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IN 2008, MICHELLE Obama was tentative on the campaign trail, wary of saying anything to jeopardise her husband’s historic bid to be America’s first black president.
Eight years later, the self-assured first lady — back on the campaign trail — electrified Democratic Party faithful with a passionate takedown of Donald Trump and what she called his “frightening” attitude towards women.
“It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted,” Obama told a rally for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire.
“This is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable.”
The speech cemented the transformation of Obama, who turned 53 yesterday.
Once a reluctant ‘mom-in-chief,’ the tall, toned Princeton and Harvard graduate — America’s first black first lady — has evolved, becoming a singular voice for women and a political dynamo.
During her husband’s two terms in the nation’s highest office, the native of Chicago’s South Side, who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment with her parents and older brother, has also become a style icon and global role model.
“One of the most intriguing things about Michelle Obama is that she represents so many things to so many different people,” explains Peter Slevin, a professor at Northwestern University’s and the author of Michelle Obama: A Life.
She chose her issues, she stayed true to her values and she made the role uniquely her own.
From the South Side to Harvard
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was born in Chicago on 17 January, 1964 to a stay-at-home mom and a father who never missed work at a city water plant despite a battle with multiple sclerosis.
She received an Ivy League education at two of the nation’s most elite schools — Princeton and Harvard, where she studied law, as her future husband would also do.
Michelle joined the Sidley Austin law firm in Chicago upon graduation and it was there that she met Barack Obama — a young associate she was asked to mentor.
That meeting would change her life. Obama’s political career skyrocketed, and by January 2009, their family would move into the White House.
Her causes
At first, Michelle Obama focused her attention on getting the couple’s two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, settled into their new home.
“Those early years in the White House were a real adjustment for Michelle,” David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama, told CNN.
She had to start over in so many ways and she had to do it under the watchful eye of the world. And that’s a lot of pressure.
The first lady soon found her stride, and steered clear of controversy, embracing causes with universal appeal.
Her Let’s Move initiative to stamp out childhood obesity through healthy eating and exercise earned praise, as did her work to promote the wellbeing of military families.
Jennifer Lawless, the director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University in Washington, told AFP the “strong argument she made for being active… resonated in a way that a lot of first ladies’ issues don’t hit home.”
In 2015, Obama went global with the Let Girls Learn campaign, a cross-agency effort to improve education for teenage girls worldwide.
“She connected powerfully with a wide array of audiences — as a working mother, as a progressive Democrat and, as she herself put it, as a ‘little black girl from the South Side of Chicago’,” Slevin noted.
Throughout her time at the White House, Obama has also emerged as a beacon of support for the US fashion industry.
She turned once little-known designers such as Jason Wu into major style stars, and made it acceptable to wear a cardigan to meet Queen Elizabeth II.
And she embraced social media and pop culture — dancing with late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, rapping with Missy Elliott with James Corden sketch, or doing the mannequin challenge with NBA superstar LeBron James.
“She’s just fundamentally cool. She is comfortable in any kind of setting. She seems real,” Lawless said, adding that her television appearances or viral videos did not seem “artificial — just her embracing the way people communicate.”
Political force
Last year, as Clinton and Trump vied for the presidency, Obama took on a new and somewhat unexpected role: political powerhouse.
She was a natural on the campaign trail and a forceful surrogate for Clinton, herself a former first lady.
In October, Obama — a first lady who once shied away from controversy and endured racial slurs throughout her time in Washington from a small fringe of Americans — unleashed a fierce attack on Clinton’s Republican rival.
“This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. And actually bragging about kissing and groping women,” she said of Trump’s comments caught on video, which he dismissed as guy talk.
“The men in my life do not talk about women like this,” she said.
This is not how decent human beings behave.
That day, Obama knowingly stepped into the political limelight she had long shunned — and people listened.
“She spent eight years developing a relationship with the American people and they came to trust her,” Lawless said.
