Uhm, I was just sitting here working on a post with MSNBC on mute, and glancing up occasionally. I just saw Barack and Michelle walking in. Uhm, Michelle is dope, like really dope--a dime-piece as we used to say, back in the day. That was a great fucking dress she was wearing. I don't think white people get this--or maybe you guys do. From her very physical appearance (hips, height, complexion) to her pedigree (South Side, Ivy League) Michelle is exactly what black folks would have wanted a "First Lady" to be. It's like she was dreamed up in "Black First Lady" factory or some shit. Incredible.
I've wanted to say that for a while, but I haven't because, frankly, I'm nervous about saying anything about her physical appearance. I've done my best to be respectful. I'd ask any commenters--without feeling restrained--to attempt to do the same.
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She's like Wonder Woman as played by Pam Grier.
Yea, I looked up and said "DAMN! Go on, girl!." And I'm a straight woman.
Ta-Nehisi, trust me on this one. White people get Michelle. She is absolutely gorgeous.
After Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush do you doubt for even a nanosecond that American women are looking forward to a First Lady with style, beauty, and elegance? Brains are good too.
Michelle is a beautiful, poised, smart woman, a joy to listen to when she's on TV. I'd love to have her as a First Lady over the parade of Stepford Wives we've had during my lifetime.
When I heard her speak at the convention, I thought back to a moment Obama describes in Audacity of Hope, when Obama met Michelle's parents for the first time.
Can you imagine what her parents' reaction would have been if someone told them, "Your daughter is going to marry the 44th President of the United States"? They would've said he had a better chance of going to the moon!
I missed her coming in, but in general, she is one classy lady, both in her appearance and in her countenance.
As Liza says. We get an updated Jackie O--style, but with a normal working woman's budget. And I love her arms.
As a Black woman, Ta-Nehisi, I found nothing sexist about your remark.
When I dreamt of the First Black President, I always envisioned the first lady to you know, she would be one of those bi-racial curly haired women. Vanessa Williams, Beyonce, Hally Berry.
Never in my wildest dreams, or maybe only in my wildest dreams did I ever believe the first Black First Lady would be a SISTA.
A chocolate, no doubt about it, her ancestors were in the hull of those slave ships, SISTA. With the hips, and the behind, and Black women curves.
I pass the paperbag test with flying colors (natural curly hair to boot). But, as a Black woman, sometimes I look at Michelle Obama and say, 'Amen'.
As The Black Snob has written:
Most Black women are RIDE OR DIE with Barack, not because of his politics, or even because he's a Democrat. It's because of Michelle and the WeeMichelles. We can look at Michelle and tell that she's a loved and respected woman, and our hearts swell, I tell ya. They just swell.
Did you ever think that the possible First Lady of the United States would be named Michelle LaVaughn Robinson from the South Side of Chicago?
No Jack and Jill. No debutante balls. None of that.
Yes, I love me some Michelle Obama. SHE is the reason I got involved with the campaign. I've never paid to see Barack Obama. I've paid three times to see Michelle.
I love what you have said, Rikyrah. When I contrast this moment with what I saw growing up with segregation, it is more overwhelming than I can describe. I believe I understand what this woman means to you.
She is a walking, talking reminder of how most black women see themselves and its a beautiful sight. She made me cry when she talked about Obama driving home from the hospital with their first child. She is everything I could have ever wanted in a First Black Female First Lady. I am proud. Flat out, with no reservations proud.
What Liza said. White women get Michelle. Sure, she's gorgeous, but she's no one's arm candy. That Barack is comfortable enough in his own skin to let Michelle be Michelle (as if he had a choice!) tells me everything I need to know about his character.
Michelle, to my mind, couldn't have been made any better. Both physically and as a human being. She's not why I support Barack, but she made me take a second look at him when I was leaning toward Hillary waaaay back.
