It ain’t the clothes.

Yep, she's rad. Photo via Barack Obama (!) @ Flickr.

Finally, a story on Michelle Obama that doesn’t once mention her fashion sense (although of course there are links to stories that do)!

MO is, no doubt about it, a pretty amazing broad.  And her influence is being felt around the globe, and mostly for the right reasons:  she’s educated, she has (had?) her own career, she is physically strong and recognizably black (although can we not make this about her booty?), she is not her husband’s meek helpmate, and she has two great girls of whom she is clearly–and justly– proud.

That might not seem to be so outrageous in the US, but in countries around the globe, Michelle Obama’s very existence is offering up a model of womanhood that isn’t often seen; a non-white woman whose hard work and determination brought her a lucrative and respected career; a woman who was for a time her eventual-husband’s superior in the workforce; a woman who doesn’t shrink–physically or psychologically–under the enormous pressure of the world stage; a woman who is not apologizing for her…well, for her womanity, as women are coached to do.  And yes, she’s managed to combine that with being a mother and a wife, without denigrating or undercutting the value of all that entails.   While she has taken on many of the traditional aspects of being First Lady (such as not working for pay, and giving plenty of lip service to The Powers That Be),  she’s also breaking new ground–in the case of her organic garden, quite literally.

For women around the world who labor under heavier patriarchal burdens than do the Harpies and our beloved readers, Michelle Obama must be a revelation.  Read that article.  And the next time you wanna talk about her latest fashion coup, think about what it means the world over to have Michelle Obama in the White House.