Hi everyone-
Former First Lady Michelle Obama has been on a book tour for her new book, "The Look," all about the outfits she wore while in the White House. She's gone on fashion podcasts to talk about prioritizing black designers and supporting new fashion brands, and just this week she went on Call Her Daddy, a super popular podcast that I actually never listen to and only tune in to when I want to roast the guest. (I'm looking at you, Kamala Harris.)
What was so crazy about her appearance with Call Her Daddy was that Michelle spoke out against the press and media always talking about the clothes and what she was wearing, as she was promoting a book about what she was wearing. How is it that no matter what Michelle Obama seems to be doing, whether it's promoting her new book on podcasts, walking the red carpet, or literally being First Lady to the free world, she acts like she's being oppressed?
She spoke to the Daddy show about running with husband Barack Obama for president during the primaries in Iowa. "And so the press enters the scene," she said, "and there are now reports, and the first thing, after all this great conversation and connection, at the top of the article would be 'she was wearing'—not my education, not my professional career. But it started with appearance, and it got worse as we got better."
She complained that the media spent too much time "attacking" her for her looks and that this is not what they were doing to Barack. But the thing she's missing, of course, is that she wasn't running for president. No one was "putting her in her place," and yes, people were talking about how she looked because, to be honest, it didn't much matter what her education or professional background was. She wasn't the main character of the campaign. She wasn't running to be the First Lady—her husband was running to be president.
"They're attacking you for your looks, and they're not doing that to a man. They weren't doing that to my husband, right?" She said. "They weren't describing him physically. And he was out there more than I was. So I was like, Okay, well, this is where it comes from. It's like, wow, whoever is doing this when it comes to how we put women in their place, it's like, okay, you didn't comment about the substance that I was saying. It was like, Why does she wear this? And was that appropriate? And what does this mean? And it's all about how we look."
She literally published a book about how she looks and what she wore in the White House. Michelle has gone on and on at length on podcasts and shows talking about her hair and how time-consuming it is to manage her hair, which is pretty much time-consuming for every woman unless you have a buzz cut. It's sort of stunning that she thinks so much about herself, her appearance, and what people are saying about her, but has no self-awareness about how absurd it is to complain about having your looks discussed when promoting a book about how you look.
Libby