THE FIRST LADY DOING TOO MUCH?

There is an article over at Politico discussing the possibility that First Lady, Michelle Obama may be taking on too much and “spreading herself too thin.”

“Obama’s approach so far is decidedly different from the usual model of the modern first lady — pick a platform of two or three issues and stick to it, by and large, for four years.”

The article goes on:

“She’s become the spokeswoman for all sorts of issues and topics — from fitness, parenting, the environment and women’s rights, to redefining images of black women in American culture and promoting self-esteem for young girls."

Yet in the midst of all those themes, it isn’t yet clear whether her self-described core messages — about military families, volunteerism, and helping working women balance work and family life – are truly breaking through. Some wonder if she’s spreading herself too thin to emerge in the public mind as a leading voice on those topics.”

Then they present these two opposing views:

“I think when she thinks about work-life balance, it’s really broader than simply work and family in the general sense,” said Jocelyn Frye, her policy director. “It’s really thinking about how we make sure our families are healthy, how do we make sure that people eat right and take care of themselves and educate themselves about making good choices.”

“I think it’s fragmented. She stands for so many things right now, she’s doing so many things. She’s in the kitchen at the White House, she’s building houses, she’s digging in the garden. It’s all very nice, but I thought to myself, ‘Why is she planting herbs?’” said Mindy Sabella, director of marketing at Siegel+Gale, which specializes in strategic branding.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and bet anyone that Mindy has never been a mother. When my four children were young, I worked two jobs, kept the house, did the grocery shopping, was a Cub Scout den mother and volunteered for several different community groups. And then every Sunday, I got everyone out of bed and dressed and the whole tribe went to church where I taught Sunday school.

Did I spread myself too thin? Sometimes, I probably did, but I believed that each of these endeavors were important so I treated them all with the same degree of care, making sure I was prepared and competent.

I believe what we are seeing from Mrs. Obama is just her natural energy and passionate commitment to topics that matter to her, much like the rest of us. But, could Mindy be right? Is our First Lady too fragmented to make a difference?

“Obama’s early moves have shown the topics where her interests run the deepest. During her visit to a struggling high school in a poor D.C. neighborhood she talked about being teased as a young girl by people who said she talked “like a white girl,” but ignoring the taunt and striving for excellence anyhow.”

“I really wanted to write it off as another school visit but I heard the snippets and it was like listening to a woman’s leadership conference. She genuinely wanted to put lift under every chair in that room, and to leave each of them with a picture of possibility that they may or may not have had when they came into that session,” said Sue Hodgkinson, who heads The Personal Brand Company. “She is clear that she has the ability in every exchange to leave that signature behind her, and I was in fact taken by that. She was not just showing up.”

Mrs. Obama has made a believer out of Sue Hodgkinson and she’s made a believer out of me. And I’d say, in the next ten years or so, we’ll be seeing just how many believers she's made out of the children in that classroom.

Mrs. Obama is beautiful, fit, young, active, passionate and intelligent. She is her own woman with her own style and I, for one, think she is doing a great job in her new role and to her detractors…