The disempowerment of Michelle Obama
by David Atkins
The recently released excerpts from Jodi Kantor's upcoming book on the Obamas is at once a fascinating and depressing read.
In Kantor's telling, Michelle Obama has been a consistent and vocal critic of the drifting, cautious, risk-averse approach of the White House, leading to frequent conflict with Gibbs, Emanuel and other advisers:
Michelle Obama was privately fuming, not only at the president’s team, but also at her husband.
In the days after the Democrats lost Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in January 2010, Barack Obama was even-keeled as usual in meetings, refusing to dwell on the failure or lash out at his staff. The first lady, however, could not fathom how the White House had allowed the crucial seat, needed to help pass the president’s health care legislation and the rest of his agenda, to slip away, several current and former aides said.
To her, the loss was more evidence of what she had been saying for a long time: Mr. Obama’s advisers were too insular and not strategic enough. She cherished the idea of her husband as a transformational figure, but thanks in part to the health care deals the administration had cut, many voters were beginning to view him as an ordinary politician.
The first lady never confronted the advisers directly — that was not her way — but they found out about her displeasure from the president. “She feels as if our rudder isn’t set right,” Mr. Obama confided, according to aides.
Rahm Emanuel, then chief of staff, repeated the first lady’s criticisms to colleagues with indignation, according to three of them. Mr. Emanuel, in a brief interview, denied that he had grown frustrated with Mrs. Obama, but other advisers described a grim situation: a president whose agenda had hit the rocks, a first lady who disapproved of the turn the White House had taken, and a chief of staff who chafed against her influence....
Like many of the president’s supporters, Mrs. Obama was anxious about the gap between her vision of her husband’s presidency and the reality of what he could deliver. Her strains with the advisers were part of a continuing debate over what sort of president Mr. Obama should be, with Mrs. Obama reinforcing his instincts for ambitious but unpopular initiatives like the overhaul of health care and immigration laws, casting herself as a foil to aides more intent on preserving Congressional seats and poll numbers.
Yes, except the part where those exceedingly cautious poll watchers got everything they wanted, and ended up leading Congressional Democrats to an historic defeat in 2010. If her husband had listened to his Michelle more, things might have taken a different trajectory.
But as things stand, she appears to have been neutered, left to be a cheerleader for austerity and whatever else the "wise" poobahs decide must be done to win the mythical "centrist" voter:
“To me, she seems more content than I’ve seen her throughout this process since he’s been running for president, which is a very good thing,” Mr. Axelrod said.
The worse things got for her husband in 2011, the more she rallied to his side, buoying him personally and politically. In August, after the debt ceiling negotiations in Washington reached their painful conclusion, Mrs. Obama gave a party for his 50th birthday, warning guests not to leave early and delivering a stemwinder of a toast in praise of her husband.
As the sun faded, the 150 guests — friends, celebrities, officials — sat on the South Lawn, listening to the first lady describe her version of Barack Obama: a tireless, upright leader who rose above Washington games, killed the world’s most wanted terrorist and still managed to coach his daughter Sasha’s basketball team. The president, looking embarrassed, tried to cut her off, several guests said, but she told him he had to sit and listen.
She also thanked him for putting up with how hard she had been on him. At that line, a few of the advisers glanced at each other in recognition.
Oh good. Now that Michelle is toeing the Axelrod line, everything is just peachy, because the last thing this Administration needs is progressive self-critique.
When push comes to shove, it may well be the biggest thing wrong with the Obama Administration is that the wrong Obama is in charge.
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