First Lady Michelle Obama turns 50 today, a milestone many news outlets have marked with … photo galleries of her best fashion moments?
(I’m looking at you, Washington Post, ABC News, CNN, Huffington Post, etc.)
Listen, I’m not saying the First Lady doesn’t wear the hell out of some clothes.
I’m saying we can do better. We can do better in 2014 than to reduce an educated, accomplished woman’s life to what she wore. And it’s only because she’s a woman her clothes have garnered this level of attention. Where, for instance, were the photo galleries of Barack’s best looks on his 50th?
(Although, we decided to give birthday boy Kid Rock similar treatment today.)
So to celebrate Michelle’s birthday, and point out how ridiculous it is we are choosing to mark the occasion by talking about dresses, here are just 10 things the First Lady has accomplished in 50 years:
1. She went to Princeton.
2. And Harvard.
3. She’s a lawyer.
4. She was assistant commissioner of planning and development for Chicago.
5. She was vice president of community and external affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center.
6. As First Lady, she’s launched national initiatives like Let’s Move!, fighting childhood obesity, andJoining Forces, mobilizing support for service members and their families.
7. She’s written two books.
8. She beat Jimmy Fallon at a pushup contest. (Also, she had a sense of humor.)
9. She also presented the Oscar for Best Picture at last year’s Academy Awards.
10. And, as she describes herself, “first and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha’s mom.”