Your post may be sexist, but to pretend that she isn't fine as all outdoors would be silly. ;-)
"Can you imagine what her parents' reaction would have been if someone told them, "Your daughter is going to marry the 44th President of the United States"? They would've said he had a better chance of going to the moon!"
I could not stop the tears as she spoke about her upbringing at the convention. Even though I knew the story, watching her mother was too much. How I wish her father was here to see just how much his hard work payed off.
I honestly could not think of a better "Black First Lady." No one better say anything bad about Michelle when I'm around!
"What's wrong with being sexy?"
/Spinal Tap'd
/None more black
TNC, she is drop dead, no doubt.
As Sir Mix-a-Lot once said in a not-entirely unrelated context: "Even whiteboys got to shout." Barack married up.
Cindy McCain seems to be a decent human being who has kicked a tough drug habit and I have nothing in particular against her... but I can't help noticing that she looks more like Cruella DeVil with each passing day.
Barack and Michelle Obama are a very appealing couple: smart, strong, compassionate and beautiful.
Also, and I'm likely alone in this and maybe just crazy, but somehow they remind me of Rob and Laura Petrie.
I consider this a plus, by the way.
Barak's good judgment didn't begin with Iraq. As a man who's married to one, I can say: Here's to strong, smart, beautiful women!
The Black Snob (via Princess Sparkle Pony, a blog providing a valuable Condi Rice hairdo watching service) has an excellent compare/contrast between Condi and Michelle.
Being, as Der Glitzenpony puts it, a "hairdresser," I don't feel I'm qualified to comment with much feeling or authority on Michelle (general summary: I admire her a lot), but for refreshingly, unabashedly shallow commentary: "What Black Snob said."
Oh, we get it, we get it. I agree with the comment that Barack married up. He's awesome, but he married up. And he knows it and he loves it.
I loved the picture that was in his biographical video at the convention of them after getting married, with her lying/leaning against him. Long, lean, shining-faced and gorgeous.
If she becomes First Lady, she may be the most naturally-classy First Lady ever, certainly since Jackie Kennedy.
She was wearing Balenciaga, I believe. A toned-down more wearable version of the dresses from Spring 2008. Those dresses were amazing, football padding with the print from your grandma's couch. Very strong and very feminine and kind of brainy. Not so different from Michelle.
She is absolutely no arm candy, but, yes, is a vision of black beauty. My boss--a super-liberal white Jewish woman--complained during the primary that Barack was being unduly touted as an African-American candidate due to the fact that he is half-white. There are a host of arguments against this, but the one that is relevant to this thread is Michelle. As a persona, at least, she completes and confirms his blackness, with her hips, her height, her attitude, and her refusal to play second fiddle.
I haven't read all the comments, but here's my take on this whole sexist thing, coming from an academic raised in Academic Town, North Carolina (that would be the Research Triangle) while spending a lot of time as the only white kid in the local Y.
God DAMN, when I found out about her, I loved her mind. I loved her rhetoric. I loved her speaking style, and the audio was fucking great. For some bizarre reason, I didn't see pictures of her for a long, long time, and I loved the woman and the marriage she had with Obama, and what it meant for the choices they had made (and how it influenced the discussions with my wife as we deal with career, family, love, and so on). I loved loved loved this woman.
Then I saw her, and I realized Damn. She embodies in her taste what she embodies in her life. She is coherent and consistent. It's not about her birth-given look, it's about her choices and how she accentuates and creates something out of who she happens to physically be. Meaning: I didn't feel a sexist issue of "damn, she's hot," but I felt a resonance of "this is who she wants to be."
That's a powerful issue. She and Barack both have a fully coherent view of themselves and the world. They embody (with their bodies, minds, and words) the ideals they have set for themselves.
I totally totally love it. I can't get enough of it. Me, the white immigrant kid, and I totally love it.
I guess, she has a nice body but I am not attracted to her.
I'm not sure why, but I've only been attracted to a handful of black women in my entire life. All other races? Yeah! But rarely black women. Though I have a cutie in one my classes this semester...
