I just wrote a piece after a gut-wrenching realization that I want Michelle Obama to focus on being a great mother rather than trying to be a great First Lady by leading policy change or making her stamp on the White House. Thoughts? Do you agree? Or disagree?
Permalink Reply by K on January 19, 2009 at 5:16pm
The only thing that bothers me is that the situation was reversed and a woman was the president no one would put the same expectancies on the guy. I agree with the person who wrote she still has to be first lady and today I think it is completely possible for a woman to be both a great mother and first lady.
I look at this the same way i look at any other woman. if SHE wants to stay home, then fine. if she wants to get out and do something, then that's fine too.
i'm assuming she's a great mom, but she doesn't strike me as the type to wait on her kids hand and foot, and smile and be the pretty wife.
whatever she does, is fine with me. not my household.
Permalink Reply by cleo on January 21, 2009 at 2:51am
I definitely agree with the first response by Aderet. Being a First lady is also a job; an important job. If Sarah Palin can go back to work a couple days after giving birth, then certainly the First Lady can handle being a mother and a good First Lady. Besides, just because a woman exclusively stays at home with her kids doesn't mean she will be a responsib;e parent...
After getting settled in, I am sure that Michelle she will want to provide her daughters with an example of a woman engaged in the glorious battle to make the world a better place, as Barack put it in his open letter his daughters.