(Image from Vogue)
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MICHELLE OBAMA, the First Lady of the United States, has picked over tomatoes at a farmer’s market while miles and miles of the San Joaquin Valley in California dries up, blows away, and leaves families penniless.
The First Lady of the United States made a million dollar flight to fail at gaining Chicago an Olympic bid, but got rich and served that same city by forcing the poor and uninsured out of the emergency rooms of the University of Chicago hospital.
Just what is the function of the First Lady of the United States? Her staff is by far the biggest and most expensive ever (http://tinyurl.com/kkrytt) for any First Lady, and you can add in the expenses of the office space, the utilities, office supplies, and non-positioned staffers. What do they do?
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Other First Ladies, love them or leave them, had causes. They didn’t give speeches to tell America or the world about themselves and their “sacrifices.” They didn’t make speeches to tell America or the world that they never valued being American until they were in their 40s. They showed America real hope and change. The money allotted for their offices was spent in a visible (dare we say, “TRANSPARENT”) way to help the masses.
JACQUELINE KENNEDY worked to restore the White House and preserve its heritage. She introduced all of America to the valuable artifacts that were there and the need to keep it for future generations.
ROSALYNN CARTER focused national attention on the performing arts and took a strong interest in programs to aid mental health, the community, and the elderly. From 1977 to 1978, she served as the Honorary Chairperson of the President's Commission on Mental Health.
NANCY REAGAN gave her support to the Foster Grandparent Program, the subject of her 1982 book, To Love A Child. Increasingly, she concentrated on the fight against drug and alcohol abuse among young people and started the “JUST SAY NO” campaign.
BARBARA BUSH worked for a more literate America. Involved with many organizations devoted to this cause, she became Honorary Chairman of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. We all remember her reading to children. She also supported programs to help the homeless, AIDS, the elderly, and school volunteer programs.
HILLIARY CLINTON served as a leading advocate for expanding health insurance coverage, ensuring children are properly immunized, and raising public awareness of health issues. She wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled "Talking It Over," which focused on her experiences as First Lady and her observations of women, children, and families she has met around the world. Her 1996 book It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us was a best seller, and she received a Grammy Award for her recording of it
LAURA BUSH was a key advocate of the President's historic education reform – the “No Child Left Behind” act – and a staunch supporter of NCLB's Reading First program, which is the largest early reading initiative in American history. Early in the President's first term, she launched "Ready to Read, Ready to Learn," an education initiative that promoted best practices in early childhood education and raised awareness of innovative teacher training programs. Inspired by her success with the Texas Book Festival, Mrs. Bush founded the National Book Festival to introduce tens of thousands of Americans to their favorite authors each year.
MICHELLE OBAMA shops at J Crew, has buff arms, picks good tomatoes, wears a yellow satin pillow case, is proud of America for the first time ever in her forties, and speaks of herself in Copenhagen. AWESOME!
