Good for You, Lady

I checked the history, and most mentions of Michelle Obama here at the Hall are from Tex or Cassandra (who has posting privileges she may have forgotten). I think the American tendency to pay attention to the First Lady and families of Presidents is a mistake, probably JFK's fault, that only hurts their ability to carry on with family life during a difficult few years. Best to ignore them and what they do, almost all the time, for the sake of the President's mental health and the individual good of each family member.

However, I'll break tradition this once. It's not mandatory for women from outside Saudi Arabia to go veiled, but it's good for an American not to. She may not have felt she had much choice, given the constant rumors that her husband is a secret Muslim, but all the same it's a healthy signal of independence. It's good for us, and it's good for the women of Saudi Arabia.

15 comments:

Gringo said...

Agreed. Good for the FLOTUS.

Larry Sheldon said...

I approve of this message.

Tom said...

Indeed.

Texan99 said...

That was my take, too.

There was an interesting suggestion at ChicagoBoyz (David Foster's site):

"Obama should have attended the Auschwitz commemoration himself and sent the Jewish treasury secretary to the Saudi king’s funeral."

That would have been nice, too.

I can't recall what I posted about Michelle Obama. She doesn't drive me as crazy as she does most conservatives, though of course I couldn't disagree with her more about things like school lunches. I'm always a bit surprised to read how consistently popular she is nationwide, because most of what I hear daily is vitriol on the right. I usually ignore her unless she's managing to have some impact on public policy, in which case I consider her fair game.

Grim said...

Tex:

Cass did a fashion post about Michelle Obama chiefly to pull my chain while I was in Iraq. She did another one mocking media attention to Mrs. O's figure.

You did a post mocking her ideas on nutritional labeling.

The only other mention I found here before today was mine, but it mentions her passively: the subject was then-Senator Obama's defense of her, and how it contrasted with his insistence on remaining "cute" and harmless-seeming during the 2008 campaign. Since she became First Lady, I don't think I've mentioned her at all before now.

Texan99 said...

Looks like she was covered up one way or another.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/01/wow-saudi-media-blurs-out-michelle-obamas-face-for-not-wearing-a-veil-video/

Grim said...

I wonder if the Saudi media does that with every photo of an unveiled woman? I suppose it still sends the signal to Saudi women that she refused to be veiled.

Cass said...

Moi????

Pull your chain? :)

*innocently looking around*

Cass said...

They had a series of photos of Michelle looking absolutely thunderous in Saudi Arabia.

Apparently many of the men refused to shake her hand. She dressed very modestly, but they thought she should have worn all black like Nan Pelosi and Condi Rice.

Grim said...

*innocently looking around*

I saw that same look on my wife the other day when I went looking for my old storage bins, and discovered they'd all been turned into flowerpots and planters.

Cass said...

What! WHAT???? :)

Grim said...

I spent a long time going through the basement, trying to figure out where they could be. I found more than a dozen lids for storage bins, but all the bins were gone.

Then, slowly, a deep suspicion began to be born in the back of my mind. So I went up on the back deck where the flowers are, and sure enough...

Cass said...

I am *so* guilty of doing that to my husband :p

Grim said...

It's not like this is the first time it's happened. Anything around here that can't move on its own ends up with a flower in it.

Cass said...

Seems perfectly logical and sensible to me :p