 |
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Irene_L.A.
Star Contributor
Valencia, California
USA
922 Posts |
 Posted - 04/29/2009 : 08:53:05 AM
|
My favorite First Lady was Jackie Kennedy, but my second is Michelle Obama. She has a sense of personal style, is brillant, having worked as an Atty., is a great role model for woman and speaks her mind. I admire her for buying only American and putting money back into our country, it's about time American designers are getting a break.
Edited to add...although slow in warming up to Michelle, I am not one to ever diminish one's education and respect a woman that climbs the academic ladder on her own. Her way with children and her own family is a good healthy model for today's kids. Will be interesting to see how their children grow up...so far, they are raised in a normal loving family. I think what she said about not being proud of America was taken out of context. |
Irene Eichel |
|
|
AnitaTNShopper
Star Contributor
Nashville, TN
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 09:41:47 AM
|
I think Michelle Obama is a role model to many, not just in the United States but all around the world.
I just read an interesting article on CNN this morning
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/first.lady/index.html#cnnSTCText
Excerpt from the article:
While other women have defined Obama's appeal, the first lady is refining her role.
She has talked publicly about the pressures military families face. She has encouraged healthy eating by planting a White House garden. She's opened the White House to ordinary people and children. Service to community and family seems to be her theme.
She recently drew the most attention for what she did, not said, during a visit to London. She briefly embraced Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, breaking royal protocol. The Queen, however, according to press accounts, responded warmly to the first lady's embrace.
Obama has often been compared to another regal woman: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But Autumn Stephens, author of "Feisty First Ladies," says that Obama reminds her more of former first lady Hillary Clinton.
"But Hillary really downplayed the mom part whereas Michelle has really played it up," Stephens says. "She is straddling both worlds."
In addition her approval rating is higer than the Highly rated President. She is an inspiration to all. |
MSPA Gold Certified 2006 |
 |
|
|
Quinn
Star Contributor
Atlanta, GA
USA
50232 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 10:34:07 AM
|
quote:
Originally posted by AnitaTNShopper
........In addition her approval rating is higer than the Highly rated President. She is an inspiration to all.
That is a pretty wide brush you have. I don't find her inspiring in the least. The following quote caused me to lose any respect I had for her, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change."
|
|
|
|
AnitaTNShopper
Star Contributor
Nashville, TN
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 10:38:38 AM
|
Ok... perhaps you have a point. Let me modify that to:
She is an inspiration to women of all colors all around this nation and around the world. |
MSPA Gold Certified 2006 |
|
|
|
Sandi In Mississippi
Star Contributor
MS
USA
1285 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 11:26:18 AM
|
For the first time in my life I am ashamed of America's First Lady. Her big-money politics, facile and convenient embracing of a racist church, and expressed prejudice were evident during the election. Glossing them over with a big smile and stylish clothing won't get it. She clearly stated what she thought of our country. She is also an opportunist who didn't mind using her husband's position to draw a hugely inflated salary. That puts even her use of a good education and professional abilities into question.
However - I think the addition of small children to the White House is delightful. We pay the bill for all this anyway, so at least the public can have some enjoyment from the kids (and dog) who appear genuinely charming. I also think Michelle Obama's informality, ideas about entertaining, giving photo ops and interesting interviews, and possibly even cookie recipes she's actually cooked (something new!) will make good PR for those who don't look below the surface. On the face of things she should be very successful with those who wish to idolize her.
It has been sad to watch Laura Bush duck down and strive to be inoffensive in order not to heap coals on the fire of the Democrat's largely successful effort to destroy her husband. She has accomplishments of her own which I think she was unable to display in the nasty political climate. The only spark we saw from her was when the uninformed Hillary Clinton sniped about Laura 'not having any knowledge about women with careers' ignorant of the fact that Mrs. Bush spent a lifetime working in public schools. Even that only resulted in a mild correction from Mrs. Bush.
My favorite First Lady is Pat Nixon who remained calm and strong though a ridiculous period of confrontation. |
MSPA Gold Shopper
|
|
|
|
Nora
Star Contributor
PA
USA
6339 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 12:14:00 PM
|
Considering that 0 is the most reviled President in 40 years, according to the latest Gallup poll, it is a small honor indeed to have one's own popularity eclipse that of an increasingly disparaged and ineffectual personality.
