Michelle Obama

Why She Matters

Obama is the first African-American first lady in U.S. history. She has already provoked the kind of feminist controversy — should she advise her husband? should she stop working? should her primary role be as a mother to the couple’s two daughters? — that has gone hand in hand with the job since the middle of the 20th century. Not to mention the tempest over her penchant for wearing sleeveless dresses.

Despite all that,  Obama has also won accolades for her general demeanor — for staying true to her family-oriented roots and her professional gravitas — as well as, inevitably, her style.  Some have said she could be the most successful first lady to hold the unique office in decades.Wildman, Sarah,“First Among First Ladies,” The Guardian, November 7, 2008 She comes into the office with the highest approval ratings for a first lady since 1980.Swarns, Rachel L., “Hints of Agenda and Tone for New First Lady,” New York Times, January 20, 2009

During the 2008 campaign, Obama was gradually able to win over the majority of Americans with her family-first statements and her fashion choices. Unlike other first ladies, she prominently wore affordable labels like J. Crew juxtaposed with designer outfits on late-night television, to such effect that she’s been named to the best dressed lists of Vanity Fair and People magazines.  She has promised to remain connected to real people — through her fashion choices, through invitations to the White House, and through emails to supporters where she signs her name “Michelle,” as though writing to close friends.

“I feel like [this] is the first time in a really long time that the First Lady looks like she lives the same life as the rest of us, as opposed to being very much separate from us,” said Robin Givhan, fashion editor for The Washington Post. “Her clothes look like clothes that you live in, as opposed to stand around and pose for official photographs in.”Robin Givhan interview with WhoRunsGov.com

The new first lady stirred up controversy on the liberal side of the political spectrum when she declared her first priority in the White House would be to care for her two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.Swarns, Rachel L., “From Home and Away, Advice for a First Lady,” New York Times, November 24, 2008

That statement, coupled with the first lady’s decision to find a school for her children before committing to other Washington projects, or a new job for herself in her new city, unleashed a storm of criticism.  A slew of bloggers and pundits pounced, calling this the “momification of Michelle Obama.”Traister, Rebecca, “The momification of Michelle Obama,” Salon, November 17, 2008

To those who know her, this emphasis was yet another family-oriented compromise in a life-history that included a slew of such compromises (her husband’s memoir talks about the sacrifices Obama made for the family while he went to work in the public sector), but feminists saw this as yet another betrayal of the cause.

Nevertheless,  Obama says she will continue working on family-oriented issues during her time in the White House, including raising awareness about work-family balance, friend and senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett has said.  Jarrett has indicated the first lady also plans to be an advocate for military families and promote service and volunteerism, two issues she spoke about during her husband’s campaign.Swarns, Rachel L., “From Home and Away, Advice for a First Lady,” New York Times, November 24, 2008

Path to Power

In the Obama family narrative, it is Michelle’s life that is often held up as the truly American success story. It was a path that took her from her working-class roots to an Ivy League education to the White House. She is only the third first lady to hold a graduate degree (Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton preceded her).Murray, Shailagh, "A Family Tree Rooted In American Soil; Michelle Obama Learns About Her Slave Ancestors, Herself and Her Country,” The Washington Post, October 2, 2008

Born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson on the South Side of Chicago to working-class parents – her father, Fraser Robinson worked for the city’s water treatment centers and her mother, Marion, stayed home with Michelle and her brother Craig — the future first lady grew up in modest circumstances.

Unlike her husband — whose Kenyan father and white Kansan mother track his family trajectory away from more typical life stories of African-Americans — the Robinson family moved northward to Illinois as part of the Great Migration, a path African-American families took in the decades after the Civil War and the early part of the 20th century.Mundy, Liza, “When Michelle Met Barack,” Washington Post Magazine, October 5, 2008

Robinson followed her older brother to Princeton University in the early 1980s. But as one of few Black students, life was lonely.  She wrote her 1985 senior thesis on the alienation she felt. “My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'Blackness' than ever before," explained Michelle in her thesis entitled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community." "I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my White professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don't belong."Kantor, Jodi, “Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory’” New York Times, march 21, 2008

Excerpted in various publications during the 2008 presidential campaign, the thesis was used by right-wing pundits as a means of proving Michelle Obama’s black radicalism, though most independent observers called the thesis “dense” at best, and hardly radical.

After Princeton, Obama attended Harvard Law School.  Though she spent the bulk of her time at Harvard working for the Legal Aid society, upon graduation in 1988, Obama joined the Chicago private law firm Sidley Austin LLP where she was eventually assigned to mentor a summer associate: another Harvard law student named Barack Obama.  The couple married in 1992; controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright conducted the ceremony.Wildman, Sarah, "Portrait of a Lady ; How Laura Bush conquered feminism," The New Republic, August 21, 2001

In 1991, Michelle joined city government – working for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) – and stayed in the public sector thereafter.  By 2007, she was bringing in around $300,000 a year as the vice president for the University of Chicago Hospitals.  

The Issues

Like other first ladies in the post-war era,Michelle Obama: “As Barack’s First Lady, I Would Work to Help Working Families and Military Families,” US News&World Report, October 17, 2008 Obama has been swept immediately into a post-feminist debate she can’t win: while she’s spent her whole adult life as a working parent, she declared her first priority in the White House will be to her two girls, Malia and Sasha.  Rather than seeing her role as consistent with her previous beliefs, feminist commentators wrote that Obama’s choice not to continue working was a defeat for working women everywhere.