I'm hispanic btw.
This is somewhat odd and voyeuristic, but I think the one thing that has attracted me most to the Obamas is that I see them in action and I know there is SOMETHING there. The American people like to think of the President as this asexual figure who never really has the time to satisfy any real human desires. I think the Obamas still have a real relationship. Michelle Obama adds an extra layer of realism to the Senator. Barack occasionally seems stiff and nerdy (like his favorite show is M*A*S*H). Michelle is that woman that is way out his league and still goes for him. Michelle Obama is the insanely beautiful and intelligent woman that all American (black or white) wish they could spend every night with. The fact that Senator Obama spends every night he can with that beautiful and graceful woman makes me want to root for him even more. I just think it is nice to have someone potentially be my President that has a healthy sexual relationship with a woman too beautiful for me to ever have a relationship with at all.
It's not sexist to find a woman beautiful. Michelle is the reason I got turned onto Obama. If he can handle her, he must be something. Because she is something. As a young woman, I appreciate her realness and that he loves the realness in her. We'd be fortunate to have a real, no nonsense, sexy and hella smart First Lady.
I think we do. I've had a bit of a crush on her for quite a while and I'm from an area so white (SW Nebraska) that I clearly remember the first black people I ever met and "That's a great fucking dreass she's wearing" was almost exactly what I thought when I saw her.
Then again I've had a crush on her for a while and my wife's a bossy, pale, 5'11" redhead so I may just have a thing for tall, confident women.
Please go right ahead and appreciate Michelle Obama. She's delightful, so down-to-earth and bright. I cannot wait for the Obama family to be living in the White House. It's going to be such fun to have little kids there! And I hope Michelle's mother comes too.
As for her clothes, I love her distinctive style, especially that she seems often to favor great dresses over the more obvious suit. Another sign that she knows who she is and what works for her.
Amen to all the positive comments about Michelle and the whole family. I love her looks; her grace; her intelligence, education, and wit; her warmth and genuine quality. Barack gets a lot of credit for marrying a woman who is fully his equal.
I think she dresses very well, and has great makeup and hair, and a nice body, but... she's really not that pretty.
She's beautiful. She'll be the most beautiful first lady in living memory -- and probably since photography was invented. That includes Jackie. I think I do get what a big departure she will be from past first ladies -- and not just because of her skin color. She's got grace, style, class, and brains. She doesn't need to hide behind 6-figure outfits and gobs of jewelry. As much as the right wing has tried to portray her as having a chip on her shoulder, nothing could be further from the truth. Each time I've seen her on TV, she comes across as glamorous and down to earth. When Barack wins, she'll be like Jackie and Diana put together. Watch.
As a college student, I can affirm that we all, no matter what race, creed, or ideology, find Michelle Obama extremely sexy.
Ta-Nehisi: why would you hesitate to say that? I'm pretty sure it's us white people who aren't allowed to say that. Or not say it first, anyway.
Michelle Obama isn't just what black people would have wanted a black first lady to be; she's what Hollywood would have dreamed up as the first black first lady. The society pages are going to freak over her in the first few months of the next administration.
Incidentally, there are going to be literally vast hordes of clueless white journalists like myself descending upon anyone qualified by virtue of being black to comment on the cultural background of the new presidential couple. So you had better unlist your phone number. You're going to be deluged.
I don't think it's sexist, TNC. She's a strong, confident working mother, and many women can relate to her. She's beautiful, and her husband loves her.
In fact, she's the reason why I voted for Barack with the confidence that I wouldn't betray feminism by not choosing Hillary.
She's pure class. She will make America proud.
I'm saying this from Canada, wish we had someone like her!
Love love LURVE Michelle Obama. She's everything I want in a First Lady of any race. Smart, strong, classy, compassionate, and put together. I can't wait for Obama to win so she can be our first lady. johnnyk above me is right on: she will make America proud.