James Delingpole at The Telegraph reported:
It's official: Barack Obama is the second most reviled newbie president of the last forty years. A Gallup survey today published in the Washington Times shows Obama to have an approval rating of just 56 per cent. The only president to have performed worse than that at the end of his first 100 days in office was Bill Clinton - and only then because it happened to coincide with the spectacular mishandling of the Waco siege, which might reasonably be laid at the door of ATF and FBI incompetence rather than presidential negligence.
The honor is dubious...like being told " well, you're a little prettier than Nancy Pelosi".
I am utterly ashamed of Michelle as representation of America; she is the antithesis of the albeit ludicrous campaign promise of post-racialism.
Mrs. O herself acknowledges that she was admitted to Princeton not on the strength of her grades, which she further admitted were unexceptional, but thanks to her brother Craig, a star athlete and gifted student who preceded her to the school. As a 'legacy' candidate through her brother and a beneficiary of affirmative action, Michelle Obama was granted an opportunity that others more accomplished were denied.
M.O then went onto Harvard, again under the auspices of affirmative action and at the expense of better academically qualified students.
It is also repugnant that respect should be due a woman who was married by the contemptibly flagrant racist and anti-Semite Rev. Wright, under whose guidance she and O imbibed for over two decades and with no qualms about indoctrinating her daughters into an anti-white, anti-Jew, pro-Hamas, anti-American *theology*.
Having acknowledged her comfort with being a beneficiary of affirmative action, she perversely continues to harp on her narrative of racial victimhood...
In a February 2007 appearance with her husband on 60 Minutes, Mrs. Obama implied that America's allegedly rampant white racism posed a great physical threat to her husband, who had just announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential race. Said Michelle, without even a hint of her husband's ostensible post-racialism... "As a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station." Her implication ignored the fact that the vast majority of violence against black Americans is committed by other blacks. According to the U.S. Justice Department, for instance, between 1976 and 2005, fully 94 percent of black murder victims were killed by black attackers.
Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, both Mrs. Bushes were gracious, lovely ladies. Even Hillary Clinton earns a grudging admiration, if only for her great intelligence ( which sadly seems to have been swept under the rug in her Cabinet post).
|
|
|
|
AnitaTNShopper
Star Contributor
Nashville, TN
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 12:56:36 PM
|
WOW.. I kinda thought this would be a positive outlook of the First Ladies of the United States, and not another thread taken over with ludicrous President Obama Bashings . . . . . .
Though before my time, I have read and seen many positive things about Jacqueline Kennedy. She had a style all of her own and many women looked up to her as an enriching role model. |
MSPA Gold Certified 2006 |
|
|
|
Irene_L.A.
Star Contributor
Valencia, California
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 1:08:30 PM
|
| I think it amusing that the Republicans go for the Republicans First Ladies, and Democrats for Democratic First Ladies...guess we will never meet. I was hoping by starting this thread, we could see the person, not just the husband's policy. I did like Hillary, for her intellegence and for putting up with Bill during a very trying time. Wished she had won. I also like Laura Bush, and things about Nancy Reagan, and do feel sad the way it ended for both of them. I still say my respect goes to the woman that has accomplished the most on her own....no one can take the degree's away from Michelle, and I know from experience, one does not get into a top Univ. without proofing themself, except maybe Bush Jr., who everyone's knows had Bush (Sr.) get him in...... |
Irene Eichel |
|
|
|
Quinn
Star Contributor
Atlanta, GA
USA
50232 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 1:16:09 PM
|
| I admired Hillary, if for nothing else for putting up with Bill's antics. As Nora, pointed out she is also quite intelligent. There have not been that many recent Democratic presidents. I have no clue what Mrs. Carter contributed, so I can't comment. I liked Jackie O, however I was very young at the time. I probably liked her more for her looks. I feel that Laura Bush handled the role of First Lady exceptionally. |
|
|
|
Marie In Chicago
Mega Contributor
Chicago, IL
USA
60628 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 1:19:10 PM
|
| Although I wasn't born when she was first lady, I always enjoyed reading about Eleanor Roosevelt. |
|
|
|
AnitaTNShopper
Star Contributor
Nashville, TN
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 1:24:07 PM
|
| I read a bit about Eleanor Roosevelt in the article I linked about Michelle Obama being an inspiration all around the world- It indicated that Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most popular first ladies of all time. I think I will do a google search on her. |
MSPA Gold Certified 2006 |
|
|
|
Nora
Star Contributor
PA
USA
6339 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 2:23:14 PM
|
quote:
I kinda thought this would be a positive outlook of the First Ladies of the United States, and not another thread taken over with ludicrous President Obama Bashings . . . . .
