Bloodthirsty Liberal

I don’t know which paradigm I like least. The one in which the wives of American presidents are active participants in their administrations, shaping policy and philosophy (think Hillary and Eleanor); or the one in which First Ladies are glamour dolls, draped and decorated as figureheads on the ship of state (think Jackie—and now, evidently, Michelle). I’m sure I reveal all sorts of psychological quirks and disturbances (as when do I not?) when I confess a certain admiration for the modest but indispensable helpmeets like Laura and Barbara, who neither scold nor sashay, but quietly go about doing a job of work.

First lady Michelle Obama chose to wear a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown Tuesday night to the first state dinner held by her husband’s administration. She was tending to her hostess duties in a strapless silhouette with the beads forming an abstract floral pattern that was custom-made by Naeem Khan.

She wore a matching wrap, a stack of bangle bracelets on her wrist and dangling earrings.

Stop the presses…

Who cares about 17.5% real unemployment or how we’re going to get in and get out of Afghanistan? I want to know more about those dangling earrings.

My, they sure do dangle! That might explain her expression—unless that derives from whatever the National Symphony is playing at this moment. Some of the more turgid tone poems of Richard Strauss have a tendency to do that. (There are less turgid tone poems of Richard Strauss?)

Anyhow, back to that gown:

Earlier today for a preview of the event, Mrs. Obama wore a skirt by Rachel Roy, also an Indian-American. “That gave us a preview that she was going to use clothes to convey a meaning,” said Mary Tomer, author of the new book “Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy.”

“They were really thoughtful choices,” she said.

“The nice thing about it is the Jackie Kennedy sort of appropriateness. Most people wouldn’t know one way or another about Naeem’s background, but if one sentence gets mentioned to the prime minister, then her subtleness would pay off,” added Hal Rubenstein, fashion director for InStyle magazine.

There’s not really a book called “Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy” is there?

Oh God, there is, and it’s not alone:

Michelle Obama is a woman of some accomplishments herself—even if her biggest job lasted just as long as her husband’s tenure in the US Senate. (Let’s hope she was “present” at least as often as he was!)

After Barack Obama became an Illinois state legislator, his wife moved up as well, scoring a job as ‘vice president of community relations’ at the University Of Chicago Hospital for a very generous salary of $121,910. When Obama became a senator in 2005, her ’salary’ leapfrogged to $$316,962 for the same job…and one of Senator Obama’s first acts in office was to see to it that the hospital received over a million dollars of your tax dollars as an earmark.

Well, Michelle has moved on,and guess what…that vital job of hers,worth a salary of over $300 K has been quietly eliminated.

Anyway, I think she’s got more to offer the country than just linebacker shoulders and toxic gardening. I’m not sure I want what she’s got to offer—in fact, I’m quite sure I don’t—but I can’t deny that she’s got it.