When People magazine included Michelle Obama in its recent “most beautiful” list, which usually profiles celebrities no one wondered why. The wife of the 44th President of the United States had somehow achieved that status seemingly without seeking it. In the period following Barack Obama’s Democratic nomination, his wife Michelle began to attract increased notice. This heightened in the run up to elections and has not decreased since.
The media have been paying very keen attention to the First Lady. So much so that the brand of clothing she favours for herself and the ones she buys for her children have become popular. She is praised and criticized at every turn. Her preference for purchasing the less-expensive J Crew brand of clothing has been lauded; her seeming faux pas in donning sneakers that cost over $500 a pair to visit a Washington DC food bank, scorned.
Ostensibly unfazed by both the adoration and criticism, Mrs Obama, long a role model and mother to Malia and Sasha, the two little girls her union with President Barack Obama has produced, has also become role model to millions of young girls in the US and around the world. Constantly under the floodlights, she must be aware of the potential damage that a misstep can cause. To her credit, she seems to have remarkable aplomb, taking her new role and everything that comes with it in her 5′ 10″ stride.
Michelle Obama has been called a strong woman and with good reason. She is not traditional ‘First Lady’ material in the sense that she is very forthright and will never be stereotyped into the ribbon-cutting, head-patting mould. She refuses to be labelled a feminist, yet her activism is very obvious. Having segued from juggling her career and motherhood to juggling motherhood and public life, she is in fact an un-anointed poster girl for equality.
It is obvious that much of that strength comes from her almost tangible self-assuredness. Had her husband not become President of the United States of America, People magazine might never have noticed Michelle Obama’s beauty. Her angular face structure is not the type that has ever been voted beautiful.
But Michelle Obama was not waiting for People’s commendation. As she said, she always knew she was beautiful because her father and brother thought so and told her so often.
In an interview, she told People magazine that she was influenced by strong male role models who told her how beautiful, smart and funny she was and she lamented that many young girls never hear such words and how fortunate she was to have been so nurtured.
During her visit to London with President Obama, when she raised eyebrows around the globe for having dared hug the Queen, who reportedly did not mind, she told students at an all-girls school that she had also had many positive female role models. She said the way she is now was a result of having been loved and nurtured all of her life by extraordinary women: her mother, grandmothers, teachers, aunts, cousins and neighbours, who imparted to her “quiet strength and dignity.” That last phrase just about sums up America’s First Lady and it is clear that this is what she also seeks to communicate in her interactions.
The lack of role models for young people has often been bemoaned and persons have criticized the tendency of youth in Guyana and the Caribbean to look at North American celebrities for inspiration. But that does not seem like such a bad thing today, given the arrival of Michelle Obama and Barack too for that matter.