Don't know why...the OP was musing on First Ladies and inviting discussion on that topic. And, those comments have overwhelmingly focused on Michelle, and not her husband, making ludicrous the very claim that there is overt 0 bashing.
Irene, I'm appreciative of academic distinction, too, but both the 0's benefited from affirmative action that did not require any academic distinction, and in fact alloted them opportunities that were denied to the more academically qualified. O, for instance, had a very lackluster tenure at Columbia; even allowing for grading curves and affirmative action, he failed to make even minimum honors in the academically lax study of Political Science. Michelle, likewise, had a lackluster academic career, by her own admission. |
|
|
|
Servanne
Star Contributor
Silver Lake, MN
USA
2430 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 4:17:12 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by AnitaTNShopper
She is an inspiration to women of all colors all around this nation and around the world.
She is not an inspiration to me.
Please to not make an amalgam between what you would like and reality.
Laura Bush has class, intelligence and kindness all working for her. Jackie Kennedy was beautiful and had an amazing sense of style. She also handled herself with grace in the face of tragedy. |
Servanne
Merrily shopping my way through the Twin Cities, Western Minnesota and beyond...
MSPA Gold Certified since April 2007! |
|
|
|
Sandi In Mississippi
Star Contributor
MS
USA
1285 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 4:21:16 PM
|
I noticed Irene's reference to liking First Ladies of one's own party. Since I have never had the pleasure of seeing a Libertarian First Lady I will respond as the party with whom I generally now vote, Republican.
My least liked First Lady, after the current one, was Nancy Reagan and I have no reasonable explanation for that - just a fat woman's distaste for the twiggy and tiny, I guess. She behaved nicely, but I never felt her love for the nation even though she did do some good public service.
My second favorite after Pat Nixon would be Bess Truman, but I was a child at that time and may be confusing my grandparent's attitudes with my own. I found her humorous, warm, real, and a good balance to her husband, plus she really attended to her family. A different era I think.
It's almost un-American to say, but I did not warm to Jackie Kennedy. I admired her behavior but just didn't care for her style, opposite Hillary (admired her style but found her spineless behavior a joke). So I don't know if party lines always apply in what we look for in a First Lady. But maybe they do?
And, I understand that a high percentage of Americans still name Eleanor Roosevelt as their all-time favorite. It may be I don't know enough about her however I'm glad Marie brought her up! |
|
|
|
Jnanne
Star Contributor
Shreveport, LA
USA
2742 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 4:23:16 PM
|
My vote for very favorite is likely Eleanor Roosevelt. Of course, we can't forget Dolly Madison who took over her husband's duties. Or Martha Washington who paved the way for all who followed. Each of the women who have occupied the position of first lady (at least those about whom I know something--even though I am not an expert on any--seems to have something to commend her.
