Michelle Obama as a candidate

Politics & Elections
1

Over on the Nikki Haley Thread there was discussion of a possible crossover to take over from Kamala Harris, and the following ensued:

So here we are in that other thread.

FWIW it is not something that just came up now, I could hear/read chatter about it already as Pres. Obama’s term was coming to a close, whether to put her in some high office, any high office, and that has trended towards raising her into the national ticket.

Now, I grew to quite admire the Obamas and they both are rather impressive achievers, but honestly never fully understood how the “logical” thing to do is “now we run Michelle!”

It has often sounded and looked to me like a matter that we didn’t want her to go away, we wanted her to stay there because she represented something for which we did not have anyone standing by to take over. And to the extent I can empathize with various segments of the population, I can see that. She obviously touches some sort of vital nerve that, to put it frankly, Kamala Harris fails to. (One of my critiques of the Democrats-under-Obama was that there was no real effort to transform the Party Establishment for what would come once it was no longer The Person Barack Obama standing there at the mic.)

And in the other thread there was a response that does make sense…

…the effect of self-reinforcing feedback. When compared to the people who actually are running or overtly interested for the near future, she looks damn good at polling time mostly because of name recognition, sure, but also because of something she embodies in people’s minds about what they want to see and hear and feel from a candidate (plus really, the ones actually running tend to set a low bar). And that just keeps her being mentioned again, in front of people’s minds as happened here.

But as mentioned, SHE says she doesn’t want it and I have no reason to disbelieve her. I don’t see her going around making major policy addresses or positioning herself for such a move, or if she is she’s being masterfully subtle about it.

So are we looking for someone who fills the role of admirable leader, and people are just vesting her with whatever it is they wish they saw in such? Or is there more?

2

Ain’t going to happen. She saw Barack age the way he did over 8 years, I can’t imagine wanting that for yourself.

3

Please, no more wives or husbands or children of. Help develop some new fresh candidates. Not Nepo-candidates.

Come on DNC and please by some miracle let see some moderate Republicans rise up also.

4

@JRDelirious, thanks for starting this thread.

I think Michelle Obama is as done with politics as she can possibly be, except for fulfilling her duties as a former First Lady as she believe them to be. Which does not include subjecting herself to the rigors and indignities of campaigning, let alone assuming the mostly whipping-post position of Vice President. I admire her immensely, and I understand her decision.

With respect to your assessment here:

I think this is somewhat true, except I would clarify that we don’t have someone standing by to take over who wishes to do so.

In my opinion, we in fact have a lot of much younger, qualified and super bright Democrats who could step into the role, but for a variety of reasons, they don’t wish to. It’s changing, but not fast enough for 2024. I think we’ll be in good shape for 2028, though.

5

There’s a certain subset of Americans who have always longed for things like Royal Families that were thrown away when you revolted. This manifests as Political Families like the Kennedys and the Bushes. Hell, when Kennedy was President, they even called it “Camelot”, which was a bit of a give-away.

So now, any time there’s a family member in the wings who looks like they could inherit the job, some people will suggest it. See also, Donald Trump, Jr, and Ivanka Trump. Hell, at one point, I saw some MAGAt type posting a plan for 4 or 5 Trump presidents in a row, for no other reason than they were named Trump.

6

I agree with this. Remember the 2016 race? I thought that Hillary Clinton was eminently qualified, given her legal background, time in the Senate and as Secretary of State. And yet, a lot of people hated her, partly for the claims of nepotism. Michelle Obama is less qualified than Hillary was and she will be subject to the same claims.

7

Good point. People should not feel forced to jump in before they feel ready, or out of fear of missing out.

8

As I understand it, each First Lady picks some special project to focus on leading the way on. In the case of Mrs. Obama, she chose to improve the nutrition in school lunches.

To my knowledge, that wasn’t a success.

Outside of that, I’m not aware of any particular reason to think that she’s a gifted leader or even politician. I’m sure that she’s a perfectly nice person and, in this day and age, there is something to be said for that. But if that’s our criteria, I can think of a large number of better subjects.

9

How about fifth-cousins-of? Those two have a pretty good track record.

10

When Biden inevitably dies of old age, Michelle will become the candidate.

When Trump inevitably dies of old age, Melania will become the candidate.

Michelle vs. Melania. The only hope to save the Future.

11

True, but a strike against was Eleanor was Teddy’s favorite niece. That one worked out, but overall I stick by my please no Nepo-Candidates. Smacks of aristocracy.

BTW: W was also some sort of cousin many times removed of Franklin Pierce on his mother’s side.

12

George Pataki is a relatively sane and moderate Republican with genuine political experience. He ran for the 2016 presidential nomination - and was pretty much ignored by Republican voters.

The problem, as we’re seeing, is that Republican voters apparently don’t want to see moderate candidates representing them. In fact, they’ve moved past that point and now they don’t want to even see conservative candidates representing them.

13

Michelle Obama running is a Republican idea of how Democrats think. As this thread shows, Democrats do not want Michelle Obama to run.

14

Just my personal feeling here …

I’m not hoping for a Michelle Obama candidacy, but the idea appeals to me as a Barack do-over. I had such high hopes for him and his presidency but saw him (and the Democrats in general) badly misplay their hand, failing to recognize the GOP’s true nature and agenda. Michelle has many of Barack’s qualities – good-looking, charismatic, intelligent AF, great public speaker – but she would also know that the GOP cannot be compromised with or trusted. IOW we’d get what we loved about Barack and also know how to crush the GOP with those qualities.

But it’s not gonna happen, nor should it. I just hope the next young-ish Dem dynamo is more gloves-off.

15

All of which stemmed directly from her marriage. She was Secretary of State because she was a presidential candidate, and the wife of Bill Clinton. She was a presidential candidate because of her Senate seat, and because she was the wife of Bill Clinton. She got her Senate seat because she was the wife of Bill Clinton. That’s a terrible foundation to build a political career on.

16

This is really the whole story.

A lot of Americans want royalty. Or at least they want celebrity with royalist trappings and they want those people in politics.

Politics should not be about “name recognition”. The fact it largely has become so is a bug, not a feature.

17

True, but at least she had served in those jobs, and I thought well. Michelle Obama hasn’t done even that.

18

Which though understandable, “what we loved about Barack” was more than just that… or should have been. There was a lot that many expected to come behind that charisma, intelligence, eloquence, etc. and precisely why there’s the disappointment about the failure to achieve true transformation of the kind that sticks.

(And here’s where some would say: well, there’s our problem, people wanting to “love” their leaders…)

19

I’m not at all saying that Barack was some kind of empty suit. Taking office when he did after a devastating economic collapse, I truly believed it was the moment for a leader to help Americans understand the kinds of changes that could truly transform our society for the better – and that he was the guy with the goods to do it.

Unfortunately, he and his team (and his party) were far too naive about the GOP and its ability to mobilize against those changes.

If we ever get another moment like 2009, the next Obama (and no, it won’t be Michelle) won’t be so naive.

20

Not only is she a woman, she’s a Black woman. Remember the level of absolute incoherent rage Hillary Clinton inspired? Double that. I can’t imagine anyone in her position being tempted to subject herself to that, even if she was interested in entering politics. Also, being married to a president doesn’t really make up for a complete lack of experience.

She was qualified, though. I’d argue that one reason she didn’t have as brilliant a career as Bill did was that she was his wife. She’s also not as natural a candidate as he was. (And, of course, sexism is the top reason.) She reminds me of Al Gore, in a way.

What I want is more candidates who’ve put in the work and are familiar with how to govern. No more billionaires, no tech moguls, no CEOs. People who know how government actually functions.