First Ladies

Jacqueline Kennedy once famously said to a confidante in late 1960 that she dreaded living in "...that dreary Maison Blanche..." and initially hated the idea of being referred to as the First Lady, deciding that it sounded "...more like the name of a good saddle horse than a person..."

She realized later that she had choices and in many ways reinvented the role in a way that suited her. Lady Bird Johnson did the same thing. Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush all attempted to play to their strengths and take an unelected, unpaid job and make it into something positive. So have most first ladies starting with Martha Washington.

It's no surprise then that there is so much focus on how Michelle Obama will decide to leave her mark and how successful she will be at doing it. The big difference in the last 15 years is that media images are no longer susceptible to White House control. The Internet and the proliferation of television programs that trot out 24/7 punditry that masquerades as useful news make her job a much tougher one than many of her predecessors. And, of course, since she is African-American, there is an added burden. Her natural detractors will look for her to stumble and will find ways to explain any perceived misstep as proof that she is not what she appears to be.

Consider the frenzy when Mrs. Obama laid a gentle hand on the Queen of England. Forget that the Queen had already touched the First Lady of the most powerful nation on Earth. Other than royalist Tories who spend their lives worrying about that sort of minutae, who else cares? Come on. Why in the world - especially now - do we focus on such an absolutely innocuous moment? If you think that I am overstating the buzz, go to AOL and read some of the incredibly racist, despicable reader comments that I hope Mrs. Obama never hears about or reads.

If allowed to go her own way, I predict that Michelle Obama will be a positive transformational figure in American and global politics. She probably already knows what a slice of the population is saying and is well-prepared from her own life experience to brush it off and move forward.

I had a history teacher in high school who once said to my class that - in her mind - we all started off in her class as A+ students but it was up to us to maintain that grade. She wasn't kidding. It inspired a number of B students to end up as A students.

In my book, Michelle Obama starts out with an A+. Given her success in life thus far, I am convinced she'll end up in 8 years with the same grade. I won't lower her grade because she returned a gesture to a member of the British royal family or wore a dress that I wouldn't have chosen for her.

These are serious times. It's time for serious people to pull the political debate to serious subjects. Listen to the First Lady's remarks to young women at an all-girls school in London. That was a serious speech on a very important topic: getting young women to believe in themselves and to pursue as much education as they can. I don't remember what she wore. I remember the message that was delivered in a way that even her husband - a master orator - couldn't have done better. We should be very, very proud that she has put herself out there to represent us.