It makes me a little sad that I will always have to content myself with "nickel pieces"...Damn, what this country really needs is a 3 or 4 cent coin so that I can really drive this metaphor into the ground.
Brooks,
Well the comments here have all been respectful, but whenever you comment on a woman's appearance you open the door for people to get pretty vile. I just didn't want that. Moreover, any time you talk about a woman's appearance you risk making it just about that. I didn't want anyone to get it that way.
Geez, Hector, maybe they should have a -D vs. -R topless beauty pageant like Cindy McCain. But of course who gives a lying fluck (you pottymouth) about Sarah Palin's "physical beauty and sartorial choices"? Get your mind out of the womb and check out the package around it sometime.
She's a beautiful woman, and not just in physical appearance. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that.
-a man
im white. i get it.
that woman is 50% the reason obama has my support.
she raises the bar for all the first ladies of the future.
She is fine - elegant, graceful, intelligent and accomplished. If Barack is elected, it will be the closest thing to a royal family that African-Americans have had. It'll make alot of people think to step their game up.
No question, she's a fine looking lady.
But I'm much more taken with the fact that there is no question in my mind on one point: she would not for an instant put up with the kind of behavior that Hilary Clinton and Laura Bush tolerated from their husbands. How fortunate that the issue won't arise for her.
What wj said. With Michelle around, the rest of us don't have to worry about any of that extracurricular BS.
Palin comparisons here are the high watermark of cluelessness. One would be tempted to Quagmire the good Governor two minutes after the deed is done (i.e. "why are you still here?"). With FLOTUS44 one would like to hang on until forever.
Could someone kindly link to a photo showing Michelle from last night? I absolutely have to see what she was wearing that led to the flood of commentary.
She's smart, she's tough, she's gorgeous, and Laura Petrie would be very, very proud of her.
not sexist at all. i've always noticed how she exudes that same confidence and grace just like Jackie O did.
Pictures
I like the shoes more than the dress. But I'm a girl - I have a thing for shoes.
Why we kids love Michelle: She's real! She's the first first lady that we could look at and say "that's what I want to grow up to be like."
Michelle is incredible in her own right right, not because of the man she married. That alone speaks volumes to me.
-White boy from Western Nevada
Thanks, EK. The fabric is a bit chesterfield-ish, but I love the cut and she does look fabulous.
Cindy McCain was not served well by that pantsuit: great colour, but the cut was pretty Avon Lady.
My (extremely white) 97-year-old grandmother went from a John Edwards fan to an Obama fan at the beginning of the primaries in large part because of Michelle. Yeah, some white people get it. (She also thought the "terrorist fist bump" was one of the most touching moments she'd ever seen. My grandma has good sense.)
Ha. My white husband went crazy and all DAMMMMMMNNN at the end when Michelle walked on stage. She is beautiful. And me, white wifey, have been going crazy for her ever since I learned she is a kickass career woman and a devoted mother. Lots to look up to in Michelle Obama. And yes, someone else, I think Kevin alluded to the fact that B. Obama is a bit of a nerd (I saw it on Letterman) and I totally dig that about him too. B. Obama has some sex appeal to. Now, even if the two of them were unappealing to the eye, damn they would be good for America as first couple, based on their brains, compassion, and politics.
Obviously this is blog has a very mature audience. Or Ta-Nehisi has done an excellent job of policing comments. Perhaps its both. As a whole package, Michelle is definitely a beautiful person for all the reasons listed so far in the comments on this post. She's a women who grows more beautiful with age. And she's definitely an example to hold up for women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. However, standing on physically beauty alone is another story. She's average. And for the record, my vision is not all tainted by Hollywood's vision of beauty. Angela Bassett is a beautiful woman to me with her combo Dirty South/Yale pedigree. Ditto for poet Sonia Sanchez. I would even give up a chance to have an orgy with 15 gorgeous Brazilian chicks for a date with Octavia Butler (RIP) and a chance to read the final book to her Parable Trilogy which sadly the world will never receive. And as a tech head/nerd, Window Snyder, the head of the Mozilla Foundation, is beautiful to me despite her overbite, butt teeth, and five finger forehead. But, I'm clearly biased because I have a thing for any woman who is a tech head or that has even a basic understanding of this tech ish.
