The election of 2008 has been an amazing ride for those of us for whom watching politics is a sport. Now we are in the Playoffs! The balloons have dropped, the confetti swept up(do you think they recylced it?)and the pundits have gone back to their corners awaiting the first debate.
This election has been about many things, but for me the spotlight has been on the women of campaign 2008. Of course there are the candidates...Hillary made history and secured a position for not only her future ambitions, but also for any woman seeking to create change... and Sarah...well she is making waves. Her presence on the scene has ignited the McCain base but can she play in Portland, Poughkeepsie, or Peoria?? We will see, but we do know that Emily's List has to be in their glory this season. Women have arrived at The Party, they may have been at the party for many years but only to serve hors d'oeuvres, finally their voices are not only being heard but are moving voters- and not just the traditional women's block.
The women that really interested me through the conventions,however, are the women whose role it is to not run for any formal office but to ride the campaign trail and support "their guys". Nothing new there for the wife of a candidate, but the women at the side of these candidates are not sitting watching in quiet reverence. They are drawing crowds of their own,not staying on script,and making the case with an energy and emotional drive that doesn't necessarily fit who you might think they are. Given an election year that has never played by the rules why should we be surprised.
(Dolly Madison)
Hillary Rodham set the path for a new view of First Lady, outspoken, accomplished, determined, ambitious, talented and brilliant...we had never seen a First Lady with all that and it annoyed many and inspired more. Laura Bush has brought us back to the traditional view-serene,accomplished and not in the way. There is a fascinating new book of fiction loosely based on Laura Bush that reveals much about this woman-- Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife: A Novel
The women of campaign 2008 could not be more different, and perhaps that is what has made them so fascinating. A woman born to privilege who has lived her public role extremely privately, raising her children and working for charities with a drive that reveals a great deal behind the pearls and designer suits; and a woman who grew up in working class Chicago, whose family roots are her base and who walked into Princeton as one of a just a handful who looked like her and became determined to effect change with her gifts.
It is interesting because up until recent weeks I always saw Cindy McCain as a Stepford (Candidate’s) Wife, but her PR folks(or John’s) have been peeling away her ice queen layers--the article in Vogue with her hair down which obviously received good reviews as we see her that way more now, GMA did a piece with her best friend chatting about who Cindy really is... and this week she walked on precarious heels into the glare of the circus that is campaign politics not with reserve or ice but with style and a forceful emotional voice to support her husband. Cindy McCain's cool elegant presence hides the emotional woman she is and glimpses beyond the public reserve have been refreshing and I would guess have gone a long way toward the embrace she received at this week's convention. I would think she surprised many who knew she never wanted to make a speech. 
She stepped onto that stage that she obviously has avoided for most of her husband's career and demonstrated that she is her own woman, intelligent,very capable, a passionate mother…but it is obvious she doesn’t want to be here. She may love her husband but theirs is an interesting marriage, a long distance marriage that has given Cindy McCain her own life to carve out without the presence of her husband. You do not get the sense of partnership that you do with the Obama’s. I think Cindy McCain would be a relatively absent and extremely low key First Lady. She has her causes and would probably continue to lead her life as she does and be present and public when asked to be… but this is not a role she wants.
Michelle Obama has a very different kind of grace. Clearly the Obamas are a true partnership, a 21st century couple with complete respect for each other and a very readable bond. Much has been written about her role in the campaign. She clearly has been a great asset and mainly because she is real and honest. I don’t feel like they packaged Michelle nor could they. She is not standing by his side, eyes glazed, nodding at his every word. She is part of the fabric of the Obama movement and her voice is not only that of wife and mother of his children, but also as the person who “gets him” the best and who has made him accessible and approachable. You get the feeling that if he ever comes off as elitist, or too smart for the voters he is reaching out to, that she is the one that puts him back in touch with who he is.
I imagine that Michelle Obama will serve tea with the best of them, probably better, and will even reflect Jackie-esque qualities, but she will also raise her children in the greatest fish bowl there is, and more than likely with her historic presence redefine the image of First Lady forever in a way that Hillary could not. I don’t think Michelle has an agenda or role that she wants to assume-she isn’t looking for a seat at cabinet meetings-she won’t need one. She is too much her own person, and too aware of the significance of what this couple can do to change this country, not to be seen and heard in an Obama administration.
I think the key to Michelle Obama is that she is real, not packaged,her story is the story of so many women of our generation who found ourselves with options and opportunities our mothers did not have, and for women of color opportunities their Fathers did not have either. Therefore she can walk between the past and the future-see her parents and see her children and understand that she will represent more than a pretty lady in pearls and couture who checks placecards. She is an independent, intelligent, capable woman with her own identity and credentials and stature, she does not need Barack Obama to define her- much like Hillary’s resume. The difference I see is that Michelle Obama does not need to show that or prove that..she just is that.
First Lady is not a job, it is not a policy post, but since the Kennedys we have had expectations for the woman who shares a bedroom with the most powerful man on earth. We will one day see a man take on that strange role but for this election I think it is Michelle Obama who will show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a respect for history but also with a determination that she is a part of a team that is there to change history’s perception of not only a First Lady but also a Presidency.