Moving on
In an exit interview with CBS, the president admitted his wife was looking forward to regaining some semblance of a normal life.
“Michelle never fully took to the scrutiny,” he said.
She never fully embraced being in the public spotlight — which is ironic, given how good she is.
Obama has repeatedly said she is not interested in a political career for herself, but could she follow in Clinton’s footsteps, from the role of first lady to elected office?
“In 12 years, if an Illinois senate seat is open and the Democrats have no one to run… who knows what can happen? Life changes and she’s young,” Lawless said.
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Go to bettystown – laytown beach after a nice day – plastic – cans – wipes – chipper bags – you will find rubbish every 2-3 meters walking along the beach – then high tide comes and washes most out – this is just one beach so no wonder the ocean is a mess . And its adults doing so and youngsters learning from them – the older I get the more I hate the majority of the human race
Society going to the dogs. The selfishness of most of us is disgusting.
‘I care about me, what I want, the way I want, whenever I want. Who cares about anybody else or future generations?’
@Pajo Mata: allowing dogs to take a dump on a beach and walking away is just as bad.
Kids step and swim with it .
Increase fines and enforcement
Hitting pockets hurt most
Common sense isn’t so common after all..
@mark hollywood: Common decency is the problem with these vermin.
A warden should be employed to to charge € 100 Euro to all campers some of it refundable when site is checked and found to be in tact or some such arrangement ,not the easiest thing to do I suppose but it would to clear up the problem or the money would help to clear up mess
A growing problem all round Ireland ,weak legislation on waste management ,lets get professional and employ proper litter warden s with powers for on the spot fines .this should not be left up to those great people that volunteer to keep our country side an beaches clean .people have to be continously reminded littering is not acceptable .
This is what happens when private companies take over rubbish collection. You can’t keep squeezing people and expect them to pay bills they can’t afford. When it’s a decision between food, rent, school uniforms etc… and bins the environment is always going to suffer.
@Mark Jones: hope you’re being sarcastic there
@Mark Jones: you’re blaming private rubbish collection, for people leaving their sh#te in greenland areas and beaches that the’ve visited? Tents , pottys? If they were able to haul all that crap to the area, then they can haul it to the dump, and that’s cheaper than paying for bin collection. You’ll find that ppl who act like this, are the same selfish ppl to cut in a line, or park in a handicap spot etc etc. In other words they just don’t give a f#k
@Mark Jones: it’s more a case of this is what happens why people are selfish pr1cks and don’t care about the environment or society in general. It’s not hard to bring rubbish home with you and doesn’t take any intelligence to consider what it’d be like to turn up at somewhere, imagine the disappointment at finding it spoilt by someone else’s rubbish and not think to bring their own rubbish home so they are ruining it on someone else.
@Mark Jones: really?
@Mark Jones: If they have enough money to go camping and enjoy the beautiful surroundings, eat food, have a few tins and get home again then they have enough money to dispose of their rubbish. You’re some tube.
@Mark Jones:
Bullproduct!
These folk would still leave their litter if they had a gilded council truck doing a daily free pickup.
@Mark Jones:
@Mark Jones: it has nothing to do with that all mark it’s the persons choice to go camping they can manage to carry all the goods there full no issues so could bring them home too there is enough free bins at service stations and most towns they could put rubbish in without bringing it home
Some clown left a carrier bag of rubbish on the ground at a service station that I used to deliver to. Myself and the owner went through it and found identifying items and he was also on CCTV. Litter warden came around, called to yer man, issued a fine of €125, job done. The crazy thing about it was that the bag was left on the ground only about 10 metres from an empty bin! I make that €12.50 a metre it cost the litterer.
@Ennui Kenny: if they paid it
@Seamus Mac: Well there was a case that came to court of a guy that didn’t pay a fine of €300 for 2 bags of rubbish and one carrier bag. He didn’t bother to turn up for the case (big mistake!) and the Judge increased the fine to €4,000! Even the litter warden looked surprised. Since then which is about 2 years ago I have never seen another litter case come before the court.
