Monday, December 1, 2008

Event Write Up #2

I had the opportunity of attending Michelle Obama's rally earlier this month. Her rally was to promote her husband's campaign for the presidential race and she did and excellent job in endorsing and supporting Barack Obama. During the rally, Macalester students and other Minnesotans were packed into the Leonard Center, to await Michelle Obama. I had a great time and everyone was very excited to see our future first lady. 
Although Michelle Obama did a great job speaking on her husband's behalf, she made her own experiences seem less important than her husband's. She kept bringing up the ideas of motherhood and marriage defining who she is as an individual, but made only few comments concerning her own personal journey from a poverty to success. I was really blwon away by her rhetoric and her general crowd-pleasing skills and I think she was a major asset to Barack Obama's eventual win. However, I do wish that Michelle Obama defined herself and her life's work on her own terms, not as a mother and a wife. I know that motherhood and marriage are important and are relatable topics for many people, but I felt like I did not get to see the true Michelle Obama. I know it must be hard to be constantly supporting, endorsing, and giving up normalcy for 18 months to support someone else's life work and goals, but Michelle did it with grace and class. A couple of times during the rally, I thought about the traditionalist ideals of women supporting their husbands and always being seen as subservient to them, yet I do not feel that this is the case with the Obama family. I am very sure that Barack would have been more than happy to support his wife, if the situation was reversed. 
But overall, the rally was a fun time for Mac kids to get together and support their eventual first lady and to celebrate her husband, our new president. I found it really empowering that so many people came to hear Michelle Obama speak and I know that she will help the eventual break down on views of women in power and sexism (hopefully). She is a hard working woman and deserves a lot more credit than what is being given to her. 

No comments: