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Michelle's Closet Agenda
Don’t be fooled by her Brady Bunch moments. The Mom-in-Chief will promote feminism, speak out on Iraq, and tackle America’s public health crisis.
Last June I profiled Michelle Obama for a cover story that appeared in October’s issue of More. Because the magazine’s target readership is women over 40, and the Obama campaign was still, at that time, somewhat concerned about winning over disaffected Hillary-ites in that demographic, I had better than usual access: time on the campaign trail during and after the primaries, a one-hour, wide-ranging sit-down interview in Chicago and a meeting with Michelle’s remarkable mother, Marian Robinson.
But one revealing moment came outside of the on-the-record sessions, when I hung around as a fly on the wall to observe the photo shoot for the magazine’s cover. Matthew Rolston, a renowned glamour photographer, had set up a makeshift studio in a Chicago hotel suite near the Obama campaign offices and, as his squad of assistants tweaked lighting and backdrops, the magazine’s fashionistas fluttered nervously around a garment bag. “Do you think we can open it before she gets here?” one asked. “I’m dying to see...”
She is smart enough and subtle enough to have worked out that so-called Mom issues can make for meaty public policy.
The reason for the angst: Michelle Obama had insisted on wearing her own clothes for the shoot, “even though,” lamented the fashion director “I had designers in New York ready to jump out windows for the chance to make something for her.” Eventually, under the guise of checking to see if the clothes needed pressing, the bag was unzipped to reveal two Maria Pinto sleeveless, knee-length sheaths. One was a tone-on-tone appliquéd organza in aubergine and rich brown, the other a plain, extremely vivid fuschia crepe with a purple satin bow affixed to the round neckline. The fashionistas murmured approvingly over the subtle beauty of the first dress but concurred that the pink was a better “sell’ for the cover.
But that bow! Their collective noses crinkled. “Do you think we could ask her to lose that? Who could we get to, like, ask her?” They worked the room, trying to recruit one of Michelle’s regulars—her local Chicago hairdresser or makeup artist. Whomever they got to make the anti-bow demarche, it was unsuccessful. As she draped her almost-six foot frame into effortless poses, the purple bow was right there, front and center. The fashionistas peered anxiously at Rolston’s computer as the images came up. “The bow!” they quelled. “It’s just right! Look how it draws the eye to her face!”
The point of this long-winded anecdote is not to add more fuel to the bonfire of the vanities surrounding the fact that, my God, we’re finally gonna’ have another first lady like Jackie who knows how to dress. The point is twofold: Michelle seems to be able to do everything she sets her mind to, and to do it at a high level of excellence. And, more importantly: she knows this, and isn’t about to be “handled” into any role in which she is not supremely confident and comfortable.
So why then has she gone out of her way to stress the Mom-in-Chief bit? Why hide her Harvard and Princeton exceptionalism—as she did in her convention speech, and again in her weekend appearance on 60 Minutes—and highlight her common-Mom interests in the Dick Van Dyke Show and (lord help us) The Brady Bunch?
I think it is because she is smart enough and subtle enough to have worked out that so-called Mom issues can make for meaty public policy. Take lead paint on toys: nice, hamesh-sounding thing for a Mom to care about, right? Not very threatening; not very surprising if a First Lady were to take that up. Oh, and it gives you a way to discuss globalization, free trade, the environment, public health and consumer protection legislation.
Military families? That’s a twofer. It’s all about parents and kids, and it’s highly patriotic. But start talking about better mental health support for veterans and you’re soon into the real costs of this disaster of a war, the whole terrible litany of scrambled brain tissues and shredded emotional lives. It’s the perfect show-don’t-tell way to support your husband’s policy of exiting the mess as soon as possible.
Work-family balance? What is that, really, but a polite way of putting the feminist agenda of equal pay and decent child care back on the table after so many years of neglect?
East Wing office or West Wing office, it isn’t going to matter. Michelle has already positioned herself to be as much a player in her husband’s administration as she wants to be. Which, I suspect, is quite a lot.
The woman’s a fox, in more ways than one.
Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for The Sydney Morning Herald for three years as a writer with a special interest in environmental issues. Brooks has worked for The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
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Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Wall Street Journal. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her novel March, and her novel Year of Wonders is an international bestseller. She is the author of Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence.
What an incredibly stupid article. Your long-winded anecdote is just that, long-winded and absolutely pointless. This is one of those articles where you start off with an assertion and then go back and try to find evidence. The Brady Bunch? Come one.
I enjoyed the article in More and I enjoyed this little blog. Good points made on how those "pet issues" can and likely will be expanded into more global ones. But I appreciate also hearing that Michelle Obama clearly understands and values the job she needs to perform as her daughters' mom if this transition is going to be a good one for them. The last thing I care to see in the White House is another set of bratty presidential daughters.
To coin a "Supreme Court" phrase: this article has no socially redeeming value.
What a bunch of hooey. Do you people just make up stuff? And since when do journalists predict the future? What a waste. And shame on the Beast.
This blog post gives a little twinkle of insight into an extremely complex woman and I appreciated it. I'm glad to hear an intelligent woman profess that Michelle Obama's tremendous drive and obvious capabilities don't just disappear because she says she is going to focus on getting her family settled.
perfectly insightful article! I had guessed at these conclusions, yet it's gives me great satisfaction to be confirmed. further, M Obama is lovely lady, quick and care-full...you conveyed it very nicely. that rebuke up there... geesh... probably a republican looking for fodder...cha know? LOL nice piece! ta
Said with a twinkle in her eye and a smile "Mom-in-Chief". This is a powerful position, not an idle one.