Michelle doesn't just make Barack Obama himself deeper and clearer and more real, she somehow perfectly frames the American dream as it was always envisioned by the clearest eyes.
We haven't seen grace -- unmerited favor -- in a long time.
She makes us all larger just by entering a room.
Almost impossibly, she makes politics itself better.
It's OK, TNC. You are simply letting your heterosexism show.
She is smart, sharp, and collected. Funny that the only things cons first tried to pin on her was "she is bitter and mean." And the whole "anti-white" thing. It simply did not stick because when she was campaigning in West Hell, Iowa, that is not what THEY SAW in her.
You can tell a lot about a man by the kind of woman he choses. I have a BF friend who expressed that one of the most impressive things to her about BO is the woman he chose -- a dark, Black woman when -- ahem -- many a Black man has "chosen otherwise."
My husband and I had the pleasure of meeting Michelle Obama during her husband's senate race in the back room of a restaurant in a small town in downstate Illinois. The only person who actually knew Barack Obama in the room (full of democrats) was a young person who had been an intern at the state house for part of his senior year of high school.
I was wary at first, expecting a politician's wife to be kind of plastic, but when I saw this beautiful, young, straight-headed woman who struck me immediately as someone with completely natural grace, confidence about herself, and a deep empathy for other people, I loved her immediately. I would have voted for her husband simply because of her.
When Barack Obama came to speak in our little corner of the world a few weeks later, he was exactly the person she told us should be our Senator. He is still exactly the same person he was when he was campaigning for the senate, and Michelle Obama is exactly the same person she was (minus the fantastic new clothes she has been wearing) when she came to talk about why her husband should represent Illinois in the U.S. senate.
Nothing about her is contrived, and everything about her is perfect. If I were a child I would want to have a mother like her. Without doing anything except for being herself, she is a shining example of the kind of woman we all want our girls to aspire to be.
By the way, there is nothing sexist about what you said about her.
i'm right there with bubbaDave's grandma / i will remember the fistbump for the rest of my life which i hope is not too soon as i have 75 years. i am so lucky to have found you, Mr Coates, it was pure happenstance when i caught your name at BalloonJuice at the same time you began writing here for the Atlantic / and it seems de riguer to announce that i am an old white lady who admires Michele Obama / i look forward to her as First Lady
We get it. I mean, I may be white, but I ain't dead, you know?
And the fact that you can sense both the respect and the attraction between Barack and Michelle when you see them together makes me root for them both.
Michelle Obama never did anything for me until I saw the look on her face when she and Barack did the famous "fist-bump" thing, and then it clicked. She is something else.
Michelle and Barack make a wonderful couple. Some couples you can immediately see the similarities between their personalities. In their case, the similarity is in their immense self-confidence, poise, and grace.
But they're different in interesting ways too. Barack is complex and multi-faceted; been to many different places, experienced many different ways of life, thought many different things. Michelle is by comparison simple, in a good way: grew up in the same, stable environment, and has a philosophy of life which is open but very pragmatic, down to earth, knowing but not theoretical. The one is a fox, the other is the hedgehog in Isaiah Berlin's famous division of personality types.
My late father was the kind of racist that was born to poor white trash in the 30's - which is to say that he was racist without really meaning to be.
On a sociological level, he could be kind of harsh toward blacks. He was well acquainted with the N word. He would bust out the "lazy" word at times. He loved Ronald Reagan.
But on a personal level with the men he worked with at the Power Company, with our neighbors in the trailer park where I grew up, he was generous, warm, friendly, accessible and open.
