It started with this picture:
As I said, I'm being shallow here. We're not looking at either of the men who are the whole reason for the event, we're looking at FLOTUS. And in this picture, we're seeing one mean ugly woman.
Which is a pity. Looked at objectively, ignoring one's personal opinion of her and her husband's political leanings, she's no model, but she's not physically unattractive. Her attractiveness problem isn't what's on the outside, it's how her outside reveals her inside. She obviously doesn't want to be there; it's not just the scowl on her face which would erode granite, it's her body language.
Here are a few photos found elsewhere on the web to prove my point.
I also like this one:
Michelle can look like someone you'd be happy to have a coffee and chat with. If she looked like this all the time, her press would be a lot more positive, from both sides of the aisle.
The one thing I've noticed is that very, very few of her happy photos have her husband anywhere near. I do not think they have a happy marriage. Whether it's because she is a "beard" as I've read rumored in more than a few places, whether it's because he's a narcissist and can't/won't love her the way a husband should love his wife, I don't know, and it's not really my business.
I'm inclined though to put more blame for their problems on him than her, because when they are apart, she seems much more normal and better adjusted than he does. I just hope someday, before it's too late, she figures out what she needs to do to be happy, and does it.
I also hope that some day she realizes what a great country this is and that while we are not perfect, we are the best there is, and we need everyone to work together to improve rather than dividing us to demand more from one than another. I hope she comes to realize that life isn't a zero-sum game, and if we don't separate into little ghettos of race, ethnicity, or creed, we can all win. No matter what happens next month, or in future years, by virtue of having been a first lady her words and actions will always carry weight with many, and I'd love to see her learn to use that for the improvement of all Americans' lives.
4 comments:
You know, I think you nailed it about Michelle. She's an unhappy wife. Who wouldn't be? My personal suspicion is that she is BOTH the beard and the neglected wife. But there is simply too much power and importance to push against that mountain.
I believe she is a good mother. I think she's the only real parent those girls have. Obama is way too into Obama to really care that much.
But I DO think she was miserable and unhappy way before she and Obama got together. She is one who has worn her victim/race status her whole life. She is as steeped in it as you can get. I don't think she will ever let it go. In some ways, she is scarier than Obama. For O, it's about himself. For Michelle, it's vengeance for her people. Bigger problem.
True. She was raised to see her race as victims, and she may never be able to outgrow that mindset. But plenty of others have done exactly that, so it's never too late. It's not likely, since few people have the inner strength to admit that their entire belief system is flawed, but it can be done. She seems to be a very strong willed woman, which makes that at once less likely, but easier for her to accomplish if she could open her eyes and her heart.
Since, unlike her husband, she does seem to truly love some others, there is a chance.
You can't rely on official photos or magazine covers. A good photographer can improve anybody's appearance.
Crowd shots are more telling. She doesn't look bad when she's enjoying herself but her face tends to fall into that scowl in unguarded moments.
Some of the criticism has been blowback from the press gushing about her. At the beginning of this presidency she was supposedly the most athletic, beautiful, classy, elegant first lady ever.
A good photographer can indeed make almost anyone look good. But there are some unposed photos, usually like the one with her girls in Africa where she isn't scowling. Most of the unguarded photos we see with that scowl seem to have to do with proximity to her husband and/or to something patriotic, which she was brought up to see as something bad.
And yes, a lot of this is blowback from the gushing press.
The press has a lot to answer for. They haven't done their job, which is severely damaging to the state of the country, but by not doing their job and putting these people in a bubble they aren't doing them any favors either.
I think this all boils down to the fact that I don't like either of these people, but while I truly loath the president, I also pity both of them. Their upbringings didn't do them any favors and the ideology which is so damaging to We the People, is also damaging to the souls of those raised into it.
Sort of like a rabid dog, you feel sorry for it, it's not the dog's fault, but you still have to put it down. However in the case of people with a harmful ideology/theology, there is always the chance, however slim, that they may see the error of their ways.
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