# People who adore Michelle Obama, what is your motivation **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832 "2017-06-13T03:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/61 "2017-06-15T11:37:39Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [Michelle Obama 'prepared divorce papers to separate from Barack, leaving him suicidal' | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145035/Michelle-Obama-prepared-divorce-papers-separate-Barack-leaving-suicidal.html) > [Inside The East Wing: Who Shrank Michelle Obama? | The New Republic](https://newrepublic.com/article/117086/inside-east-wing-who-shrank-michelle-obama) > If any of that is true, she considered divorcing her husband when he was at his lowest, and is a controlling, demanding perfectionist who it is extremely stressful to work for. Your first link is talking about a claims made in a book written by Edward Klein, the same slimeball that wrote that ugly smear about Mrs. Clinton, _The Truth About Hillary_. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/62 "2017-06-15T11:55:20Z")
I believe the first time I heard the phrase: “They go low; you aim high” was on “Housewives of Orange County.” ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/63 "2017-06-15T12:19:41Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > (1) Apparently, she caused his school to serve something really awful. Brownies, made with black beans. Bean-beans, not chocolate beans. (I know, this is pretty heinous.) Made correctly, black bean brownies are really good. My wife makes them. You wouldn’t know that there were black beans in them if you weren’t told. Even if your son had to suffer through a bad black bean brownie or, god forbid, skipped desert because he wouldn’t try it, that’s not much of a reason to hate someone. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/64 "2017-06-15T12:22:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Meh. She was the First Lady. Pick some non-controversial cause, dress nicely, pretend to pay attention to your husband when he is delivering the same stump speech for the fortieth time, and be the social hostess at the White House. > > She was no Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was no Hillary Clinton either. > > Once or twice she said something stupid or tone-deaf, like when she said she was never proud of America until we elected her husband, but any public figure is going to say something stupid sooner or later. She’s smoking hot, which helps, because it is in a non-threatening way. > > The First Lady is like the mother of the groom at a wedding. Smile a lot, don’t embarrass anyone, be nice to people you’ve never met and will never see again, and keep your disagreements private. > > Regards, > Shodan Maybe it’s just me, but this post reads like it came out of the 1950s or something. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/65 "2017-06-15T12:26:14Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > My son hates Michelle Obama. He used to like her, but… I decided at the age of 10 that I hated Michael Dukakis because he talked too long at the DNC, which resulted in me and the rest of the chorus from my elementary school getting bumped off the program. Such is the way of kids. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/66 "2017-06-15T12:26:26Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [Michelle Obama 'prepared divorce papers to separate from Barack, leaving him suicidal' | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145035/Michelle-Obama-prepared-divorce-papers-separate-Barack-leaving-suicidal.html) > > [Inside The East Wing: Who Shrank Michelle Obama? | The New Republic](https://newrepublic.com/article/117086/inside-east-wing-who-shrank-michelle-obama) > **If any of that is true** , she considered divorcing her husband when he was at his lowest, and is a controlling, demanding perfectionist who it is extremely stressful to work for. It’s likely NOT true. The DailyMail is a basically about as credible and objective as the New York Post, which itself is only a notch or two above the Enquirer. It publishes rumors as though they were facts. I’m not trying to call you out but you need to be a little better at differentiating online sources based on their reputation for reporting accurate information. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/67 "2017-06-15T12:38:14Z")
I like Michelle Obama because she seems like a likeable person. She’s obviously a bright woman - how bright she is I don’t know and don’t care, but she obviously seems educated. But my sense that she was always down-to-earth. She never came across as being an elitist. She seemed interested in genuinely using her role to help raise awareness to important social issues affecting people across this country. She just seems like a genuinely caring and compassionate person. So yeah, I like Michelle Obama. But more than that, I admire her. I admire her because she is a black woman – I mean like very black, not biracial like her husband – who stepped into a role that has been developed over 200 years by white women and white society. The public’s perception of a First Lady is based on cultural norms established by largely socially and economically elite whites. Michelle, like her husband, faced challenges that nobody else before her had ever faced: how to be a woman for all of the many demographics of Americans on one hand while simultaneously acknowledging the traditions and etiquette of her role, according to white cultural norms that have been established over more than two centuries. The Obamas were in the unusual position of being obligated to serve the needs of all segments in a diverse society while taking care not to frighten a white majority. And as it has become painfully obvious over the last several years, that is very, very damn challenging. