Michelle Obama will be in the public spotlight as never before when her husband, Barack, becomes the 44th President of the United States. An Ivy league graduate (undergrad as well as law school) with a record of accomplishment in the private and public sectors, she’d likely be a prime candidate for a prominent position in the new administration if she didn’t have one already. It’s significant to us that she has, for the moment, distanced herself from the opportunity to impact policy to do something infinitely more important – devote herself to her husband and two young daughters as they adjust to Washington. As a pre-eminent colleague, Dr. Albert Mohler, put it, “She is willingly and eagerly choosing the role of ‘First Mom.’”
Forget for a moment the Obamas’ prominence, and consider what the family is doing: moving from the only home two young girls have ever known to a new city hundreds of miles away, so their father can take a job that will demand his attention literally around the clock. Malia and Sasha will need their mother more than ever as they start a new school and live in a media fishbowl for the next four years, and we applaud their mother for putting their needs above her own. The situation may change in the future, but almost any family in a similar situation would love to be able to make the choice Michelle Obama has.
Some radical feminists, as you might imagine, don’t see it that way. Rebecca Traister may not be intending to speak for the sisterhood in a recent Salon.com column, but her remarks are nevertheless telling: “Why is there so little curiosity about how Michelle will adjust to the loss of her own private, very successful, very high-profile and very independent identity? How will Michelle Obama feel as she becomes what she has long resisted – an extension of her husband?”
Michelle Obama doesn’t need the carping she’s receiving from the self-appointed guardians of progress. The right arrangement for her and her husband may not be right for anyone else, but it’s heartening to see that they will treat their children with the respect and care they deserve. Many people are qualified to run the country, but only two people are qualified to be Malia and Sasha Obama’s parents. Thankfully, from all appearances, the President-elect and his wife know it.
