"Becoming" by Michelle Obama

I just finished Becoming, Michelle Obama’s autobiography.  A child of a stable lower middle class parents, both she and her brother Craig graduated from Princeton and Michelle went on to Harvard Law.  She took a job at a prestigious Chicago law firm, wasn’t quite satisfied with the type of law she was practicing, and gave it up for work more community-oriented.

She does detail some rough spots in her marriage to Barack.  At one point they met with a marriage counselor.  What struck me was that she basically put her own ambition and life on hold in the service of Barack’s political career.  She doesn’t complain about this, and she takes great pride in being a good mother, so I will complain for her and the sacrifices she made.

She made me realize how women in the limelight are forced to obsess about clothes.  The media were too much concerned about what she wore.  She quickly realized that her usual clothes, bought off the rack, were denigrated by the fashion industry and reflected badly on her as the first black “First Lady.”  You almost never hear critiques of what male political leaders (or male movie stars or college professors or tv reporters) are wearing, but there is a constant babble about women’s clothes.  I don’t know when we will get over that, but I hope it is soon.

I learned how the wives and children of presidents lead circumscribed lives.  Constant Secret Service protection.  Constant fears about possible assassins.  (A guy did take shots at the White House and hit the window of the room where Michelle and the kids often hung out.)

The criticism she had to endure was incredible.  She made the mistake of touching the Queen of England, and people went nuts.  (The Queen didn’t mind at all.)  She tried to get kids to eat better, and the fast food industry went nuts.  She and Barack went to a play in New York and Fox “News” went nuts because of the public funds expended.  

She praised Laura Bush for her help and advice during the transition.  The Bush family did everything they could to make the Obama’s move into the White House as easy as possible, and George Bush’s briefing books for Cabinet departments were thorough and extensive.  (Incidentally, Obama followed this precedent, but Trump and his appointees completely ignored the briefing books.)

Don’t read the book for discussions on the Health Care bill or other political matters.  This is not that kind of book.  Maybe that’s why I liked it so much.