I am a HUGE Michelle Obama fan, heck a lot of times I like her more than Barack Obama (LOL). The recent news that people are going to start attacking her is really starting to piss me off. The fact that the "right wing" press (and let's be honest, the so called "left wing" press is just going to follow suit) has intentions to demonize her is upsetting. This is a woman that pulled herself up and made herself a success. I wrote a diary a long time ago about her because I really do think she's awesome, so a lot of this is a repost with some more recent pictures at the end.
Don't get me wrong, I love Barack, and he's great, but honestly, the best thing about Barack is Michelle.
Now some people may, and probably will disagree with me, but the more I see of Michelle, the more awesome I think she is. She's a strong woman, but she's not afraid to stand by her husband. She has her own career, but still finds time to support Barack and do a hell of a good job raising her daughters. She is truly the best example of what America could be if we decided to finally pay attention to our terrible education system and reinvest in communities and children who are not of a great economic advantage.
She's truly amazing.
Honestly, in a few short months she's become my new role model, and in April it hit me for the first time how much Barack really DOES rely on her to keep him sane. After giving his stump in Pittsburgh last night, he looked tired, and I remember thinking "Smile dammit!" But he didn't. . . that is until Michelle ran up on the stage, then that man lit up like a Christmas Tree.
And don't forget her hyping him up before he gives big speeches:
Barack Obama's career was launched into the national spotlight when he delivered a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. On his way to the stage, Michelle reportedly gave him a hug and told him (breaking the tension): "Just don't screw it up, buddy."
He just seems HAPPIER when she's around, that's the power of Michelle, she's the reason we won't be getting suckered into pointless wars with other countries.
Well, maybe that wasn't the first time, the first time was probably this moment in NH (which is still my favorite picture of them BTW).
As a woman, I think Michelle is the PERFECT role model for young women.
Obama is cool in temperament. When Stevie Wonder, whom she was escorting to the stage at a rally in February, tripped on a riser, sending her tumbling down next to him in front of thousands of people, she exhibited no embarrassment or alarm, turning what could have been a blooper-reel nightmare into a non-event. She is unquestionably accomplished, but she is not a repressed intellectual, in the mode of Teresa Heinz Kerry. More than anything, she seems to enjoy talking about her husband and her daughters (Malia, nine, and Sasha, six). She can give the impression, in the midst of the campaign’s endless roundtables and kaffeeklatsches, that she’d rather be talking to them. Obama seems like an iconoclast precisely because she’s normal (the norm for a candidate’s wife having been defined, in the past, as nonworking, white, and pious about the democratic process).
Source (the entire article is good, if you haven't read it, you should)
She makes no excuses or apologies for who she is, and I respect that. She doesn't walk around like she's better than everyone, which I respect. She tells the truth (sometimes a bit too much, but I think Barack has that same "disease" ~lol~).
"Occasionally, it gives campaign people heartburn," David Axelrod, the Obama campaign’s chief strategist, admits. "She’s fundamentally honest—goes out there, speaks her mind, jokes. She doesn’t parse her words or select them with an antenna for political correctness."
It's actually more fun to watch her stump than Barack a lot of times. She doesn't hide from her humble beginnings, she always talks about how we should see what an investment in public education can look like when we look at her. She wasn't supposed to go to Princeton and Harvard based on where she was coming from, but she refused to let people tell her that she couldn't do it. I honestly find myself nodding my head and agreeing with everything she says, and I love the fact that she just tells it like it is. I suppose that honesty is intimidating for some, but my mother and grandmother are the same way, and I know I do the same thing a lot of times.
She also strikes me as the type to not back down from a fight, and someone who will fight fair. Unlike other spouses, you don't see Michelle going around talking trash about the other candidates (she learned her lesson early and backed down a bit), she like Barack is a class act.
When you see her in interviews, she's always calm, cool and collected. I was really impressed with her interview with Stephen Colbert, and I think he was a bit in awe of her himself. Heck, the man even sang to her, and when she said Barack is a better singer, Stephen didn't "nail" her, he just offered the excuse of singing the Star Spangled Banner the previous night with John Legend (and Stephen really did a good job, if you haven't seen it, check out the vid).
Someone who was involved in the preparation of the speech recalls a more nuanced dynamic, as Michelle calmed an irritable Barack. "We were spending intense sessions tinkering with wording and commas," the person says. "It was pretty tense, because everybody was picking at Barack and making suggestions. He was getting a little irate. Michelle was in the room, and she was kind of handling both him as well as some of the speech." The observer went on, "She was listening intently and, without being overly directive, was somebody that he could glance over to, almost a telepathic kind of relationship. He was clearly looking to her for reaction."
