The curves perceived through the American first lady’s Maria Pinto dresses are as admirable as the one she has been riding on exponentially since her husband’s first year in office. Indeed, since her husband’s presidency has started, Michelle has not stopped contributing to worthwhile causes, supporting numerous charities and fighting to save the health of the Americans, especially children and women. All this whilst standing by her husband every step of the tumultuous way, and maintaining a stable family home which emanates values of love and respect.
At the International Women’s day dinner at the White House on Monday, Michelle looked stunning in a grey draped dress by Lanvin, and it seems her husband thought the same. As she was introduced to speak, the president was made to stand back...
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you so much. So I get to speak first while he stands and watches. I love this. (Laughter.) Look at me adoringly. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: I can do that.
MRS. OBAMA: With sincerity. (Laughter.) Anyway...
Such an exchange is typical of the genuine bond which radiates from the first couple, which I think is so endearing given their status. It pleases me to see their affection as normalised, and I think this may well help Americans restore their faith in marriage and even love. It is so great to see that after 8 years of marriage, their love for another appears to be getting stronger, no doubt helped by their common commitment to improve and change American society.
Since Michelle has taken up her role as first lady, both her image and her drive have developed in fascinating ways. She has supported and pushed Obama to focus on many issues from health insurance reform, to climate and energy, to matters of domestic policy and has also made him seek the counsel of other brilliant women, including Ms. Sonia Sotomayor who has just been appointed as Justice to the Supreme Court.
In the last year, Michelle has been responsible for the US’s pursuits for a global health strategy that makes important investments in child and maternal health. She sponsored a U.N. resolution to increase protection for women and girls in conflict-torn countries to help make it possible for more women to reach for their dreams. She was crucial in creating the first Office of Global Women's Issues at the State Department and implemented a scheme that has helped invest $18 million combat the unconscionable cruelties being committed against girls and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Next month, she accompanies her husband to host an entrepreneurship summit to help fulfill a commitment he made in Cairo; a summit that will focus, in part, on the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Muslim communities around the world.
Michelle explains she’s ‘doing all of this not only because promoting women's empowerment is one of the best ways to promote economic development and economic success’ but ‘because it's the right thing to do’. Not only as First lady, but also as a mother of two daughters, a daughter and a grand-daughter, and as a wife, she has every reason to know what she’s talking about. At a time when the imminent change that her husband was promising is being regarded as doubtful by even his most loyal supporters, I find her action orientated optimism insightful.
With flawless style, a compassionate and beautiful smile, and initiatives that display her intellectual and cultural humanism, Michelle embodies all a contemporary woman should seek to be, regardless of her background or indeed, race. Her composure and warmth in the opinion she expresses, combined with the confidence and grace that her demeanour suggest, bring a little security, and feminity, in a world which at times, feels the exact opposite.