@Ennui Kenny: a costly mistake
Not just the beauty spots!! There’s litter everywhere now, people don’t seem to give a crap anymore!!!
@John Murray: people don’t like paying private rubbish collectors lots of money. Bring back council collections and the problem will diminish.
@John Murray: we’ve always been a filthy nation
Guys all over facebook offering cheap rubbish removal. They should have to provide a certified refuse collector number on advertisments
@Tony Murphy: There are people of a certain ethnic background doing that in Cork. They pick up your rubbish and then either illegally dump it ( you get the fine if it’s found by the litter warden) or burn it in skips provided by the council at their place of residence. What people don’t realise is that if your rubbish is dumped up the forestry it is you who is responsible and the fine is for each bag dumped. At €150 a bag that can add up very quickly.
Unfortunately a can pay but won’t pay for anything attitude has crept into our society and here is yet another example of it. It’s disgusting behaviour.
Just a question really and I don’t mean offense, but I really notice that Ireland is particularly bad at littering. It’s absolutely baffling. Do a lot of parents not teach their kids not to throw stuff on the ground? More often than not if I see kids in the park with crisps or lucozade, I know they will throw it on the ground. I get so upset by this and often would go over ask them to not do it just in case they have never been made aware. Where do they think it goes? Would their parents do it in their back gardens? If not then why in public? There must be a reason?
I just hope that the tents, sleeping bags etc which are in good condition are not dumped in a skip but put to use with some organisation.
If everyone just cleaned up after themselves like socially responsible people, we’d have no litter!
Time to arm litter wardens & give them the power to kneecap offenders.
Not new. Has been and will continue to be a problem for long time.
Just Wicklow? Check out West Dublin. Neillstown,ronanstown, all through Liffey valley area, looks like an explosion in a bin factory. My estate in Earlsfort nearby is the same. Feral kids of feral parents dropping bottles cans and all sorts of crisp bags where they stand. And since the property tax, nobody cleans up.
Dubs……
@redhandtyrone: So how do you account for litter in the Midlands, Cork, Galway etc?
The Blessington lakes are starting to look like a halting site with the amount of rubbish being left behind
Why aren’t there forestry rangers and beach patrols working these areas like in the States and Australia? This is why their beaches and camp areas are so spotless ; well that, and the fact that Aussies and Americans actually give a damn. Here, not so much. We are a nation of brats.
So supply more bins in the area. Not rocket science
@pearse: why though they didn buy the stuff from any shop there as there is none in the area . They can bring it back to shop they. BOught it in as most have bins around them
All the litter on all the beaches, I wonder how many litter fines were issued?, if it is very very little then our litter laws are ridiculously stupid, weak, pathetic.
Unfortunately, there are far too many people in this country who don’t take pride in the amenities and landmarks at their doorstep. For example, I was up in The Glen Of The Downs with my better half and was appalled out how much the Octagon near the top was vandalized. Minus the graffiti, it is a truly amazing place. The start of the walkway adjacent to the N11 also had some discarded litter scattered throughout.
This will likely affect the perception of tourists who might view us as a filthy nation due to our lack of care for invaluable resources. While litter, graffiti and other vandalism is also endemic in other nations, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that there is absolutely no excuse for it. The recent brush fires which we have had in light of the uncharacteristically warm weather are another by-product of such carelessness.
In time, we may need to invest in sophisticated CCTV systems in our public parks and other amenities to deter careless patrons who feel they can treat it like a land fill or who are generally negligent towards the consequences of their actions. Bottom line, we need to start setting a positive and clean example to current and future generations to minimize the possibilities of “a minority spoiling it for everyone”.
just bring a black bag with you and toss all of your trash in there. then throw the bag into the car’s boot.
have your say