It Begins: Michelle Obama "The Great Emasculator" (NOT)

So I thought we would take things easy chill out for the rest of the week. Let everybody decompress before we defund DL Hughley's show and send him packing ( give it time), so I saw an article titled "Michelle Obama: America's Next First Lady." Great! Nope. It started out promising, informing the reader that Michelle Obama is going to be the youngest First Lady since Jackie O, but then the meme begins with the regurgitated stereotype of the Black woman who emasculates her man.

Others may gush over her husband but Michelle Obama, not only the first black First Lady but one of the youngest presidential wives since Jackie Kennedy, likes to be brutally honest about him....Critics have labelled her arrogant, haughty, cold and an "angry black woman". Supporters portray her instead as independent-minded, unafraid to speak out and a devoted mother who puts family firmly before career...

Thanks to her, we now know that the president elect never puts the butter away, cannot make beds and tends to be a bit smelly in the mornings. Such tidbits might have helped humanise the Obama image but critics claimed she emasculated him...

Although she often wins plaudits for her personal style, her tastes are hardly cutting edge.

There have been controversies. Eyebrows were raised when her salary in her current - part-time - job as a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals soared as soon as her husband became a senator. And she attracted criticism in February after she made a speech in which she said she was now proud of her country "for the first time in my adult life". The Telegraph

Well luckily most of the other "Meet Your New First Lady" are the standard fare.

Reuters: MIchelle Obama: new style of first lady

USA TOday: Michelle Obama Keeps Focus on Her Family

CBN News: America's First Mom

This serves as our announcement that we are accepting applications for new contributors over at Michelle Obama Watch to cover the transition and the inauguration. IF this article is any indication, there will be plenty to post about. Hit us up at Michelle Obama Watch at gmail.

Comments

[cinco]

Well, @ least we had one night...

I'd much rather she was open, honest and frank. She's not the 'tyical' Black woman by any means...but if she was what would be wrong with that? People should stop trying to put us in a box. We're diverse. We have quirks, faults and positive sides of our personalities just like any other woman/person.

No main stream media bashing will allow me to stop admiring her.

[DROCK]

After today, I don't think I will be checking in at M.O.W. to read up on the negative things said about Michelle in the media. The media tried to label her in a negative way because they have never had to write about black woman like Mrs. Obama. The people spoke yesterday on the Obamas. The media tried to tear her down and people saw through the smears. I say to hell with them. Why keep reading those stupid negative articles, when there are going to be soooooo many more positive ones. Why give them the time of day.

[Yme]

They can say what they want. I'm a Michelle Obama fan. I was probably more interested in Michelle Obama as first lady than Barack Obama as president. I think she is a classy, elegant, black woman. They're just jealous.

She's intelligent, articulate, and I think she's been a lot more intuitive in this election process than the "pundits" have given her credit for. I think she's been more honest and less likely to blow smoke and I admire her for it.

I identify more with Michelle Obama than Barack and I'm hopeful that her presence in the White House will mean more to black folk than simply Barack Obama's presence.

Barack Obama was someone, some folk (not of color) felt comfortable electing as a black man. They appreciated his "diverse" background. But, they got a "2fer". He took a true sister to the White House and two gorgeous little black girls to the White House with him.

I think America is ready for Barack. They're just afraid they're not ready for Michelle. They'll have to get over it.

[Naima]

I read a postive article about Michelle from the UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5086230.ece

I will be keeping up with the foreign media from now on.
I can't take all these pundits, they are idiots or they think the viewers are complete idiots, maybe both

[Esquire]

Honestly, let them talk.

There is nothing any moron on earth can say to dampen my spirits today. No, they can't change things over night. But I am still going to sit back and enjoy this moment.

There is an image in my mind of a beautiful black family waving to thousands of supporters last night. I will never forget it.

[Yme]

@Esquire
"a beautiful black family"

Exactly, right. Let 'em talk. They're a beautiful family.

