First Lady Michelle Obama is more than just the wife of. Even if you’ve never met her, President Obama is more than happy to tell you. In many interviews during the race for the White House, I heard him say, “My wife Michelle is extraordinary.” I can still see Jay Lenno from the Tonight Show looking at him like, “I think you’re bluffing a little bit,” when Barack explained why he could run for president.
First Lady Michelle Obama is more than just the wife of. Even if you’ve never met her, President Obama is more than happy to tell you. In many interviews during the race for the White House, I heard him say, “My wife Michelle is extraordinary.” I can still see Jay Lenno from the Tonight Show looking at him like, “I think you’re bluffing a little bit,” when Barack explained why he could run for president. Look, Obama said, “My daughters are above average and my wife is extraordinarily special.”
I’ve also heard him proudly say that people who meet Michelle say to him, you know, you’re a pretty good guy, but your wife, your wife… she’s really fantastic! Not only do his eyes smile when he talks about his wife, his entire body language conveys that he has complete confidence in her, as a woman, as a confidant, and as a person who can hold her own on many levels from intellectual and political to motherhood.
During the campaign, the Republican Party tried to paint her as anti-American and even labeled the above gesture as a terrorist get-together, but a truly graceful woman like Michelle Obama is hard to beat. She has not only silenced her opponents with style, but by simply remaining who she is, she is literally melting the hearts of America.
Growing up in a two-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Chicago, one of America’s most segregated states, she says she never lacked for anything. The family certainly didn’t have much money, but the love and values she and her brother inherited were priceless. Her father, who worked for the local water company, suffered from multiple sclerosis, but even as the disease worsened and he struggled to get dressed, he never complained a day, Michelle says. Instead, he got up an hour earlier so he could get to work on time.
According to her mother, who raised the family, Michelle is so eloquent because they were taught from childhood to respect teachers but not to hesitate to debate them. For Michelle, nothing was “cooler” than being smart. When her brother got a scholarship to Princeton University, she thought, I should be able to do it too. Not only was she accepted, she graduated with honors. She then went on to study law at the prestigious Harvard University.
She met Barack when he was going to do an internship at the company where she worked. She can tell this story in a really funny way. She thought who is this nerd that I have to take under my wing? Despite Barack's credentials, she didn't really have high expectations. Because what black man grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia? Barack, on the other hand, liked her right away.
At first she thought it was impossible because they both worked for the same company, but after Barack insisted she decided to go out with him. No, it wasn't a date. Barack can also tell a very funny story about this. He took her to see the Spike Lee movie "Do the Right Thing" and then to a museum to show her that he was a man with a cultural nature, he says laughing. Apparently he knew what he was doing.
Michelle says Barack, who went on to make a fortune on Wall Street after graduating from Harvard, never promised her riches, but he did promise her an interesting life. He definitely delivered, she joked during the seemingly endless historic presidential campaign.
Yet it hasn’t always been easy. Caring for two young children while working a full-time job and your husband pursuing a political career can put a lot of strain on your relationship. Michelle has first-hand stories to tell about combining motherhood and career. For the majority of American women who recognize themselves in this role, Michelle is a shining example.
But men are also crazy about Michelle Obama. CNN commentator Jack Cafferty even has a blog dedicated to his “crush” on Michelle. What makes her so extraordinary is the fact that she is so ordinary. Of course she stands out because of her height and beauty, but her sense of humor, her warmth, her down-to-earth and her intelligence make her mesmerize people. If you ask me, besides her intellect and sense of humor, her self-knowledge is her greatest strength. So it doesn’t surprise me that now the rest of the world and even the Queen of England are falling for the sharm of Michelle Obama.
She knows who she is, she doesn't let anyone talk her into anything, not by the media, nor by the so-called fashion dictators and most notably she doesn't have to prove herself to anyone. She sticks to protocol, but otherwise she wears the clothes that SHE likes and that SHE finds comfortable and despite two degrees from renowned universities, she proudly says that she is the first First Mom. Even during her career with a far above average salary of over $300,000 a year, playing with the kids was at the top of the agenda. She is sincere and never feels too good to put an arm around the person she visits.
The First Lady is a first in countless ways. She is the first African-American First Lady, the first with a Harvard degree, the first to plant a vegetable garden in the White House, the first not to follow fashion but to be followed by fashion, the first not to have a clearly defined task but to fulfill an almost complementary political role to her husband, and so on. What I find most beautiful is that for the first time I see a president who shows so much affection for his First Lady. Sincere, unashamed, with respect and humor, without selling himself short.