REVIEW: Michelle Obama thrills Edmonton fans with familiar inspirations
The numbers are in! Michelle Obama is the coolest First Lady in American history – a fact she made plain before a crowd of thousands of women in Rogers Place on Friday night.
Biggest book tour ever.
Certainly Eleanor Roosevelt is in the running for coolest wife of an American president. So is Abigail Fillmore. Betty Ford, too. Jacqueline Kennedy. And Hillary Clinton, let’s not go there.
Mrs. Obama is notable for being the first African-American First Lady – and make it clear: She’s gifted with a good brain. Good parents, too, we’re told, and also that magic combination of intelligence, work ethic and great ambition. Story goes that she butted heads with a guidance counselor who told her she wasn’t “cut out” for Princeton, but then she got in – under Affirmative Action – and realized she was just as good, if not better, than some of the rich kids who were there because of white privilege. From Princeton and more head-butting she got into the prestigious Harvard Law School, and then got a job at a prestigious law firm – where she met Barack Obama, yada yada yada. Two kids.
The rest is literally history.
You may have heard it all before. At least one wife in attendance complained that this was all old material – especially at a buck-and-a-half a ticket – already presented dozens of times on TV talk shows and in Michelle Obama’s new book, Becoming. It was a nice touch bringing up real people to open the show, men and women, young and old, to say on stage what they were “becoming.” They ranged from a cancer survivor to a 15-year-old student. A film clip also included many celebrities.
With Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts as the host and interviewer, Obama got a standing ovation just for showing up.
It was all very inspirational, charming, smart, witty – and the crowd ate it up. It didn’t seem to matter that this woman’s life is so far removed from most, if not all, people in Edmonton that it isn’t even funny. The whole “I’m just like you – you can do this, too!” narrative isn’t meant to be taken literally. As Michelle said late in a two-hour talk, “When I think of the things that are the most important to me, it’s the quiet normal moments. The early parts of the book, the Michelle Robinson journey, not the Michelle Obama parts.”
Of course she wouldn’t be here without the Michelle Obama journey – and tales of the adventures of the coolest First Lady in American history were what we all came for.
Abigail Fillmore (1798-1853), who started the White House Library, is also in the running for the coolest First Lady in American history.
Some of it was funny. Like the bit about arranging sleepovers for her kids at other homes – whose families would have to be grilled by the Secret Service. “They just want to know if you have any guns or drugs in the house,” she said. “Don’t lie. They won’t take them away. They just want to know.”
Some of it was surprising: Like did you know that in every presidential motorcade there’s an ambulance stocked with the blood of the president’s blood-type? True.
Some of it concerned parenting, with nuggets of wisdom like, “Treat kids like the adults you want them to become.”
There was material on the importance of good men in a young girl’s life, and the perils of bad men – and overriding all, the importance of having a good group of female friends – your “posse,” she called them.
“I love my husband …” she told the crowd.
“Oh, here we go!” said Robin Roberts.
Michelle went on, “He is my best friend. But when I really need some real help, I go to my women friends!”
That got a huge response.
There wasn’t much politics, aside from tales of negative media coverage after her husband was elected. He Whom Shall Not Be Named was not mentioned, but the subtext in a short speech about how “people don’t like to be led by fear” made it clear which way the wind blows here.
With a flair for public speaking to match her husband, Michelle Obama finished up in dramatic, if predictable fashion, offering truisms and plenty of good feelings.
“People are in the world are basically good, decent people,” she said. “I’ve been to communities all over the world – and what I see are people like my mom and dad. All different colours, languages, different political affiliations, people who love in different ways. We’re all out there just trying to keep it together.”
Has Michelle Obama considered a run for President? Since she’s grossing around $1 million a show on her book tour, it might not be her highest priority right now.