My mom was Mom-in-Chief and took on whatever role or position she desired and no-one, no-one dared think of her in a Brady Bunch or Dick Van Dyke way.
Thank you for the article. It's all about strategy. The "mom-in-chief" approach is a stealthy way to grapple with issues that would otherwise be deemed unbecoming of a first lady. She has to be stealthy to placate those who cling to the notion that the first lady cannot and should not engage in public discussion regarding complex national issues. She IS a fox.
Ms. Brooks, were you complimenting Michelle Obama or suggesting she is lying and conniving?
Ultimately, YOU appear the"fox" trying to convince us you admire her one hand, yet suggesting she has somehow been untruthful. That is 20th century feminism.. breed mistrust of other women. You giveth with one hand and stab with the other. Sorry, Ms. Brooks, you just don't get it and this is the 21st century.
Yes, Mrs. Obama will be a dynamo of political activism and the proof of this is that she insisted on picking her own dress for the photo shoot. I read a lot of fatuous stuff in the Daily Beast, but this beats most of it.
Wow, i went to Ivy and have accomplished a long list of items that surpass what Michele has done. from what i read of Michele she is good at thinking she is smarter than she is. and this "story" blows me away! the women is a wonder b/c she knows her bows? comon! As i read on a feminst blog today, and i paraphrase, Michele is retro-fitting all women for a nice 50s style girdle!
As someone who is supported feminist causes their entire life, I believe it is a bit counter-intuitive to dismiss Mrs. Obama's desire to first and foremost be a mom. Let her do whatever she wants, its her life. If she doesn't ever speak out on any cause during her husband's tenure as president, who cares, its her life.
Maybe she just wants to be a mom right now. People can choose to be different people at different points throughout their life.
She is Harvard and Princeton educated which hopefully makes her smart enough to realize that her number one priorities are her kids (as it should be for Barak also).
So please cut the lady some slack, she has two small kids which is enough for any one person to deal with moreover having to carry the torch for feminism.
Hmm, that Brady Bunch reference really threw this thing off-track.
Other than that, an article like this would have more impact if the author seemed to have any point-of-view at all. What (I think) the author is describing is something that will be railed against by the Righties and rallied around by us Lefties.
And why shouldn't the First Lady have an agenda, particularly someone like Michelle Obama with stellar intellect, experience, curiosity in and concern for the world. It is, after, the 21st century, and it would seem a bit of a mockery to have a woman in that kind of postion to be sitting there with her hands folded and blank smile on her face, no opinions, etc.
Who says she knows how to dress? She looked like a Lava Lamp in that red and black dress at her husbands acceptance.
So you're saying that Michelle Obama might be the next Hillary Clinton? Because that seems entirely plausible.
If the story is so stupid, why did you waste your time making a comment about it.
While I didn't gain any profound insight from this article, it does point in the right direction. No matter what Mrs. Obama decides to do, everyone will be watching and if history is any indication, she will do it with style and grace.
I like the idea of a First Lady who is smart and strong. Smart enough to know how to ease her perspective into policy and strong enough to be able to do it with a grace and grit that the smart one's know not to underestimate.
How sad that she has to disguise her intelligence, and plot her way into meaningful debate on issues that matter behind seeminly non-threatening topics of family and child rearing. Even sadder that this article, which supposedly supports feminism, deems this approach smart and encouraging.
wow. tough crowd!
the importance of m.o. not allowing herself to be "handled" (or mishandled) is totally on point; yes, it may "just" have been a dress in this case, but if she applies that self-possession and clarity of objective to everything, i think the american people can expect wonderful things from her!
also: hmmm, wasn't there another woman involved in this election who was recently lambasted for her wardrobe choices? or, if you believe her, for letting herself be "mishandled"? m.o. is the perfect counterpoint to ms. palin, in every way.
I think Michelle Obama is a very attractive lady and she always looks smart.....she will bring a lot to the White House as she is a very intelligent lady and can hold her own when interviewed.
Can't wait for Jan 20th.....it will be such an emotional and historic day for us all.
Michelle Obama didn't run for office, her husband did.
I think she will be one of the most pertinent First Ladies the US has seen in recent memory. I agree with Geraldine Brooks that through seemingly soft issues, Michelle Obama can address some very important "hot" problems. That's clever. Like Barack, she IS a fox.
And what I LOVE about Michelle is the self confidence. She"s just a bit younger than my generation and from what I can see there's no guilt there about being smart andsuperbly educated while devoting the major part of your time and energy to your family, and children.
I remember chatting with a girlfriend as both of us began our new lives as working moms with husbands in the picture. The first problem for us was figuring out how to ditch the guilt of not fulfilling our professional potential to the tip top for once so we could go home and take on the much more vital job of taking care of our families.
When an American woman allows herself to be a committed mother letting the professional life take a back seat for a while, she begins to grow up, accept her true role and make the most of her life.
Michelle Obama's self appointment as Mom-in-Chief shows that the battle for professional equality that women have fought for years is only beginning to pay off now.
She understands her role perfectly and maintains the Obama campaign rule of "no drama."
I agree with JABMICH.
It's hard to say if this piece compliments Michelle or simply does the opposite in a covert manner.
Why are none of my comments posted!!!!
skura writes, "It's hard to say if this piece compliments Michelle or simply does the opposite in a covert manner."
imo the piece's author was a bit too enamored of using that pun (like a Fox) as her closer - it's what generated the article's emotional ambiguity.
Thank you.
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