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Speaker 1: From houstuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: This is Molly. I'm Kristen, and today Kristin and I
Speaker 1: are going to start off with a shout out to
Speaker 1: one of our sister house stuff Works podcasts, that ever
Speaker 1: popular stuff you missed in History Class, starring Candice and
Speaker 1: Jane True. And they did a podcast that was really
Speaker 1: interesting called uh to Political Parties Influenced the First Lady's Duties,
Speaker 1: and they went over you know, they sort of made
Speaker 1: a generalization that Democratic first ladies are more political partners
Speaker 1: with their presidential spouse, whereas Republican first ladies in general
Speaker 1: are more like marriage partners. They have more of a
Speaker 1: traditional role. Well, that was recorded during during the election,
Speaker 1: before we knew who our first lady was going to be,
Speaker 1: and now that Shelle Obama is our official first lady,
Speaker 1: Molly and I thought that we would take a look at, um,
Speaker 1: how that has UH stood up so far. We're almost
Speaker 1: to the one hundred day mark of President Obama's term,
Speaker 1: and so we thought we'd look at the duties the
Speaker 1: first Lady and how Michelle Obama has taken that on right,
Speaker 1: because you can interpret the first lady duties anyway you want.
Speaker 1: The roles are not defined, right. They really started out
Speaker 1: as just sort of a social hostess, say, did white
Speaker 1: house redecoration, sort of like overseer of the house, very
Speaker 1: traditional feminine household roles. Yeah, and that's part of what
Speaker 1: Candice and Jane cover. It's really interesting she looks from
Speaker 1: that podcast. But before she became First Lady, Michelle Obama
Speaker 1: was pretty adamant that she was going to be one
Speaker 1: of those more traditional first ladies. Her role was basically
Speaker 1: going to be mom in chief. She's going to take
Speaker 1: care of Malie and Sasha. And you know she's done
Speaker 1: that to some extent, but she's done a whole lot
Speaker 1: more in the past few months as well. Right, and Molly,
Speaker 1: it's interesting you bring up the mom and chief part um.
Speaker 1: According to The New York Times, MSUs Obama has the
Speaker 1: highest favorability rate of any incoming First Lady since nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty and they said that her approval rating really soared
Speaker 1: after she sort of shifted the focus of her potential
Speaker 1: first Lady rolls to that of wife and mother first
Speaker 1: and foremost, which I thought was kind of interesting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sort of a statement on the fact that we
Speaker 1: do kind of want a homemaker in chief. You know,
Speaker 1: during elections, we always uh, you know, want to know
Speaker 1: what the potential first ladies cookie recipe is, you know,
Speaker 1: what dishes they make for their husband, despite the fact
Speaker 1: that once they get into the White House, they don't
Speaker 1: do any cooking at all. Right, Um, and Michelle Obama
Speaker 1: comes into the White House with a pretty impressive list
Speaker 1: of credentials. Um, she was educated at Harvard Law School.
Speaker 1: She was the president of Community and External Affairs for
Speaker 1: the University of Chicago Medical Center. I mean, this woman
Speaker 1: was very busy, had a very impressive career, and now
Speaker 1: that's sort of you know, she kind of left it
Speaker 1: behind a little bit to become first, right, sort of certain, right,
Speaker 1: it sort of seems like that's something she had to
Speaker 1: make a very clear statement that she was doing that
Speaker 1: during the election for people to almost accept her. Um.
Speaker 1: And while she's sort of still maintained that role in
Speaker 1: the White House, she's doing a lot more. I mean,
Speaker 1: she has started this garden in the White House lawn
Speaker 1: to you know, promote healthy eating. She's been visiting military families,
Speaker 1: she's been visiting school children. So all the people who
Speaker 1: are buzz about a first Ladies role are just watching
Speaker 1: her trying to figure out how all these various activities
Speaker 1: are going to come together to form a platform, because,
Speaker 1: as Candis and Jane were saying, these democratic first layers
Speaker 1: are more likely to have kind of this policy platform
Speaker 1: that they promote and at the same time balanced with
Speaker 1: that policy platform. I think one of the most challenging
Speaker 1: aspects of being first ladies that you have to do
Speaker 1: all these things in the public sphere, supporting the military, families,
Speaker 1: middle class women, etcetera. But Michelle Obama is also on
Speaker 1: the cover of Vogue, and she is being at her
Speaker 1: every start coo. Real choice is being documented, and I
Speaker 1: have to say, I hate to have to bring it
Speaker 1: up again, but we are nationally obsessed with her arms.
