"Michelle Obama takes Europe by storm", "Carla Bruni meets her match" etc etc. She's declared as the new JacqueLine Kennedy and even more, and rides a wave of popularity as if she's the one creating change. Just why is and why should this First Lady be declared as a idol by the world?
I'm blaming it on the media, well mostly the media. While there's exciting politically and socially about a new President and his new agenda, much of the excitment is transferred to his wife because of the new coverage, whether it's the tabloids, blogs or the formal media.
And you can't criticise her without being criticised by those swooning over her. It's now acceptable for First Ladies to dress sleeveless to formal events. It wasn't a faux pas when she touched the Queen (The ex Australian PM may be fuming). And a hug from her is the dream of every girl.
It's nice to have a first lady in the limlight but in reality, let's face it, she's not a something to be crazy over. So people were crazy over Jackie Kennedy. People liked her cause she was pretty. The French loved her for her impeccable command of their language. But How about Hillary Clinton? Was she on the same level as Mrs Obama? Isn't she also an Ivy League Grad and a woman whofought for woman's issues in China? Why wasn't Hillary Clinton taken up by people back in the early 1990s?
Oh yes, she wasn't as pretty, Bill Clinton didn't run for change, people in the 1990s weren't as hyped up about the US etc etc........
Thus, neither should there be over hype about Michelle Obama. Yes you can admire her, yes you can take her as a role model, yes you can jolly well dress like her (unless you get scolded for being rude at a formal event). But swooning over her, declaring her a star, a "queen" the new Jacqueline Kennedy is overhyped. Hillary Clinton could have been elevated to the same status but she wasn't. Other First Ladies could have been inthe same limelight if their husbands promised change, hope, looked young and so on.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall, is she the fairest of them all? Or is she lucky to be thrust on the stage because of a President who is promising hope?