(emphasis added)
I'm convinced Michelle is really running things. Ever wonder how Barack stays so calm? My guess is he calls HER and gets it all out before he addresses it with the press. He constantly calls her his rock, and at times she comes off stronger than he does. This does not mean that he's weak, as a matter of fact, he's got to be a strong individual in his own right to have managed to get her to marry him in the first place. She isn't relying on him to get ahead in her career, but isn't afraid to take a break from her career to support his ambitions.
Honestly, from what I've seen of the Obama marriage, it's very strong and one to be admired. They both have this mutual respect, and anyone with working eyes can see how in love they are. They have two children they adore, and they don't spend all of their time trying to one-up the other. I can't honestly say I've never seen another political couple with so many PDA (public displays of affection), in fact, just about anytime you get them in the same area, you're pretty much guaranteed to catch him kissing her at least once.
Barack constantly talks about how she's the glue that holds the Obama family together, and I believe it.
And her style is unrivaled among the other spouses. Hands down she's the most stylish. In my efforts to not watch MSNBC one night (Chris Matthews was pissing me off with his "analysis" ~lol~) I ended up watching, I think it was Access Hollywood, and they had an entire segment about how to match Michelle (and Jackie O's) style on a budget. Already women are looking to her for style tips! That's says a lot to me, you don't want to emulate just anyone's style.
So, Barack is great and all, but I honestly think Michelle is even better :-P of course, as a woman I suppose I'm sort of biased, but there is just so much to admire about this woman. Just looking at where she came from and where she is now, you know she has to be an amazing person. The fact that she's secure enough in herself to be able to go out and support her husband in every way that she can is amazing to me. If there's one person in the public eye to emulate, in my opinion, it would have to be her.
I don't know who I'm more excited about having in 2009, President Barack or First Lady Michelle. I do know it will be great to have a real family that pretty much everyone can relate to in some way in the White House again. Even though Michelle isn't a politician, and she has no ambition to be a politician, I think her as a first lady will give a lot of little girls out there a woman to look up to in the White House.
This poem is perfect for Michelle, and one of my all-time favorites:
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Maya Angelou
I guarantee you, if they mess with Michelle, it will NOT be successful. First of all, Barack isn't going to stand for it:
Second, Obama SUPPORTERS aren't going to stand for it.
Third, the ENTIRE African American community (with a couple of those exceptions) will not stand for it.
Fourth, the DNC is not going to stand for it:
Illinois Senator and Obama-backer Richard Durbin offered up some choice, unminced words, assailing those who would traffic in such fare, telling MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell: "The hottest ring in Hell is reserved for those in politics who attack their opponents' families."
And most importantly, MICHELLE is not going to stand for it.
So to those wishing to smear Michelle Obama, do so at your own risk.
And as bonus,here's a cool list of 10 things you probably don't know about Michelle Obama. My standouts are (and the one about the DNC speech is used above):
- In the early 1990s, following the death of both her father and a close friend from college, Michelle reassessed her life. Rethinking her career path, she decided to leave the corporate law world to work in public service. She took a job in the mayor's office and then in the city's office of planning and development. In 1993, Michelle became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago, an AmeriCorps national service program that provided training to young adults pursuing careers in the public sector.
- The Obamas work hard to give their daughters a grounded life. When the senator is on the road, they use webcams to see and talk to one another. When Michelle travels, either the girls go with her or she tries to make day trips only so she's home at night to put them to bed.
ADDITION: Remember this diary from dawntabout Michelle's response to the assassination talk? Yet another reason Michelle is awesome:
I've talked about this before. Barack is probably safer now than he was before. Kids are dying in the street in our community. They get shot walking to class, sitting in school, taking the bus home. They are dying in the street.
Send us good vibes. Pray for us. Think positive thoughts. But most of all, be vigilant. Be vigilant about stopping this kind of talk.
It's not funny.
You don't have to like Barack to dislike that kind of talk. Be vigilant about stopping that kind of talk.
Fear is the reason this country is where it is today. Fear is a useless emotion.
Don't ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn't.
Don't ever make decisions based on fear.
(all emphasis in the quotes is original)
*************From the comments************
From royce:
I heard Michelle speak in person last September. She is not a shrinking violet. I can understand why some people will be put off by her (She speaks her mind! She doesn't wrap what she says in soft, apologetic terms! She has a mind! She's from Chicago (my home town)!), especially after 8 years of Laura Bush.
As much as her style might bother some people, I hope they will listen to the content of what she says. The day I heard her talk there were about 30 young female students from a middle school in the audience. She spoke directly to them in a piece of her talk....about "not settling" about taking time to learn who they are and who they want to be; it was very powerful. Before I heard her speak I wondered how she got so lucky to "get" Barack; after I heard her I thought 'how lucky they both were to find each other.'
