Last Thursday afternoon I was at work, writing a story about the San Diego appearance of FLOTUS (First Lady Of The United States). More than one female co-worker approached me wearing a large grin and asking me what it was like to get close to Michelle Obama.
Unfortunately press availability is not something you can expect from FLOTUS, to say nothing of POTUS. Mrs. Obama visited an urban garden in City Heights, a low-income part of San Diego, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity. Beforehand the news media were told 1)The First Lady would take no questions 2)We would need to be there at least an hour and a half before her scheduled speech 3)Our recording or photographic equipment would need to arrive four hours before her scheduled speech.
After I got there, I also learned that reporters and photographers would be confined to what you might call a press corral. This was a roped-off section of the viewing area where we had to remain until FLOTUS stepped into a black SUV and made her escape. It was a day of following Secret Service instructions and standing for a long time in the sun, waiting to hear a speech that was okay but not memorable.
Still, lots of people (Democrats probably) assumed I’d be stoked about seeing Michelle Obama.
I’m not old enough to remember John and Jackie Kennedy, though my parents claim I attended a Kennedy speech wearing diapers. The Kennedy family celebrity must have been similar to the Obama aura. Like the Kennedys, the Obamas are young, charismatic and — most importantly — attractive. The man who introduced Michelle Obama Thursday hit it on the head when he called her a rock star.
The Obamas live in a different country, or course. The Kennedys worked for a public that was more forgiving, more trusting of its leaders and more united, having yet to experience the cultural rifts that would arrive in the late sixties. Besides, the Kennedys were white and therefore insulated from the strong, complex emotions that race engenders in the USA.
So it was ironic that Jack Kennedy was murdered in Dallas. After showering him with a love that allowed us to ignore his faults and his many extramarital affairs, America took the form of Lee Harvey Oswald and shot him dead. And that is why I was confined to a press corral last Thursday covering FLOTUS.
I did actually get fairly close to Michelle Obama. She walked past our corral as she waved to supporters and headed toward her black SUV. She was accompanied by a white Secret Service agent who wore sun glasses, had a shaven head and looked like he was 6 feet 10 inches tall. Michelle Obama looked pretty and warm-hearted, just like she does on TV.
That’s what I’ll tell people who ask me what it was like to be in the presence of FLOTUS. She looks like she does on television. So if you love Michelle Obama, just keep loving her. And we can still hope the Obamas will become a first family like the Kennedys in the sense that most people seem to like them.
CUL-DE-SAC 