It's a cliche, but he really did have black friends and his basis for judging anyone was how well they kept up their yard and how clean they kept their car.
Maybe not the best thing to judge people by, but far from the worst.
And to his credit, he didn't raise me or my brother to be racist. I had a serious relationship with a black girl in college and he was cool with that.
Toward the end of his life, he had turned on George Bush over the Iraq war.
I'm rambling...
Anyhow, we were watching TV one night shortly before he died and we saw Halle Berry on some talk show or something and he turned to me and said "A woman like that will make a man forget what color anyone is".
I'm going to say this as respectfully as possible about Michelle Obama.
She's yummy. YUMM-MEEE.
Michele isn't pretty. She's beautiful.
Don't know if anyone else has noticed, Michele is SEXY. And THAT is groundbreaking.
I've never seen that in a potential First Lady before. They take trouble to make themselves more conservatively dressed, tone that down, even if they are pretty. Not Michele. She wears classy, sexy clothes to interviews, shows off her arms and legs without fear.
I'm sure a real fashion writer could expound and analyze that more than I, but it says something about her that she doesn't have a disconnect between being First Lady and being a strong, smart woman, and being a mother, and being Sexy. I think this is what is so attractive about her. She's earthy and whole.
It's hard to measure what she's done for Barack in gaining support, but she's certainly helped him. They are a young-ish couple that still seem to be quite attracted to each other. That's very appealing and humanizing.
Oh yes! Michelle is fine. And another thing, I'll bet those clothes she wears don't cost an arm and a leg either. The lady has instinctive taste and class.
She looks beautiful. And then she opens her mouth. It is possible to say difficult things, and to disagree with people without being strident. She doesn't know how to do this. Perhaps she'll learn. Until she does, she will be reviled by a great part of the country.
Middle-aged white woman from NYC here: she is stunning, she is smart, she is classy, and she is incredibly intelligent and articulate. Obama having pursued her and convinced her to marry him--cause, yeah, he's a little nerdy--says VOLUMES about him.
I have never heard her be strident; no idea what @Lily is talking about.
I, for one, am really looking forward to the first meeting between cool and collected President Obama and elegant First Lady Michelle and black-hating, rage-filled Justice Clarence Thomas and his pasty white wife. LOVE to be a fly on the wall for that one.
Michelle is super hot, and always looks sharp in an uptodate way. I loved that she was wore a sleeveless dress and No pantyhose the night Barack seized the nomination from Hillary.
One reason I was so dismayed with Hill the whole primary season was the whole horrid pantsuit extravaganza. Sure she looked pulled together, but _matching_ Alfred Dunner pantsuits, for heaven's sake? With matching beads for each outfit? Talk about looking like and oldfashioned feminazi. She didn't always look that way. When she was leading in the early part of the campaign, she had lovely pantsuits with embroidery and cutout lacework. (She wears pantsuits because she has thick ankles-- smart camouflage. also good for full days of campaigning). When she switched to the one-color tonal nightmare suits, I felt like I lost touch with who this woman was. Michelle's style is hers alone,and she looks confident and feminine at the same time.Love her.
Oneof the reasons I like Obama so much is because of the way he treats his wife. you can see that he respects her, he loves that she's smart, he loves that she keeps him grounded. It is hard to imagine her sitting back and being treated poorly, or not demanding proper treatment for herself and her girls. She also seems fiercely protective, as well as completely ga-ga, over Barack.
cindy McCain on the other hand looks as if she is ready to cry every time you see her. i don;t have the impression that her husband treats her particlarly well, or values her opinion much. his campaign's treatment of Sarah Palin has reinforced this opinion.
All the above comments were amazing--but to clarify, her dress was Thakoon fall/winter 08, not Balenciaga spring/summer 08. Sorry, hate to get into fashion semantics, but what can I say politics and fashion are my two "OCD on details" subjects. Now, back to the Michelle lovefest!