I can't ever remember seeing a political couple whose affection for each other seems so genuine. Talk about family values!
I love that she told them that, I think a lot of young girls ARE settling especially in certain demographics, and they need to know that they are worth more than that.
From 57andFemale:
It was Michelle who first won over my husband
My 68 year old husband saw Michelle on c-span I think, in January, when he was happy with all of our candidates and had not settled on one. It was her authenticity that won him over. He just believed her. My husband's early memories of politics go back to the end of the WW II -- he's seen it all. He's a veteran who just missed goin to Vietnam, but served on the Berlin Wall. He's had a quite a journey from his poor South Side Chicago upbringing, but social justice was always at his core.
Michelle started his journey to look more closely at Barack as a potential candidate, and the rest, of course, is history.
This is a beautiful diary that captures the essence of the Obama family. Your line, Barack just seems happier when she's around -- spot on.
From Ellinorianne:
I find myself being very protective of Michelle Obama when people bring up the right wing talking points, I don't get the sense that she's anything but loving, grateful and bright.
What a wonderful diary to reflect an amazing woman. I really hope the right rethinks attacking Michelle. I tend to suffer from the same issues, speaking my mind and being honest to the point of too honest.
She's handled the spotlight and pressure with enormous grace and humility.
As you can probably tell from this diary, I'm pretty protective of her too. My personality is a lot like hers, so when they attack HER I almost feel like they are attacking ME.
From droogie6655231:
She's got something undefinable.
And the two of them together is just real magic. My wife has always said that she can tell a lot from a couple just by seeing the way they look at one another, and she says Barack and Michelle have got something special.
She keeps him grounded, too, which is good.
From Jentutsy:
When my Hillary supporting friends were trying to hang the "he's a sexist" mantle on Barack - I would bring up Michelle. And they all had to admit - they honestly didn't think that Michelle would marry, support and continue to love a man who didn't respect her, and women in general.
I'm finding that Michelle is the bridge for those friends now that Barack is the nominee. They aren't ready to fall in love with him (yet!) but they are ready to fall in love with Michelle. And I think she will be instrumental in wooing those women who may not want to love Barack. (Well, that and McCain's horrific stances on women's issues.)
I fell in love with Barack first. It was his anti-war speech. Getting to know about Michelle confirmed for me that Barack is who he says he is. And now, I am falling hopelessly in love with her. I LOVE seeing them together. Forget chick flicks and romance novels - they are the embodiment of swoony love for me - smart, strong, filled with respect and an extremely visible hotness for each other after 13 years of marriage and two kids. And, they're progressive public servants committed to others. YOWZA.
Actually, I like to call them a living romance novel ~lol~
From tsackton:
We'll protect Michelle
Women make up the majority of the electorate in America - and an attack on Michelle is an attack on all women.
We can all (women and men) protect Michelle from the sexist and racist attacks that will be made on her.
I especially want to hold up Hillary Clinton's supporters as a model - they supported their candidate because she reflected the strength they found in themselves --
well it is harder for older white women to see that in Michelle due to the history of racism in this country - but this is a change election - and now Michelle can represent all women, and all of us men as well.
I think the reaction team, the willingness to protect Michelle, and the ability of us to call out the right wing slime machine will make us all stronger in this fight.
But above all, it is admiration for Michelle that drives us -- I saw her in New Hampshire and was blown away. America is ready for authencity. Washington may not be, so the Broder's and the Brooks's will amplify any dirt, and rumor, any attack - since it so conforms to their own racist and elitist perceptions.
From krark:
Whenever I see Michelle & Barack together... I think of myself and my wife. Without her, I am far less than half the man I am with her. She brings light into my life, provides a wonderful guiding hand to our children, and quietly and effortlessly does the things that need to be done. A beautiful, amazing woman who makes me better just by her mere presence.
I think Barack feels the same way about Michelle.
That is a very beautiful comment, and I agree with you wholeheartedly with regards to Barack feeling the same way about Michelle.
From theloniously:
they are so in love
I was at a downstate IL house party for Obama during his Senate campaign. He and Michelle made a brief conference call to the party; they were in different states from each other, hadn't talked yet that day, and were giddy over the latest polling. They got into a back-and-forth "I love you babe", while all 50 or so of us guests were just standing around listening to the speakerphone, until our host shouted into it "Get a room!"--at which point Barack remembered to address the rest of us too.
Yep, sounds like my brother and his girlfriend (who are the corniest couple I know) who are sooooo in love with each other. I bet Barack and Michelle sit on the phone and just listen to each other breathe too. . .
h/t Nonie3234:
How cute is this picture, it's great that they have fun together :o)
Also, some very nice videos of Michelle speaking have been posted in the comments, please take the time to watch some of them :o)