Speaker 1: Her arms are beautiful, yeah, I mean their tone, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. But I mean you're right, there's all this
Speaker 1: constant speculation about whether she's pregnant. I mean, she's very
Speaker 1: much a tabloid figure now, which has led Christian and
Speaker 1: I had a sort of ponder the question is First
Speaker 1: Lady the hardest job in the world because in addition
Speaker 1: to all these people watching your every personal choice, you know,
Speaker 1: evaluating your marriage, looking at your arms, you're also sort
Speaker 1: of required now in this modern age, to have this
Speaker 1: policy platform, right, And I would say that even more
Speaker 1: than the president, we look to the First Lady as
Speaker 1: the barometer for the health of you know, the First
Speaker 1: family and how that kind of reflects on the entire
Speaker 1: national tone because right now things are really difficult with
Speaker 1: the economy, and we have these ongoing conflicts in Iraq
Speaker 1: and Afghanistan, and I think that, you know, one of
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama's kind of unspoken duties is to re lead, uh,
Speaker 1: keep the First family healthy, something something positive for the
Speaker 1: nation to be able to look to and kind of
Speaker 1: get us through this storm. Right. So, with the situation
Speaker 1: in the world, in combination with the fact that she's
Speaker 1: one of the you know, the most recent first lads
Speaker 1: to deal with young children in the White House, she's
Speaker 1: got a pretty tricky role to navigate, which is why
Speaker 1: you know, people are obsessed with her every move. But
Speaker 1: she's really coming in um as part of a generation
Speaker 1: of First ladies. There was a political science professor named
Speaker 1: Robert Watson, who defined different generations of First ladies and
Speaker 1: whether each was sort of you know, activists, the ones
Speaker 1: that were more quiet, and how you know, from Martha
Speaker 1: Washington on, we've had to deal with this evolution of
Speaker 1: a role since no one really knows what it means. Right,
Speaker 1: the first lady has really come to be more of
Speaker 1: the president's partner rather than just his at home spouse
Speaker 1: who hosts dignitaries and sets up social events and decorates
Speaker 1: for Christmas. Right. So Michelle Obama's firstly gender ration really
Speaker 1: starts back with Betty Ford, who was one of the
Speaker 1: most politically active First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, who was
Speaker 1: sort of, you know, kind of a stick out figure
Speaker 1: because there was no one like her at that time.
Speaker 1: But in terms of modern women, this movement that Michelle
Speaker 1: Obama belongs to really start with Betty Ford, who was
Speaker 1: a pretty cool lady. Right. Among the things that she
Speaker 1: was really outspoken about were feminist platforms at the time,
Speaker 1: specifically Equal Rights Amendment that she was strongly for, and
Speaker 1: she made breast cancer really big issue as well with
Speaker 1: her own fight against the disease. Right. And then after her,
Speaker 1: we have Roslyn Carter who really emphasized performing arts and
Speaker 1: support for the mental health community and the elderly. And
Speaker 1: she's still active today with the Carter Center and their
Speaker 1: global outreach, right. And so Roslyn Carter was actually the
Speaker 1: first first Lady to have a budget. Um when Jimmy
Speaker 1: Carter was in office, he passed a bill seventy which
Speaker 1: was when the first Lady was given a budget and
Speaker 1: a staff. Probably to that first ladies might have brought
Speaker 1: in friends, frankly to host like their events basically, right.
Speaker 1: And I think it was Jackie Kennedy who brought in
Speaker 1: the first press secretary and she had desperate permission to
Speaker 1: do so. But now Michelle Obama has the liberty to
Speaker 1: really create whatever kind of support staff that she wants
Speaker 1: and needs. And I have a feeling that since she
Speaker 1: has a pretty pretty heavy load, like we've been talking about,
Speaker 1: that's probably pretty extensive staff, right, And having a support
Speaker 1: staff is important for the first Lady because she has
Speaker 1: really three main overarching duties, and that would be social affairs,
Speaker 1: which you know is the traditional things of inviting diplomats,
Speaker 1: which is very important part of politics, uh, and then
Speaker 1: press relations and policy issues, and with policy issues. The
Speaker 1: first Lady has such a unique sphere of influence because
Speaker 1: she is with the president, you know, in the quiet
Speaker 1: times when he's outside of the public eye, and really
Speaker 1: you know, maybe influenced whatever legislation or policies that he's
Speaker 1: working on. Right, And I think that's what makes people nervous,
Speaker 1: because you know, we don't elect the first lady. People
Speaker 1: don't really look to that when they're looking to elect
Speaker 1: a president. And you know, often we're told families are
Speaker 1: off limits during elections, but then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: they're in office, they seem to have all this power.
Speaker 1: You think about Hillary versus Laura, Hillary Clinton versus Laura
Speaker 1: Bush and the very different roles they check on us
Speaker 1: first lady, Right. Hillary Clinton made made waves when Bill
Speaker 1: Clinton appointed her to head of the Task Force on
Speaker 1: Healthcare Reform, and as we know now, it didn't really
Speaker 1: pan out so well, and she sort of had to
Speaker 1: pull back a little bit from from the public space
Speaker 1: and maybe take on more of the traditional first lady
Speaker 1: duties that some people were really upset that she wasn't
Speaker 1: immediately embracing. Right, It's very much a damned if you do,
Speaker 1: damned if you don't situation because Hillary was very much
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to promote an aggressive policy that advances,
Speaker 1: you know, an issue that people care passionately about, whereas
Speaker 1: UM then when we had a change of office in
Speaker 1: Laura Bush came into office, she had the platform of literacy.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think it's fair to say that
Speaker 1: a lot of people may not have even have known
Speaker 1: that until they read the extensive White House bio to
Speaker 1: see all the things she did with that. Well, so far,
Speaker 1: we're not too far into the Obama administration, but it
Speaker 1: seems like Michelle is doing a really great job with
Speaker 1: kind of balancing the public policy zeal of Hillary Clinton
Speaker 1: and the more homemaker type of image that Laura Bush projected.
