To not get the big deal about Michelle Obama?

[wellhellothereall]

She married a bloke who became president...so why is she so revered, because she married well? I just don't get it.

I would love to have a girls night out with Michelle, I think she'd be a great laugh and good value - sorry if that's crawly and a bit 🤢.

She's as boring as feck in my opinion. Her race and sex are irrelevant (but not to those obsessed by victimhood and identity politics).

Aquilla, if you call what she’s done and achieved boring as fuck I’m really excited to hear what you’ve done with your life that’s so much better.....

Ignore Aquilla

I’ve just seen them trolling on another board. Pathetic individual.

If Condoleezza was running for President for the Republicans, I'd prefer her to most (all?) male candidates from recent years.

Maybe because of her job she doesn't have the everywoman, mumsy, appeal that Michelle has.
Perhaps it's harder to give her credit because we haven't really seen Michelle in a professional role.

Mumsy? Jesus.

Calling a black working class woman who excelled through Harvard Law School and held several influential and prominent jobs “mumsy” does beg the question - what does a woman have to do to get respect?

So we will empower women who are inspirational and say wonderful things about them, yet it's also absolutely fine to tear down another female for having an opposing view? Some people here are so incredibly rude.

Some women on this thread are just a bunch of moany bitchy women who sound jealous and deeply insecure.

I'm happy to be happy about a great black female role model for all our sons and daughters to look up to- and it's as simple as that!

Honestly, not too many people here in the USA actually pay too much attention to her unless they support her husband’s politics or are a celeb. Mostly because she courts the spotlight pretty hard. She’s probably as amazing as a lot of women here.

@chemenger

EXACTLY.

We are not limited to admiring an exact number of men or women.

It's OK to say we admire Michelle Obama hugely.

Her platforms give her opportunity to make noise and be heard, yep, this 100% absolutely. But the sentiments around them and public affection / admiration they receive is due to the esteem in which they hold the positions they did in the white house and how they USED this platform for the greater good .

As said she wouldn't be known other than being marrying to BObama (before the White House was in reach - when they got married she didn't know what was to come.

I've genuinely felt confused between whether a poster / posters are only interesting in repeating the same questions, PPs answering and then having their posts edited in replies so the powerful sentiment of us finding some agreement and common ground on which to debate calmly and helpfully. Tthanks Condolleeza you helped with the trickle down effect of collaborative working but it doesn't seem to have reached this thread!

I mean, a PP even quoted my post but literally removed the bit where I said yes I agree on a specific point.

Those with strong and well thought out opinions are able to support them in fact and results. Those who are angrier than calmer and feel backed into a corner inevitably lash out or flounce and it's a shame. It feels ridiculous to attempt a debate with misquoting comments in particular.

ONE WOMAN'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN NO WAY TAKE AWAY FROM ANOTHER'S.

FFS the attitude is so sad - we should WANT to support each other and celebrate such positive contributions.

It really would be great for someone who thinks meh / don't like her / all coz of husband etc to the point they still don't understand why any fuss over her, please please actually read her book and then come back and tell us what you thought. Anyone up for doing this?

That isn't goady, it's always great when something can change our preconceptions and challenge our thinking. We are all learning all the time but must be open to certain viewpoints so we can consider them.

Again, I agree she wouldn't have had the platform on which to be an internationally known figure.

But I believe she has contributed more to society than any other First Lady using the platform. They were already husband and wife, teammates and equals.

@chemenger and @RiverTam

I think you missed the point of my post.

could you explain it then? Because, personally speaking, mumsy is not a word I would ever have associated with Michelle Obama.

Perhaps a bad choice of word, but Michelle comes across as warmer, friendlier and much more "mum next door" than Condoleezza.
Which in no way takes away from her accomplishments, IMO, but I can see how some people may have ended up seeing her more in the mum and wife role and associate her with it, than the professional look more associated with Condoleezza.
As I wrote, some attitudes regarding Michelle may stem from not having seen her in a strictly professional role.

thanks for explaining. I'm not sure that really stands up given the number of people who have read her autobiography - she was always a working woman, and indeed continued in that vein in so far as she could as First Lady.

I actually think she overcame far more obstacles than Barack - a black woman from the south side of Chicago - ended up at Princeton and Harvard Law School and in a top flight commercial law firm.

I also tip my hat to Michelle's mum as she was also instrumental in getting Barack to the White House, given that she basically looked after their kids while they campaigned etc.

I'm not sure that really stands up given the number of people who have read her autobiography

But the critics don't seem to have.

I admit I knew very little about her before I read her book. It really opened my eyes to her achievements. She may not have chosen to be a politician but she was as effective in her own career in many ways as he was in his. It will be interesting to see what they go on to do now. I do see your point @Lweji, the way she was portrayed as FLOTUS did emphasise her family role rather than a professional image. When she spoke, though, it was clear that there was substance.

And all of her grandparents were slaves

Only if she is really about 120.

Someone said mumsy. I was going to comment but then I read that and stabbed my own eye out...

You can read the word "mumsy" but not the rest of the post, or even the thread?

She's a fantastic orator, fiercely clever, strong, inspirational, clearly lives
her life with a strong sense of justice and purpose, fantastic role model. Funny and personable to boot.

Dismissing all that just because of who she married is a bit bonkers.

The woman is a goddess, what does she have to do to earn OP’s approval, I wonder.

Michelle obama isnt just an ex president's wife, she is a sucessful woman in her own right

I actually think she overcame far more obstacles than Barack - a black woman from the south side of Chicago - ended up at Princeton and Harvard Law School and in a top flight commercial law firm.

I would read her biography for this part alone - it was fascinating. Even if she never became Flotus her early life and description of her family is fascinating. I'm not sure people can grasp today how unusual and difficult it was for her parents to send their two african-american children to Princeton from Chicago's south side. That book Educated is top of the charts here - it is about a white woman overcoming great adversity to go on to university and get a PhD. No one is complaining that it shouldn't have been written or she needs a platform in order to sell her book. She had a story, she told it, people are interested in it. Maybe Michelle Obama would never have written anything if she hadn't become first lady. Maybe she would and maybe we'd be interested. Who knows what she would be doing in Chicago right now if she hadn't had to give it up and go to the white house?

I also think Michelle Obama gave a real authenticity to Obama among african-american communities. He is the son of a white american woman and a Kenyan man - what is striking in her memoir is how outside the group he is. in many ways he doesn't inhabit the history of african americans the way she does.

absolutely - he was not 'immersed', for want of a better word, in the black community in the way Michelle was - he grew up with his white family in Hawaii - a world away, in more than one sense, from where Michelle grew up.