[LorMarie]

What's the application process? I.E. What should one include in the email?

[Anonymiss]

Oh please. Why don't they just let it go already? Why is "humanizing" considered "emasculating?" If the Obamas were White, would "emasculating" even come up?

Funny how that word wasn't thrown around with regards to Schwarzenegger's comments.

[deborah]

I, also, am not reading any more negative coverage about Michelle Obama. Why give their sites any more hits? Let's just enjoy the joy!

[Faith]

It's the end to the DAR! The White House is Black now.

[Monica]

While I was never an Obama fan, I'm happy for Michelle and the girls. When I think of three brown chicks (like me) living in the white house, it warms my heart.

I'm so happy about that, I can even forgive Mrs. O for wearing that ugly dress last night.

[gem2001]

@faith, you are so radical. Come sit by me!

@monica, I too was not a fan of the dress, but I think it was the cardigan that threw it off. It is hard to top that purple sheath. That was THE DRESS of all time.

@DROCK thank you so much for not reading MOW anymore, I got an email from my hosting provider saying that traffic was so heavy in the first 5 days of November that I am going to exceed my hosting allowance and will have to cough up some dough. So youa re helping a sista out

[J.Adia]

I don't care what they say about Michelle. SHe can do no wrong (besides that cardigan with that dress). She is everything they don't want us to be. More of us are educated, eloquent, driven, supportive, and all the rest of the supleratives than they think. When I see Michelle I see a woman I can look up to and learn from. She is a true role model! Hate on haters!

[redcatbiker]

Yup, not a great dress. Doesn't look good on her. Probably doesn't look good on the hanger, too--which is where it should have stayed.

A big flaw with the dress is that the two fabrics seem to be competing with one another. That is the fault of the designer (Narciso Rodriguez, I think), it is as if he did not do a test of the comptability of the two fabrics to make sure that they would not be fighting each other. Or it could be that the dress was not sewn well.

The black fabric that crosses in the front and is the back of the dress, I think that that is a silk. And the front panel, the red and black kind of tie-dye looking fabric, well, from just eyeballing it from the few photos I have seen, not being able to touch it, I think that it is a microfibre. I'm not sure, though. It could be a natural fibre fabric.

You can see where the two fabrics are competing with each other at the seams--they are puckered. The stitch length was probably too high, that means that there were too many stitches per inch. Or it could be that the tension between the top stitches and the bottom stitches (most likely) was not properly adjusted on the machine on which the dress was sewn. Or the person who sewed it did not press the seams as she sewed. Thus, making the dress look homemade.

[Terrell Tax]

Michelle is a strong African American woman and she makes me proud. We are always judged harass for being who we are by those that have no clue of what a black woman is, that's so funny to me. Why is being honest, confident and determine bad only when compared to black women? It's gotten old and Michelle can and will hold her own as First Lady

[Kjen]

Good grief, unless at this point it is almost like "what doesn't emasculate men?"

I'm curious as to why the author chose this slant towards Michelle as opposed to saying oh, don't the obamas symbolize the newer, more egalitarian matches where your spouse is your friend as well as lover?

Nope.

[Sandra]

Actually, Michelle's dress has grown on me. The more I look at it, the more I appreciate the design and like the way it looks. And I am BEYOND HAPPY that there will be "3 black chicks" in the White House!

[Mod 2]

Michelle can wear whatever the hell she wants, with her 5'11" self wrapped in chocolate ;-) She's the total package; brains & beauty.

[Yvonne C.]

For the first time in my adult life , I too am proud of my country. I know many of you have thought this to yourselves in your own lifetimes. Even though we are not in the public eye like Mrs. Obama but we all know it's true. There have been many times that I have not been proud of America and there have been others where I was proud. We all know there will be times when we will not agree with some of the policies that will be brought forward by this new administration but we must work together to ensure that they benefit all Americans. Those who want to deny our existence will always attempt to distort the truth.