The First Wives Club

~ Laura

I’m fascinated by the enormous importance that spouses play in political campaigns. Why should Michelle Obama get a front page story in the Times?

I suppose that spouses do influence each other’s jobs. Steve and I compare notes and strategies. If one of us has a deadline, the other has to leave work early. Perhaps spouses should be vetted before we elected anyone to that level of office.

But that’s not why we’re getting so much attention to first spouses. Spouses are a means of balancing out a candidate.  It’s good politics for a presidential candidate from the North to nominate a vice-presidential candidate from the South. Now, we have a first lady to widen the appeal of her husband.

It’s funny, but I think that the women have an advantage over the guys in this department. Bill Clinton is being portrayed as Hillary’s technical advisor. Great. Wonky Hillary has a wonky husband. Michelle Obama is portrayed as Barack’s earthy, multi-tasking, reality-check. I think we need some pictures of Bill carpooling and making cookies.

So what does Michelle bring to the Obama campaign?  Chick appeal. She scoffs at her husband for his lack of prowess in the kitchen. Like all red-blooded American women, she isn’t afraid to publiclly mock her husband. This made Maureen Dowd uncomfortable a few weeks ago, but I think that irreverance plays really well with married women. Michelle is also vocal about the difficulties about juggling work and family, and provides details about life at home. Also, plays well with the chicks. And unlike her husband, she relates well with the African-American community.

Michelle’s balancing more that work and family.  She’s balancing out her husband’s ticket.

UPDATE: Nice video.

Published by Laura

6 thoughts on “The First Wives Club”

  1. We care about the wives, because at some levels, the spouses are considered part of the package you buy for the job. In most cases, that’s “the spouse, almost always the wife, makes it possible for the husband to do the best job for the company, the country, the hospital, the university . . . “. It’s a part of the “ideal worker” model, applied to the extreme for the president.
    I do think that the “irreverance” you talk about is part of what people are looking for. The hope is that the spouse is the one person who will speak truth to the power of the president. Looking at how these relationships actually seem to operate, I don’t know that we can really hope for that, but that’s our delusion.
    I amused me that you titled this entry “first wives” because I’ve always thought that’s what first wives do for their husbands (as opposed to the first ladies), i.e. not believe the hype the rest of the world sets up (when its very very good, or when it’s very very bad). It seems like a certain class of husband trades in the wife when she’s not willing to buy in to the very very good hype.
    bj

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  3. I thought it was interesting that it was being said that Michelle Obama was “opting out” of her job. Must be the big buzz word of today because I don’t remember anyone saying that when Hillary Rodham Clinton took a leave of absence during Bill’s campaign and then ultimately quit her law practice.

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  4. Excuse me, but Barack Obama relates PRETTY DAMNED WELL to the African American communities (because there’s more than one). Just look at his elections in Illinois. It’s white people who keep talking up “problems” with other black people…gee, one wonders why?

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  5. I haven’t seen Michelle Obama on video, but some of her quotes may come back to bite her husband later on, especially in conjunction with information about their church.

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  6. The most amusing sentence I have read today

    “Like all red-blooded American women, [Michelle Obama] isn’t afraid to publiclly mock her husband.”Laura McKenna….

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