Barack's Rock Rocks!
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Both pieces reveal Ms. Obama in a way which helps us anticipate how she will fill the role of First Lady.
First, the cover story by Richar Wolffe, Barack’s Rock:
Michelle Obama's appeal-she routinely draws audiences of 1,000 ... As a political spouse,
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Deeply competitive by nature ... she wants the White House as much as he does ..... after the surprise loss in New Hampshire, where polls had Obama leading Hillary Clinton by wide margins. It was Michelle who delivered the pep talk to the candidate's dispirited aides waiting anxiously outside the couple's hotel suite.
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. . . . What would she do as First Lady? It's a question she gets all the time now. Yet it's not one she ventures to answer in any detail. She is interested in issues women face balancing work and home, and in lowering barriers that keep poor students from college. She says,
There are a ton of things. It's endless what you can do in the White House. . But until I get there and know what kind of resources I'll have and how much time and what's the agenda of the country, I think, truthfully, I don't know which of these many things I can focus on.
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What will the girls need? Are they going to transition easily to the White House and this public life and a new school and a new city? If they're losing their minds, that's one project off Mommy's table, because I'm going to be making sure that they have their feet on the ground.. . . . . Though she has no official policy role in the campaign, she has been deployed to speak directly to the fears of black audiences in a way that Barack often does not. Earlier this year, Obama staffers worried that some African-American voters might still be reluctant to believe that a black man could really be elected president. Michelle went down to South Carolina to try to put them at ease. As she reviewed her speech on the plane ride to one event, a story came to mind. She thought of African-Americans she had known who had saved for new furniture, only to wrap it in plastic to protect it. But in the end, doing so was self-defeating. She told the audience,
That plastic gets yellow and scratches up your leg. I think folks just want to protect us from the possibility of being let down … by the world as it is. A world, they fear, is not ready for a decent man like Barack. Sometimes it seems better not to try at all than to try and fail.She urged them to take the risk.
At least once, Michelle did voice her displeasure to the campaign staff. After one of the debates, Obama's team met to discuss strategy. Michelle dialed in and spoke over the phone.
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It was more than a strategist talking about what the best tactic would be. It was a spouse saying, 'Do not do this to my husband again'.My second 'exhibit' is from Raina Kelley's A Real Wife, In a Real Marriage:
Part of Michelle's strength is that she has been immune to the mommy wars that tripped up Hillary during Bill's campaigns.
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People understood that this is how we all live in our marriages. And Barack is very much human. So let's not deify him, because what we do is we deify, and then we're ready to chop it down. People have notions of what a wife's role should be in this process, and it's been a traditional one of blind adoration. My model is a little different—I think most real marriages are.Vigilante would not allow me to post these two articles in their entirety. I encourage Barack fans to follow my links and enjoy the originals!