scrutiny that is monitored relentlessly through polls. Sometimes I wonder if Michelle Obama has any regrets …
Anyway, Mrs. Obama’s approval ratings have taken a serious hit in the last few months (according to the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, only half of those surveyed have a favorable outlook on Michelle O.), and the apparent reason is kind of unfair.
The survey was taken from Aug. 5 to Aug. 9, which happened to coincide with Mrs. Obama’s vacation in Spain, where she, along with daughter Sasha and several friends, stayed in a posh five-star resort. It was a luxurious getaway for the first lady of a nation with nearly 10 percent unemployment and widespread economic anxiety, and it fed an image of extravagance that Mrs. Obama has created by, among other things, patronizing chichi restaurants and wearing $775 boots to break ground at her White House garden. A new name — “Michelle Antoinette” — was born.
You know, I think it’s really pretty unfair to judge a woman under perpetual Secret Service protection for taking her daughter on a nice vacation. What is probably less publicized is that Malia Obama, Sasha’s older sister, spent the summer at a camp in New Hampshire (and no, it wasn’t the one with the autistic pedophile … we have a lot of summer camps in the good old Granite State).
Yup, the fact that one of the Obama children spent a large portion of her summer in a town called Hebron just doesn’t fit with the image of the first family that some in the media are trying to portray.
And to anybody that wants to make comments about the cost of Michelle Obama’s clothes, I have two words for you: Sarah Freaking Palin (okay, that was three).
Although First Ladies weren’t the subject of relentless polling and pressure to have a high approval rating at the time, this is somewhat reminiscent of criticism faced by the wife of Ronald Reagan, a man Republicans have canonized. When Nancy Reagan wore the mantle of “First Lady”, she was somewhat free of the pressures faced by Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.
While the New York Times often criticized her “opulent tastes” in bad economic times as being inappropriate, Nancy Reagan did not have to consider how her every move was being scrutinized not just by the media but through polls that would leave a historic political paper trail.
Barack and Michelle Obama are parents to two daughters who are, by all accounts, solid, intelligent, well-rounded, polite, and respectful kids. They are kept very much out of the public eye. In fact, the Obamas seem to be taking a page from the Clinton book here … and, no matter how you feel about either Bill or Hillary Clinton, you have to admit that their daughter Chelsea is a young woman any parent would be proud of.
As First Lady, Michelle Obama is focusing on causes such as childhood obesity … and of course the raising of her own children to be good citizens, serving as a role model to all American women in the process.
Is it fair for Michelle Obama–or any First Lady–to be attacked by the albatross of “approval ratings” as she tries to just live her life?