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/68 "2017-06-15T12:39:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > God point. I’m sure **Shodan** wasn’t talking about her looks. Actually I was, largely. She is very pretty in a non-threatening way - not plastic surgery/anorexia/implants like Hollywood, not overly done up like a beauty pageant contestant. Accessible, sort of - almost “if we were both single I might have a shot, and at least she wouldn’t sneer at me if I hit on her”. But you are correct that it isn’t just her looks. She has that combination of hotness and competence that is screamingly attractive - like she has a lot more going on than being eye candy. In a way it is like the role of Linda, Danny’s wife, on _Blue Bloods_ . Linda is both strikingly beautiful, and a nurse. Strength, including strength of character, and beauty, including physical beauty, Hoo boy. (If you ever meet the Lovely and Talented Mrs. **Shodan** you will see what I am talking about.) See also Dr. Jill Biden and Condi Rice for other examples of the type. I recognize the persona that Michelle Obama projects is neither more (nor less) real than any other public persona, but that’s all I have encountered from her, or am likely to encounter. So, that’s my impression. For a First Lady, it is a persona that works. Michelle Obama did her role that way. Melania isn’t doing it that way. Laura Bush was like Michelle. Hillary Clinton, to understate it badly, wasn’t. Barbara Bush was more like your favorite grandma. Nancy Reagan was playing more like Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Role. Rosalynn Carter was more the Iron Magnolia/Southern beauty pageant organizer type. Before that, Betty Ford tried, fairly successfully, to be a real person. Pat Nixon was a public non-entity, probably by choice. Lady Bird was like Rosalynn Carter. Jackie was what Melania would be if the press liked her husband as much as they hate him now. Mamie was a dowdy 50s housewife. Bess Truman likewise, except earlier. And Eleanor Roosevelt was one of a kind. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/69 "2017-06-15T16:12:06Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Meh. She was the First Lady. Pick some non-controversial cause, dress nicely, pretend to pay attention to your husband when he is delivering the same stump speech for the fortieth time, and be the social hostess at the White House. > > She was no Eleanor Roosevelt, but she was no Hillary Clinton either. > > Once or twice she said something stupid or tone-deaf, like when she said she was never proud of America until we elected her husband, but any public figure is going to say something stupid sooner or later. She’s smoking hot, which helps, because it is in a non-threatening way. > > The First Lady is like the mother of the groom at a wedding. Smile a lot, don’t embarrass anyone, be nice to people you’ve never met and will never see again, and keep your disagreements private. > > Regards, > Shodan I like this best. Mrs. Obama is very smart and even more than her husband seemed to understand the uniqueness of being the first African American First Lady. She took that historical role seriously by being an excellent First Lady. Of course she suffered the racism and partisanship that everyone in every administration suffers, but she handled it well. I like her precisely because she had a job and did it well-like the mother of the groom. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/70 "2017-06-15T16:58:04Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > If any of that is true, It would still be petty and judgemental of you condemn her for that. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/71 "2017-06-15T21:36:29Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > It would still be petty and judgemental of you condemn her for that. I don’t agree. I never liked Kate Gosselin for the same reason, she has a well polished public image but I always felt that that hid a private person who was far meaner and more selfish than her sculpted public image. I get the same vibe from Michelle Obama. However I feel you can tell much about a person based on how they treat people they have nothing to gain from being nice to. If I’m wrong (and I’ve been wrong before) then I’m wrong, but the second article implied multiple sources all verify that Michelle Obama is very miserable and stressful to work for. You can be a nice, classy, wholesome person when the cameras are on but once the doors close and you are interacting with people that you have nothing to gain by being nice to, if people say you are a misery and anxiety producing person, that probably signifies your real personality. