What would the media label this hypothetical President's "special" friend

In My Humble Opinion
21

Several times the President of the U.S. was not married. In those cases, there was a woman who served as hostess of the White House. Thomas Jefferson was not married during the time he was President. His daughter served as hostess of the White House. Andrew Jackson’s wife died during his time as President. His niece, Emily Donelson, served as hostess of the White House until she too died. Then his daughter-in-law, Sarah Jackson, served as hostess of the White House. James Buchanan was never married. His niece, Harriet Lane, served as hostess of the White House.

Although Jill Biden, Joe Biden’s wife, is referred to as the Second Lady while he was Vice President and now as First Lady while he is President, note that in both cases she has been teaching at a community college at the same time. The real problem here is that the entire idea of First Lady or Second Lady is now out of date. It is no longer necessary that the wife of a President or a Vice President needs to spend all their time being a hostess of the White House.

Many other countries don’t use titles like First Lady for the wife/girl(or boy) friend/whatever of the President/Prime Minister/whatever. It appears in some countries that many people in the country are not even particularly aware of whether the President/Prime Minister/whatever is married or has a girlfriend (or boyfriend). It’s time we gave up the idea of the First/Second Lady/Gentleman entirely. The idea is hopelessly out of date. We should accept that the notion that anyone married to or otherwise involved with the President/Vice President has to spend all their time as hostess/host is just a remnant of how society used to work and should be just forgotten.

22

And this goes for both the “social host[ess]/household manager” function and for the more recent “we’ve got to give her some actual issue to be in charge of”. Hey, if they’re interested, fine. If not, the one who ran for votes and took an oath of office is the other person.

23

Who says that? And do they mean a cabinet ministry, or a sinecure to ensure they have no chance to enjoy their own career (like how Prince Philip had to resign from the military)?

24

The expectation that has grown that they must have some sort of “cause” to lead – e.g. a campaign for literacy (Laura), or against obesity (Michelle)… or even head a policy team (Hillary).

25

I concur with those who’ve said that partner would be the likeliest term. It’s already in usage and it doesn’t imply this woman is in a subordinate position in the relationship.

26

Here in Maryland it was somewhat of a news story that William Donald Schaefer, who was the governor from 1987 to 1995, lived in the governor’s mansion with his apparent girlfriend Hilda Mae Snoops, who acted as the hostess for Schaefer. I say “apparent” because there was a rumor that Schaefer was gay. Snoops was a neighbor of Schaefer for many years and certainly a friend of him during that time. (She was divorced when she met him.) When he was elected governor, she moved into the governor’s mansion with him. Although the news stories about her referred to her as the hostess and sometimes as his girlfriend, they didn’t make any comment about whether he was gay. This rumor makes it sound as if Snoops was willing to pretend to be his girlfriend, she wasn’t willing to actually go through a marriage and pretend to be his wife.