-->The reviews are in of The Obamas, an unauthorised, “explosive” book on the first couple’s relationship and how it affects the White House.
The book was written by New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor, who covered the Obamas for the newspaper during the 2008 presidential campaign and in September, 2009, interviewed them in the Oval Office for the Times Magazine.
In Partners in love and the Presidency in the The New York Times, columnist Connie Schultz says of the book and its author:
“A meticulous reporter, Ms Kantor is attuned to the nuance of small gestures, the import of unspoken truths. She knows that every strong marriage, including the one now in the White House, has its complexities and its disappointments. Ms Kantor also – and this is a key – has a high regard for women, which is why hers is the first book about the Obama presidency to give Michelle Obama her due.”
"The Obamas is full of gossipy tidbits that fuel a narrative about their marriage and how it has shaped the presidency. Public glimpses of their intimacy portray a genuine bond forged by an ambitious man and his equally driven wife. He can be arrogant and self-absorbed, but he strives for her approval. She is his champion and critic, and a fierce guardian of their mutual mission.”
Of her elevation to first fashionista, Schultz says:
“Clothing had become her ‘compensatory pleasure’ for dutifully enduring the public demands of her husband's political career, Ms. Kantor writes. ‘If I have to go, I'm getting a new dress out of it,’ she told neighbors.”
“Now perhaps the most prominent black woman in America, she felt pressure to counter negative stereotypes by telegraphing images of elegance and self-confidence. Instead, she became America's first fashionista during tough economic times for the country.
“Her new image set off repeated bouts of apoplexy among some White House staff members, who weighed in on her choices, albeit indirectly, creating a climate of tension.”
What the book reveals is the extent of the influence the politically astute and passionate Michelle Obama has on her husband and on the administration:
"While I get plenty of good advice from a lot of people during the course of the day," Obama has said, "at the end of each day, it is Michelle – her moral voice, her moral center – that cuts through all the noise in Washington and reminds me of why I'm there in the first place."
What the book lacks, says reviewer David Remnick in State of the Union in The New Yorker, is a richer backstory on previous first ladies and presidential marriages.
“In Hidden Power (2001), a shrewd and entertaining survey of twentieth-century White House marriages, Kati Marton writes that the second-floor bedrooms and sitting rooms of the residence have known constant intrigue, intimacy, rage, and froideur.”
He fills the gap by sharing some of those insights: “Pat Nixon was surely one of the loneliest inhabitants of the White House. Richard Nixon was so flagrantly indifferent to his wife that one of his aides, Roger Ailes, wrote in a memorandum, ‘I think it is important for the President to show a little more concern for Mrs Nixon as he moves through the crowd. At one point he walked off in a different direction. Mrs Nixon wasn't looking and had to run to catch up. From time to time he should talk to her and smile at her."
“The most politically powerful of the modern First Ladies were Nancy Reagan, who controlled personnel and scheduling with the help of an astrologer, and Hillary Clinton, who, in the first year of the Clinton Administration, was given charge of the most comprehensive piece of proposed legislation in decades.”
Source: http://id.she.yahoo.com/new/http://thehoopla.com.au/stateoftheunion//
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