Michelle Obama Gets Ready for HER Second Term
Published in Le Figaro
(France) on 10 February 2011
by Véronique Saint-Geours (link to original)
(France) on 10 February 2011
by Véronique Saint-Geours (link to original)
Translated from
by Drue Fergison.
Edited by Hoishan Chan.
Though she’s everywhere, little is known about her. Michelle Obama just hosted the press at the White House and appeared on the "Today" show. She will have her second term! This time she lifted the veil on the impact that she hopes to achieve through her role. And, of course, she provided answers for Washington’s little gossips. Does the president dye his hair? Did he really smoke his last cigarette a year ago? Does he care about his appearance? Why do her daughters…
A press luncheon and then a visit to a TV studio and it’s off to 2012. Let’s start with the “revelations” about her family.
About Barack’s hair, Michelle put an end to the issue of dyeing. She adopted a serious air to say that Barack does not dye his hair. He might have done so 10 years ago if he had known that he would become president. But no, his hair really is lightening and graying. Photos placed side by side, taken on the same day, show that at 44, he had two different hair colors and was then subjected to all sorts of conjecture. Not for an instant could you imagine even proclaiming “You lie!” as Senator Joe Wilson did in 2009. It was said that the color of the lighting from the evening of Nov. 4, 2008, really aged him.
After this hairy political point, we moved to his having quit smoking a year ago: Michelle reassured us by affirming that she had verified it herself. It’s true, I tell you! The journalist attempted a joke, asking, “Is it possible he’s going into the Lincoln bedroom to sneak a smoke?” “No, no. You can tell.” But she did give him a bad rep for a lack of interest in his own appearance.
The third issue concerned the absence of Facebook profiles for their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, and their decision as parents to not overexpose their daughters to this unnecessary media attention. In the case of Malia and Sasha, it is the same strict caution.
And then we moved on to serious matters. She spoke of 2012. She is going to expand and globalize her great fight: the war against childhood obesity and that of their parents.
She revealed that when her husband visits a foreign leader, the first thing that is brought up to him is the White House vegetable garden. We know that successful communication to the general public takes place through a gimmick. The White House lawn, transformed into a vegetable garden, has symbolized the importance that the Obama presidency places on a balanced, fresh, local diet. Symbolic, yes, but that’s how communication works. Her encounters prove to her that her fight extends beyond the U.S. and must be led simultaneously with the war on famine.
And if Michelle Obama wants to globalize her project she must continue to plow the American furrow. She is spearheading a strategy with retailers, Wal-Mart among them, to produce products lower in fat and sugar and to reduce prices on fresh food. She has tackled the problem of school cafeterias and fast food chains — through the National Restaurant Association — and secured a reconfiguration of menus with carrots, apples and vegetables that are not fries. This has been launched.
Confronted with industry giants, there are colossal roadblocks, and it’s no longer about gathering apples on the South Lawn, but about toe-to-toe discussions so that every partner wins. What’s at stake is public health. Michelle Obama is bipartisan and developing an incontrovertible image. How is the most influential woman in the world, according to Forbes, going to meet this challenge? Her second term will not be enough.
A press luncheon and then a visit to a TV studio and it’s off to 2012. Let’s start with the “revelations” about her family.
About Barack’s hair, Michelle put an end to the issue of dyeing. She adopted a serious air to say that Barack does not dye his hair. He might have done so 10 years ago if he had known that he would become president. But no, his hair really is lightening and graying. Photos placed side by side, taken on the same day, show that at 44, he had two different hair colors and was then subjected to all sorts of conjecture. Not for an instant could you imagine even proclaiming “You lie!” as Senator Joe Wilson did in 2009. It was said that the color of the lighting from the evening of Nov. 4, 2008, really aged him.
After this hairy political point, we moved to his having quit smoking a year ago: Michelle reassured us by affirming that she had verified it herself. It’s true, I tell you! The journalist attempted a joke, asking, “Is it possible he’s going into the Lincoln bedroom to sneak a smoke?” “No, no. You can tell.” But she did give him a bad rep for a lack of interest in his own appearance.
The third issue concerned the absence of Facebook profiles for their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, and their decision as parents to not overexpose their daughters to this unnecessary media attention. In the case of Malia and Sasha, it is the same strict caution.
And then we moved on to serious matters. She spoke of 2012. She is going to expand and globalize her great fight: the war against childhood obesity and that of their parents.
She revealed that when her husband visits a foreign leader, the first thing that is brought up to him is the White House vegetable garden. We know that successful communication to the general public takes place through a gimmick. The White House lawn, transformed into a vegetable garden, has symbolized the importance that the Obama presidency places on a balanced, fresh, local diet. Symbolic, yes, but that’s how communication works. Her encounters prove to her that her fight extends beyond the U.S. and must be led simultaneously with the war on famine.
And if Michelle Obama wants to globalize her project she must continue to plow the American furrow. She is spearheading a strategy with retailers, Wal-Mart among them, to produce products lower in fat and sugar and to reduce prices on fresh food. She has tackled the problem of school cafeterias and fast food chains — through the National Restaurant Association — and secured a reconfiguration of menus with carrots, apples and vegetables that are not fries. This has been launched.
Confronted with industry giants, there are colossal roadblocks, and it’s no longer about gathering apples on the South Lawn, but about toe-to-toe discussions so that every partner wins. What’s at stake is public health. Michelle Obama is bipartisan and developing an incontrovertible image. How is the most influential woman in the world, according to Forbes, going to meet this challenge? Her second term will not be enough.
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