Maybe there's something wrong with me, but I read this article on Salon about the "momification" of Michelle Obama and I don't get why the writer's so mad. So she's going to be in charge of the family's transition to Washington. So?
It's Michelle's job because Daddy is going to be the president, and he has to save the country and the world from an economic crisis and war, and so he might be too busy to come check out the new schools and decorate their rooms and help with the dog. But the fact is, he seems to be a pretty good dad, and I bet he will do some of that stuff anyway. What rankles is the smooth and unquestioning assumptions by the media that the fallback position is to assign all those duties to Michelle.
Did I miss something?
Who else is going to do it? Does the writer want her to go back to managing a hospital? I'd rather have her in the White House where she can be a standard-bearer for working women (and yes, many of them are mothers and thus "momified"). Yes, at one point in their married life she was making more money than he was. Yes, she used to be his superior at the law firm where they met. But their lives have changed. They seem to have adapted, even though it wasn't easy. (Barack admits to it himself - there's a lengthy quote in the article.) She decided to support him in his political career. They've both made sacrifices because of that and they both seem to value family life above all. Good for them.
I remember reading somewhere that he was visibly upset when he told an interviewer that he could only spend two hours with the girls after they got their Christmas tree because of the campaign. But then he did the school drop-off on the morning he was to leave to go to the White House as President-elect. He obviously chose to do that - and sent a message that being a dad is important to him. I didn't see anyone complaining about the "dadification" of Barack Obama.
Does everything have to be offensive?
The fact that she has chosen to call herself Mom-in-Chief makes me love her even more because it's reminiscent of how many of us choose to call ourselves Stay-at-Home-Mothers instead of housewives. She's one of us. Motherhood - parenthood - is a source of pride to our generation, not an offensive label. But you guys know that.
I guess the writer fell into the generation gap. This lame attempt at reigniting the "Mommy-Wars" gets a big shrug from me.
