Michelle Robinson Obama – First Lady For the History Books

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Michelle Obama promises to be the most beloved American first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, who ranked, according to a 2006 Harris poll, as America’s most popular first lady, with Jacqueline Kennedy pulling good numbers as well.

Like her husband, First Lady Michelle Obama is destined for success on two completely different levels. As a real person she is personable and warm. Meeting her would be a pleasure. But as a symbol and role model, she will become a true titan.

That’s because for the first time in recent White House history, the First Lady will epitomize American urban regular folks. Whereas the GOP tried in the 2008 campaign to sell a “just folks” image, marketing Joe “the not real plumber” Wurzelbacher and Christian-hunter hockey mom Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama is no cardboard cut-out. She’s the real thing. It’s just that she’s a city girl, not the down-home, countrified version of all-American.

^{Michelle and daughters listen to Barack Obama's
Fathers Day speech at Apostolic Church of God
June 15, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.
(Photo by Getty Images North America)}

From modest beginnings -- in fact, descended from slaves -- Michelle indeed has pulled herself up by the proverbial American bootstraps of hard work, good schools, grounded family, and community. She’s almost the mythic American, transcending economic class and ethnic hardships in her lifetime. As a female role model in particular, she is even more likely to inspire-- feminine yet accomplished, stylish but not vain, confident but not egotistical, devoted wife and mother yet also a career heavyweight. If you met her, you would want to be her friend. But beyond that, you could become a better person by emulating her.

Michelle Robinson grew up in a small apartment in a mostly segregated black urban neighborhood. Mom and Dad modeled and expected hard work, dependability, responsibility and engagement with the community, steadiness, but perhaps most of all, family. As Michelle’s brother Craig recalls, "To have a family, which we did, who constantly reminded you how smart you were, how good you were, how pleasant it was to be around you, how successful you could be, it's hard to combat. Our parents gave us a little head start by making us feel confident. If you disappointed my dad," Craig recalls, "everybody was, like, crying." And Michelle said of her late father, "That's the voice in my head that keeps me whole and keeps me grounded and keeps me the girl from the South Side of Chicago, no matter how many cameras are in the room, how many autographs people want, how big we get."

Marian and Fraser Robinson were working people without college degrees -- a secretary and a boiler tender who raised their children with great care and much love. Michelle and Craig learned to read at home by age four. Both had regular household chores to do along with schoolwork that had to be done to the best of their ability, not just to get by. For fun they played Monopoly as well as football, basketball, and baseball – together as a family. Michelle also played with her dolls and an Easy Bake Oven. As the kids grew older, the family had long conversations around the kitchen table and listened to music together on the record player. Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins dropped by. Barack Obama, whose upbringing differed strikingly, has jokingly described the Robinson’s family life as like “Leave It To Beaver.”

But their life also was pure city stuff, pure Chicago, not Suburban or Small Town or Backroads, USA. Dad’s hobbies had been boxing and Democratic precinct work. Craig attended Catholic schools, and Michelle a highly competitive public magnet school, the newly opened Whitney Young. Both siblings began to emerge as leaders. College scholarships, success in the Ivy League, and impressive professional achievements followed. In 1992 Michelle had a picture-book church wedding. (Brother Craig also married and had children, but he is now divorced.)

Next as a professional urban mom in Chicago, Michelle juggled all manner of play dates, school potlucks, piano practice, soccer games, and managed to fit in family volunteer work at local food pantries. She did it all (with a great support network). She and her hubby even ducked out to some nice restaurants. The Obamas rose in fame and wealth based on the work they did, and their work benefited not just their own careers, but their families, community, state, and country.

Now Michelle and her family will carry on in Washington as residents of another big city where the Chicago South Siders should feel right at home and get a warm welcome from the locals. They will visit local churches and perhaps join one, they'll support community building efforts and get to know the town’s museums and landmarks – and they'll lead from the White House.

On the national stage, with Barack and the girls and her mom at her side, Michelle Obama will stand for groundedness, balance, and being real. An urban family. City folks. At ease with the poor and the wealthy and the in-between. As she raises her family, she will raise up the rest of us. Because she’s just “good people.”

And as such, she’ll become the nation’s most beloved First Lady. A singular First Lady for all of America.

Getting To Know The Obama Grandmama -- Michelle's Mom (BuzzFlash)

Her Heart's in the Race (Washington Post)

The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama (oprah.com)

Holding Down the Family Fort (boston.com) 

First Lady in Waiting (Chicago Magazine)

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS