I would rather not have to point this out. There are, after all, real problems going on. But it simply amazes me how so many in the media can be so utterly devoid of awareness.
By now, the story of Michelle Obama's reciprocal hand-on-the-back gesture has been reported about 99% more than it needed to be. Yet in all that coverage, in all that discussion, I have yet to see one commenter or babbling head acknowledge the most significant aspect of Ms. Obama's supposed faux pas: The First Lady sees herself as an equal with the Queen of England
It might be excusable to overlook this fact if it weren't so obvious and consistent with the First Lady's character. But I think it's the real story of the meeting of the Queen.
I have no evidence, nor a belief that Ms. Obama deliberately sent a message. By all appearances it was a spontaneous gesture. But it was a revealing one. You can be assured that our beloved Jacqueline Kennedy would have never had the audacity to touch the Queens back like she was her grandmother. Girls raised among the Eastern establishment are taught early on to know their place.
One of the things I admire most about Ms. Obama is her fearless expression of personal power. For someone who has worked for everything she has, she is a woman who has earned her right to stand among the most powerful people in Europe and the world. And in a true measure of grace, she does so with confidence tempered by humility.
I have no doubt that if she had given it much thought, she would have never violated protocol. It was clear from her slight awkwardness, the uncertainty of whether to shake the Queen's hand after their "hug", that Michelle wanted to be as respectful as possible of the Queen and British traditions.
And it is unmistakable from the tape that her gesture was one of affection to a nice old lady. But it is equally clear that Ms. Obama, in her heart of hearts, does not consider herself a lesser to the monarch. And as diplomacy goes, this made her audience with the Queen the absolute best representation of American ideals, which still include the principles of egalitarianism and meritocracy, we could have hoped for.