The controversy wasn’t totally unexpected.  In 2007, responding to the needs of her husband’s campaign and of their children, Obama took an extended leave of absence from her lucrative position at the University of Chicago Hospitals.  Shortly thereafter, in an interview with Anne Kornblut of The Washington Post, Michelle Obama acknowledged that "Every other month [since] I've had children I've struggled with the notion of 'Am I being a good parent? Can I stay home? Should I stay home? How do I balance it all?' "she said. "I have gone back and forth every year about whether I should work.”

Taking time away from her career for the 2008 campaign would “be the first time that I haven't gotten up and gone to a job."  The decision to put her career on hold – and the balance struck between work and family in the years prior - was seen, initially, as similar to the choices faced by many American women.

But by the time the 2008 election rolled around, Obama had decided to take a permanent hiatus from her professional life.  Writing in US News and World Report, the soon-to-be first lady announced “even as First Lady, my No. 1 job is still to be Mom.” Wildman, Sarah, “The First Lady Tightrope Walk,” Guardian, July 15, 2008

“Unfortunately for first ladies the game is often more about unfavorablity than favorability,” presidential historian Gil Troy, author of “Mr. and Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons,” told The Guardian newspaper in July 2008. “The First Lady’s mission is to follow the political version of the Hippocratic oath: ‘first do no harm.’”WhoRunsGov.com interview with Curtis Sittenfield

“Sometimes Americans have this sort of affectionately condescending view of first ladies; it’s kind of seen as this prim old-fashioned role,” said Curtis Sittenfeld, the author of the novel “American Wife” about a fictional first lady whose biography closely resembles Laura Bush’s. “[Michelle Obama] seems very well-mannered but she doesn’t seem prim, she has this youthful energy,” said Sittenfeld, who interviewed Michelle Obama during the campaign.Wildman, Sarah, “The First Lady Tightrope Walk,” Guardian, July 15, 2008

Troy agrees. “Thanks to Hillary, and frankly to the body blows that Hillary Clinton sustained [as first lady], she paved the way for Michelle Obama, to be outspoken and to be a strong presence. We are still in a post-feminist era and she is able to benefit from that. Many more women will look to her as role model who … are excited to have a smart effective partner to the president.”Wildman, Sarah, "Portrait of a Lady ; How Laura Bush conquered feminism," The New Republic, August 21, 2001

But the office of the first lady can be limiting at best, crushing at worst.Michelle Obama: “As Barack’s First Lady, I Would Work to Help Working Families and Military Families,” US News&World Report, October 17, 2008 The presidential spouse is expected to appear completely adjusted and happy, to support her husband’s positions without exception, and to create a slate of issues for herself that neatly connect with that agenda.  
Yet in the years following the women’s movement, a successful first lady needs also be seen as her own woman.  Paradoxically, such perceived independence bolsters her husband’s credentials as a supportive man.  As a result, there are few first ladies that have been truly successful in the role.  Hillary Rodham Clinton was famously derided after mocking women who baked chocolate chip cookies, and struggled publicly with her secondary role to her husband. In reaction, Laura Bush decided to take a much less high-profile role in her husband’s administration.

The Network

A native Chicagoan, Obama introduced her husband to many of the Chicago political insiders who formed a tight-knit group around the couple and fueled Barack’s rise in Illinois politics.

Nearly two decades ago, Obama first encountered now-senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett when Jarrett hired her to work in Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s (D) office after Michelle’s stint in corporate law. Jarrett soon became a close friend and mentor to both Obamas. After a decade in Chicago city government, Jarrett became the chief executive officer at the Habitat Company though during the 2008 presidential campaign, her work at Habitat took a back seat to her advisery role to the Obama team.

Jarrett also served on the board of trustees at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where Michelle Obama worked since 2002, and where Dr. Eric Whitaker, a physician and close Obama pal, also works.

Jarrett and Whitaker were frequent flyers on the Obama campaign plane, as were Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, and Craig’s former college basketball teammate, Martin Nesbitt, another close Obama friend who served as campaign treasurer. John W. Rogers Jr. and his ex-wife Desiree Rogers were also a part of Obama’s Hyde Park social circle. Desiree Rogers will serve as White House social secretary.

Unlike her immediate predecessor, Laura Bush, Michelle has carefully collected a group of advisers and staff with national experience. Susan Sher, an old friend from Chicago, is her chief of staff; Melissa Winter, who boasts 18 years of Capitol Hill experience, is Sher’s deputy. Policy director Jocelyn Frye served as general counsel for the National Partnership for Women and Families, a powerful non-profit that has worked for work-place equity in Washington for decades – it was National Partnership lawyers that drafted the Family and Medical Leave Act. Camille Johnston, a Clinton era veteran, runs the first lady’s communications department, crafting the First Lady’s image and agenda.

Katie McCormick Lelyveld, who lists jobs in the office of former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and as deputy communications director of Sen. John F. Kerry’s (D-Mass.) 2004 presidential campaign, handles the media as press secretary.  Semonti Mustaphi is deputy press secretary.

(photos courtesy White House / Pete Souza)