Thank you, Denise Oliver Velez, for selecting the First Lady for your Sunday diary this week, and for writing such a powerful indictment of the right-wing racist attack on her that has been going on since her husband was elected to the Presidency in November 2008. JoanMar suggested in the comment section that it would be a good idea to have a group here to support her and that indeed is what this is.
I really don't have a lot to add to the diary linked above the fold, but since this is about FLOTUS it's probably a good idea to explain how, beyond race issues, she may be creating a new paradigm for what a First lady does and, accordingly, for the way we should look at her. The Obamas gave an interview to Jonathan Van Meter for the cover of the April 2013 issue of Vogue (incidentally, Vogue has run some of the best magazine writing for DECADES), and this is what she had to say to him about the elasticity needed to bring up teenage girls in the environment of the White House:
A friend of mine with two kids who are just heading off to college pointed out to me recently that Malia and Sasha are on the cusp of that stage in life when parenting requires, as she put it, “elasticity”—and life in the White House seems anything but elastic. “Well, the environment becomes more elastic,” the First Lady says. “The Secret Service has to change the way they do things; they have to become more flexible. And they do. Because they want to make sure that these girls are happy and that they have a normal life. . . . There’s a lot of energy that goes into working with staff, working with agents, working with friends’ parents to figure out how do we, you know, let these kids go to the party and have a sleepover and walk through the city on their own, go to the game. Any parent knows that these are the times when you’re just a scheduler and chauffeur for your kids. And that doesn’t change for us. Ninety percent of our conversation is about these girls: What are they doing? And who’s got what practice? And what birthday party is coming up? And did we get a gift for this person? You know, I mean, it is endless and it gets to be pretty exhausting, and if you take your eye off the ball, that’s when their lives become inelastic,” she says emphatically. “So it requires us to be there and be present so that we can respond and have the system respond to their needs. . . . And he’s doing it while still dealing with Syria and health care. He’s as up on every friend, every party, every relationship. . . . And if you’re out at dinner every night, you miss those moments where you can check in and just figure them out when they’re ready to share with you.”
I think that tells us all we need to know about her as a person! Intelligent, perceptive, empathetic, concerned and compassionate. OF COURSE we support her.
As with all groups, ask for an invitation in the comments or Kosmail the group