"the model of perfect, young, forward-thinking, good-looking Americans."
Posted on 01/24/2010 9:35:21 PM PST by Saije
It's not the glamour French cuisine of the "Camelot" White House under John and Jacqueline Kennedy. It's not the cowboy boots and Texas barbecue of Lyndon B. Johnson, or Ronald and Nancy Reagan's mix of designer clothes and brush-cutting getaways at the ranch.
But Barack and Michelle Obama have put a distinctive stamp on the White House during their first year there, and it's not what many in Washington expected.
Instead of reflecting their barrier-breaking distinctiveness -- the first black president, the first first lady with a high-powered executive career -- the Obamas have projected a carefully crafted image of studied ordinariness.
What has emerged is a kind of neo-1950s vision of the First Family as the embodiment of traditional "American Mom, Dad and the kids" values.
"If you were to create the perfect American family in the laboratory, the Obamas would be it," said Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "That whole family is the model of perfect, young, forward-thinking, good-looking Americans."
The president, who is known to have a passion for basketball, now also plays golf in his free time, and more recently, tennis. The first lady, who initially attracted attention for her outspoken comments and bare-shouldered outfits, grows vegetables in a backyard garden.
And she now follows the lead of most other first ladies in championing noncontroversial causes -- support for military families and healthful eating.
Nor have the Obamas made a splash on the Washington social circuit, choosing instead to stick close to the old friends.
The image seems to be working.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
LA Slimes? Where is the barf alert?
$2,000 housecoats and $500 sneakers only prove the Obamas are trying to be “ordinary”.
Yes, I ordinarily buy arugula, boob belts and take my teleprompter everywhere I go.
The $500 sneakers? The Potemkin garden? The NYC “date night”? They’re joking, right?
Yeah...just 170 “ordinary” little get-togethers with their buds in the first year...yeah, that’s so ordinary. It only takes a massive staff and untold thousands of dollars to be so ordinary.
Journalistic ipecac.
..and carefully calculated.
But I thought the media spent all this time telling us that zer0 and the wookie WERE the new Jackie and JFK?
Sure. Mrs. POF and I like to take $60,000 vacations in Hawaii and have $250,000 date nights in NYC. We’re just an ordinary couple, too.
Media puke puff job.
I'm working so that ALL teleprompers, not just a select few, can earn a living wage."
Nor have the Obamas made a splash on the Washington social circuit, choosing instead to stick close to the old friends.
Ha! It just dawned on me, 0bama’s now trying to be Scott(ordinary guy) Brown. Next thing you know, zer0 will be driving a pick up truck.
He’s far too stupid to qualify as ordinary!!!!
“the Obamas have projected a carefully crafted image of studied ordinariness.”
Is that what Michelle has 27 assistants for-’studied ordinariness’?
The job she held was eliminated because the hospital where she worked received it's $1 million distribution and there aren't any senator's wives around who are looking for a high-paying no-show job.
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