I just finished reading the Vanity Affair article by Lauren Collins about Michelle Obama. She comes across as authentic, down-to-earth. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago in an 1100 square foot house with one bedroom and one bath. Her family of four included her brother, Craig, who is now the basketball coach at Brown University, her mom, and her dad. Her parents taught her to respect her teachers, but also to think, to question. They also encouraged her to ask them (her parents) lots of questions, to ask "why." I know she has taken a lot of criticism from conservative pundits, but the article portrays her to be refreshing, with normal motherly concerns and someone who enjoys watching reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show. Laura Bush seems almost Stepford Wifeish to me. No one will ever say that about Michelle Obama.
2 comments:
Wow I think this is the first time you and I have totally 180 degrees disagreed. As a woman, I find Michelle classless, tasteless and I tend to make gagging sounds when I hear her speak. In simple words, she's a fake; she's learned the lingo to sound girl next door but isn't. To me Laura represents the traditional first lady after all the first lady wasn't elected, she just comes with the man (or reverse some day). And frankly there's a big personality difference between a librarian and a lawyer.
terri,
Laura Bush was certainly a welcomed change from Hillary Clinton, as W was from Bill.
One of the things the VF article pointed out was that Barack told Michelle that "marriage didn't mean anything." She told him if he wanted to be with her, he would have to marry her. The thing the article convinced me of was that Michelle had a very solid upbringing.
Conservative pundits have rightly jumped on Michelle's negative view of this country. But, to only emphasize her negatives is unfair, uncivil.
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