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/72 "2017-06-15T21:46:09Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I like Michelle Obama because she seems like a likeable person. She’s obviously a bright woman - how bright she is I don’t know and don’t care, but she obviously seems educated. Undergrad Princeton; JD Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/73 "2017-06-16T00:22:35Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t agree. I never liked Kate Gosselin for the same reason, she has a well polished public image but I always felt that that hid a private person who was far meaner and more selfish than her sculpted public image. I get the same vibe from Michelle Obama. > > However I feel you can tell much about a person based on how they treat people they have nothing to gain from being nice to. If I’m wrong (and I’ve been wrong before) then I’m wrong, but the second article implied multiple sources all verify that Michelle Obama is very miserable and stressful to work for. You can be a nice, classy, wholesome person when the cameras are on but once the doors close and you are interacting with people that you have nothing to gain by being nice to, if people say you are a misery and anxiety producing person, that probably signifies your real personality. If the worst thing you can say about her is that she is a taskmaster in a high stress job then you are really grasping for straws. Maybe I wouldn’t want to work for her, but there are plenty of people I know who are bosses that I like as friends but wouldn’t want to work under. This article was written in 2010 by a hostile magazine so I take the tone with a grain of salt, but even if true I say “so what”? You’re basically peddling in gossip. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/74 "2017-06-16T01:00:47Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t agree. I never liked Kate Gosselin for the same reason, she has a well polished public image but I always felt that that hid a private person who was far meaner and more selfish than her sculpted public image. I get the same vibe from Michelle Obama. I hope I never become a public figure, because as a woman, I can expect to be compared to reality TV stars rather than people of prominence. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/75 "2017-06-16T10:16:54Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Undergrad Princeton; JD Harvard. And, [according to one of her Harvard professors](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/harvard-law-professor-charles-ogletree-barack-obama-michelle-former-first-lady-should-be-us-a7577176.html), a more promising law student than her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/76 "2017-06-16T10:36:36Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [Michelle Obama 'prepared divorce papers to separate from Barack, leaving him suicidal' | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145035/Michelle-Obama-prepared-divorce-papers-separate-Barack-leaving-suicidal.html) … > If any of that is true, she considered divorcing her husband when he was at his lowest, and is a controlling, demanding perfectionist who it is extremely stressful to work for. Do you have a source for the divorce stuff that isn’t the Daily Fail? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but If the Daily Mail told me the sky is blue, I’d look out the window to check. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/77 "2017-06-16T11:48:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Sure I have reactions like this too. Like every time the “Star Trek: Enterprise” character Trip Tucker opened his mouth I hated him. I realized that my reaction was unnatural so I realized that it was at least in part because he kind of looked like and had an accent similar to George W. Bush. I realized that this was unfair stereotyping. Not to hijack this, but: he’s in [a Tom Cruise movie later this year,](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/) as George W. Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/78 "2017-06-16T12:46:52Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Not to hijack this, but: he’s in [a Tom Cruise movie later this year,](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/) as George W. Bush. Perfect ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/79 "2017-06-16T12:49:41Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > You’re basically peddling in gossip. Not only that but it’s gossip that mostly comes from a notorious liar. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832/80 "2017-06-16T20:20:38Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I voted for Obama and liked him, but I never liked his wife. So I’m curious what motivates people who did like her and what they saw in her. I did not vote for Obama either time, though I respect him a lot and do think he ended up being an excellent President, one of the best of the last 50 years. I thought Michelle Obama was a great first lady, too. I like most of the first ladies, though. I mean…they have to put up with being married to the President. It is not easy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-adore-michelle-obama-what-is-your-motivation/788832.md?page=5)