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1310633 tn?1430224091

Michelle Obama 2016: Why Not?

What's the case against Michelle Obama starting a political career of her own? It starts and ends with the fact that she doesn't want one. But what if she changes her mind? The first lady has three important things for a future in politics: the popularity, the skills, and the opportunity. (We'll get to "the will" later.) Here's the case for her taking her turn on the ballot:

People love her.
Aside from her husband and Hillary Clinton, the first lady is the biggest rock star in the Democratic Party. Her approval rating, at 69 percent, is higher than her husband's. But more tellingly, it's more than 20 points higher than Hillary Clinton's was in 1996. Clinton was elected to the Senate four years later. And while Clinton was a sympathetic figure because of her rocky marriage, Obama is popular because of her "aspirational" marriage, in the words of campaign photographer Scout Tufankjian. She took the photo of the Obamas hugging that became the most-liked Facebook photo ever. Tfankijan told Slate that she was fully aware the photos popularity wasn't about her composition, but about "how people feel about the Obamas."

She has the skills.
Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention was very well-received. The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan ran out of adjectives to describe how good it was. ("Stunning, brilliant, moving, passionate and right. Flawless. That was a speech a presidential nominee would be proud to have given.")

When TV Guide speculated about what Obama might do if her husband lost, the leading theory was that she'd be some kind of TV talk show host:

“Personally I want to see her in the White House,” says Hillary Estey McLaughlin, president of Telepictures Productions, the syndication company behind the Ellen DeGeneres Show. “But if she were not going to be in the White House, I’d love to have her as the host of a show. She’s amazing...She reminds me of Oprah Winfrey, as someone who has the ability to make people understand complex things in a simple way.”
Obama could use her ability to "make people understand complex things in a simple way" to help moms with troubled teens, or she could explain public policy to the masses.

She has the opportunity.
No one thinks she can or would run to replace her husband in 2016. But if she wanted to launch a political caree, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois will be up for re-election in 2016. Obama wouldn't face the attacks Clinton did during her race for Senate in New York in 2000, while her husband was still President, that she was an opportunistic carpetbagger. Obama was born and raised in Chicago. John McLaughlin, the shouting host of The McLaughlin Group thinks Obama will do so, thus "duplicating the career of Hillary Clinton." Politico's Charles Mahtesian points out that if 2016 is too soon, there's always 2020, when Democratic Sen. **** Durbin comes up for reelection. He'd be 75 years old by then. Obama is only 48 now, so she'd be just 56 in 2020.

What about the will to do it?
This is the only case people make against Obama's potential political career. Salon's Alex Pareene says, sarcastically, "a minor problem that she has never evinced any interest in running for public office." Jodi Kantor, author of The Obamas, says she'll eat her book if the first lady runs. But guess what? People said that about Hillary Clinton, too. In February 1999, The Wall Street Journal's John Fund wrote that Clinton "isn't likely to succumb to media calls for her candidacy, but she may be tempted... [S]he is in an awkward position from which she may find it difficult to transfer her public popularity into meaningful power." Bill Clinton's chief of staff while he was governor, Betsey Wright, said there was no way in an interview with Northwest Arkansas Times: "I can't imagine that in the end she would want to run for elective office and go back and work in Washington, D.C. I don't think she is that much of a sadist — I mean a masochist. That was a really bad slip. I don't want her limited by being in the Senate." Clinton announced an exploratory committee in July 1999.

SOURCE: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/11/michelle-obama-2016-why-not/58875/
7 Responses
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206807 tn?1331936184
“Well her nutrition program”
Her Garden at the W.H. I’m sorry but I cannot envision Michelle behind a Tiller and Hoe, or Laying Out and Placing Timbers for an Above Ground Garden, Filling them with Top Soil, Planting, Watering The Garden, Pulling Weeds, or Harvesting without it being for a Photo Op.
I would like to know how much “Her Garden” cost us in Tax Payer Dollars.
Helpful - 0
1310633 tn?1430224091
You have a good point.

If she simply put her name on the ballot, she could win the Dem nomination without saying a single word. She could LITERALLY stand up, wave her hands a smile, laugh and kiss babies, and she'd get more votes than you could shake a stick at.

Then, onto the Presidential race, where again, she could stand up and wave and laugh and kiss babies, and without saying a single word about what her position or stance on policy or economic matters is, and she'd beat ANYONE the Republicans put up against her.

Talk about a puppet. If the Democratic Party does that, it'll say A LOT about what they think of her. She'd be a puppet, fully & completely controlled by the hard-line Dem policy-makers.

All of that said, this is all conjecture and fantasy, and won't happen, so it's moot.
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Avatar universal
But hey if your "cool" you can win. She can talk about how she hangs with Jay-Z and Beyonce and on that alone she gets votes. Couple that with being the 1st woman President, 1st Black President. She could win without really saying 1 word.
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Avatar universal
Well her nutrition program *****, so she may be a good person, but don't see her as a policy person.
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1310633 tn?1430224091
Nothing against Michelle Obama, really.

I think she's a GREAT speaker, and an EXTREMELY intelligent woman. Hell, I'll even go so far as to say that I think she just might be the best first-lady we've had in the WH since Lady Bird Johnson (and that's saying something, as I personally feel that Lady Bird was an AMAZING woman).

M.O., although a phenomenal speaker, highly intelligent and incredibly sharp... sorry, she's just not qualified to be the President of the United States. Speaking well and being smart, doesn't make a shoe-in to the WH.

Not trying to take anything away from her, as I've said, I have great respect for her as a person and a First Lady, but Presidential material she is not.

If she was to say, run for Senate, spend 5-10 years there, show us a little bit about what SHE stands for (apart from her husband... let her stand on her own), prove herself to her constituents, get some sort of voting/positional track-record established (so that people know what SHE stands for), THEN maybe throw your hat into the Presidential arena.

Honestly, I think she might actually make a really GOOD President, but I'd like to see a lot more qualifications & experience, before I'd even consider throwing a 'thumbs up' behind her run for President.

That said, I'd probably still not vote for her, unless I believed in what she stood for, but I'd be behind her run for the WH.

Anyone?
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Avatar universal
Big question is, was she at least a Community Organizer?
Helpful - 0
1310633 tn?1430224091
Why not? Because she's not qualified.

I guess she's no less qualified than her husband was in 2008...

That said, I have a modicum of respect for Michelle Obama, but when a section is titled "She has the skills." and only discusses her public speaking skills... I'll just say I'm not convinced.

I know there's quite a media circus surrounding the presidency & WH, but surely the job takes a lot more than that.

If she runs, and gets elected, make no mistake... it'll only be because she's, A) a woman, B) black, C) has name-recognition

It'll have ZERO to do with how qualified she is or isn't. Never before has a man so unqualified been put in the oval office, so at this point, I won't put anything past the American voting public!
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