Speaker 1: But I gotta wonder, Molly, how the idea of the
Speaker 1: president's spouse would change if we had a female president.
Speaker 1: What if we had a first gentleman or first dude
Speaker 1: as uh Todd Palin likes to call himself, right, And
Speaker 1: I guess those um gubernatorial relationships provide a sort of
Speaker 1: a uh model of how that would go. But I
Speaker 1: know that you're reading some interesting stuff about Germany where
Speaker 1: they do have a first man. What did they call him?
Speaker 1: Do you know, I don't know what the official name
Speaker 1: for it is, but Angela Merkel is the first female
Speaker 1: Chancellor of Germany. And the interesting thing about her husband
Speaker 1: is that he hasn't really changed his life that much.
Speaker 1: He is a scientist, and if you want to interview him,
Speaker 1: it's got to be about his career, and he doesn't
Speaker 1: really do that many public appearances. He's very withdrawn from
Speaker 1: this kind of public role as as the chancellor's husband.
Speaker 1: So I wonder how the same thing would fly in
Speaker 1: the United States. Because we love gos, we want it.
Speaker 1: We would still want to know what the first the
Speaker 1: first spouse would be up to. But yeah, exactly, but
Speaker 1: he might have a little more leeway to really pursue
Speaker 1: his own his own interests and kind of carry on
Speaker 1: his career, especially since the closest we've had to that
Speaker 1: situation has been Hillary and Bill Clinton. Whereas we all
Speaker 1: sort of knew who Bill Clinton was, who would have
Speaker 1: come into the Oval office with a persona already established
Speaker 1: in the mindset in the public exactly, and he could
Speaker 1: probably carry on with his foundation's work and all of that.
Speaker 1: It probably wouldn't drastically change our perception of the first couple, right,
Speaker 1: And so it is an interesting thing to ponder since
Speaker 1: especially I feel that the things we've talked about in
Speaker 1: terms of a homemaker role in addition to a policy role,
Speaker 1: we have very specific ideas about how the woman should
Speaker 1: fall into this role, and I don't know if we
Speaker 1: would apply those same homemaking you know, social gala function chief. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really I cannot imagine. I can't imagine Bill Clinton,
Speaker 1: you know, getting really into hosting social luncheon. Actually well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I think that he would. I
Speaker 1: think he kind of farm out the organizational duties, right,
Speaker 1: you know, But maybe I don't know. Maybe I just
Speaker 1: don't know old Bill well enough to say. But going
Speaker 1: back to this question of is first Lady the hardest
Speaker 1: job in a or in the world. Probably not, Okay,
Speaker 1: probably not. That's kind of an exaggeration, but it's such
Speaker 1: an extreme balance. It's sort of every woman's societal role
Speaker 1: all wrapped up into one, right, and no matter what
Speaker 1: she does, whether she's too active or not active enough,
Speaker 1: at some point someone is going to have a complaint
Speaker 1: about it. So there's no way to succeed, I think,
Speaker 1: in this job. But I think at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we can all agree on the fact that
Speaker 1: Shelle Obama has banging arms. Those arms are awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: ending on that intellectual high note, we would like to
Speaker 1: direct you to the wonderful article How the First Lady
Speaker 1: Works written by Stephimiss in History Class co host Candice Keener.
Speaker 1: But Molly, before we go, I think that we need
Speaker 1: to read some listener mail. We have an awesome question
Speaker 1: sent in from Kristen. It wasn't me, I promised it
Speaker 1: was another Christian for a lot of email to herself.
Speaker 1: I'm not just trying to to boost the pad the
Speaker 1: mom stuff in box to make us feel better about ourselves.
Speaker 1: But with that out of the way, uh, Kristen had
Speaker 1: a question related to our podcasts on egg donation. Well,
Speaker 1: I've got some bad news for your Kristen. No sex.
Speaker 1: Sex is usually off the table, and also no antidepressants.
Speaker 1: As we were talking about in that egg Donation podcast,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of psychological screening that goes in to
Speaker 1: the decision of whether someone can be an egg donor,
Speaker 1: and usually antidepressants would be a mark of uh no,
Speaker 1: go right, So there you go. Egg donation pretty strict process,
Speaker 1: as we discussed, and should I donate my eggs. If
Speaker 1: you miss that one, better come back through iTunes. And
Speaker 1: if you have a question like Kristen who is not
Speaker 1: my co host Kristen, you can email us at mom
Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff works dot com for moralness and
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics because it has to works dot com.
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