Even Mary Todd Lincoln who managed to hold her own to some degree despite suffering from mental illness. She probably had the toughest job of any of the first ladies, since there were no really useful treatments for her condition at the time she was alive. Her ability to face the nation is to be commended. |
Jnanne
Silver certified and looking for work near my new home |
|
|
|
MsJudyP
Star Contributor
Dallas, TX
USA
1124 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 4:43:52 PM
|
| I do not see anything inspirational about Michelle Obama. I think her sense of style is not to my liking.I do not like some of her outfits. The tacky striped sweater she wore while in England that was buttoned crooked comes to mind. The 'mummy' dress she wore at the inauguration ball was hideous. I do think Jackie Kennedy had style and grace and brought a touch of class to the White House. I remember as a child watching her on TV and looking at her in magazines. She was always so well poised and stunning. Nancy Reagan was also quite refined. She had poise and style and was a charming lady. Lady Bird Johnson,although not the fashion maven,was very instrumental in beautifying America. She sought to rid the roadways of unsightly billboards and plant flowers and clean up our highways. I liked Hillary the same reason Quinn stated-she put up with Bill and showed some spunk. However,not to crazy about her overly masculine look at times. Rosalind Carter stayed in the background most of the time as did Pat Nixon. And Betty Ford-well, you have to admire someone to go through such a publicly known issue then go on to establish a rehab facility that has helped so many people recover.Dolly Madison was quite a spit fire woman that was instrumental in saving vital documents and a portrait of George Washington when the British burned down the White House in the War of 1812. She was quite extroverted,liked by many and well versed on politics and current events. Of all the first ladies I have read about over the years,she is probably my favorite. |
MSPA Gold Certified
Shopping the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and beyond! |
|
|
|
SJones
Star Contributor
USA
3113 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 5:04:33 PM
|
| I do like Eleanore Roosevelt. She might not have been pretty, but she had class, was a great mom, and devoted to her country. Jackie Kennedy was stylish, so were a couple of other first ladies. Michelle Obama seems to copy a lot from Jackie Kennedy but does indeed wear some not so stylish things. As to being an inspiration. Not for me. I have more degrees than her, paid for by myself (my parents were blue collar, too, who didn't get more than elementary school level education) and without outside help. I had a career that didn't need outside help to pursue. Her causes seem shallow to me and not dear to her heart. It feels more like she had to pick up something being that she is the first lady and picked something that looked good. I don't see something I should admire. That said, at least she isn't that embarrassing either or downright ugly... |
Susanne
MSPA Silver Certified!
|
|
|
|
Gretta
Star Contributor
Jacksonville, NC
USA
1538 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 5:09:16 PM
|
Interesting question. I'll start by stating that I was born in 1974, so some of this is based on what I've read and heard from others. I a high respect for both Jackie Kennedy and Eleanore Roosevelt. Was it not Dolly Madison that saved several items from the White House when the first White House burned?
I've always like Nancy Reagan.
I do not like Hillary Clinton, but I have a great deal of respect for her.
I'm not sure about Michelle Obama yet. I want to see if she follows through with helping military families. |
|
|
|
AnitaTNShopper
Star Contributor
Nashville, TN
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 5:12:16 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Nora
Considering that 0 is the most reviled President in 40 years, according to the latest Gallup poll, it is a small honor indeed to have one's own popularity eclipse that of an increasingly disparaged and ineffectual personality.
First of all, do you have a link to this 'poll' you make reference to? How is it possible that a man who has in office a mere 100 days be the most 'reviled' in history? Seriously? How can such a notion be made in 100 days?
Also it is highly offensive that you refer to the President of the United States of America as the number zero. It is beyond obvious that you have an extreme dislike to everything associated to Obama. It is hard to even take your postings seriously as you simply stoop to name calling those that have worked hard to get where they are.
It matters not that Michelle Obama is not an inspiration to each and every person. She inspires a lot of people, and she is a great role model. She is an inspiration simply by being the first African-American female to serve as first lady of the United States. Her family was a descendant of slaves, Michelle Obama has accomplished so much. |
MSPA Gold Certified 2006 |
|
|
|
Irene_L.A.
Star Contributor
Valencia, California
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 5:18:50 PM
|
| Sandi, your one funny lady.....apology accepted...lol. |
Irene Eichel |
|
|
|
Servanne
Star Contributor
Silver Lake, MN
USA
2430 Posts |
Posted - 04/29/2009 : 5:20:33 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by AnitaTNShopper
First of all, do you have a link to this 'poll' you make reference to? How is it possible that a man who has in office a mere 100 days be the most 'reviled' in history? Seriously? How can such a notion be made in 100 days?
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.politics.misc/msg/2ebfa53e0951a1e8
Excerpt: "President Obama's media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup's April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969."
Anita, why do you talk about President Obama in the First Ladies thread? It is quite off-topic. |
Servanne
Merrily shopping my way through the Twin Cities, Western Minnesota and beyond...
MSPA Gold Certified since April 2007! |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
|
|
First Ladies Of The United States