Michelle Obama | Bob Schwartz

November 6, 2024

Counterbalancing election results: We have to double down on being better people

Depending on your voting this election, you may not feel good about the results. You may think that those who have gained, regained or retained power will cause people to suffer and for things to get worse, not just in America but around the world. You may be right.

There are practical strategies available to counter some of that, strategies that will be discussed and executed in the days and months ahead.

This is something different. When people come to power who don’t have the best interests of other people in their hearts and minds, we can make up the difference and counterbalance the worst.

We can do that by doubling down on being better people. In the words of Michelle Obama, who knows something about what our fellow Americans are capable of, “When they go low, we go high.”

When they go lower, let us go higher. And better.

December 3, 2018

You’ve Got to Love Michelle Obama (Eleanor Roosevelt Edition)

Washington Post:

Michelle Obama swore when criticizing Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘lean in’ mantra, and the Internet lost it

In front of a sold-out crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday night, Michelle Obama looked like a woman who had it all. The Ivy League-educated former first lady, mother of two and now best-selling author was met with thunderous applause as she walked onstage to promote her recently released memoir, “Becoming.”

But in a brief moment of uninhibited candor — complete with some spontaneous swearing — that set the Internet ablaze, Obama said the belief that women can always “have it all” is “a lie” and voiced an unexpectedly frank rebuke of Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s controversial “lean in” mantra.

“It’s not always enough to lean in because that s— doesn’t work all the time,” she reportedly said.

Talk about setting folks straight with disarming charm. This is what so many didn’t understand and still don’t: If the great Eleanor Roosevelt was reincarnated, she would not come back as Hillary Clinton. She would come back as a brilliant and incandescent black former First Lady, with a pitch-perfect sense of public balance. As much as some of us enjoy seeing Barack, wishing that he was still in the White House, we warmly welcome Michelle into our lives too.

July 27, 2012

Barack’s Birthday Card

This is not intended as a criticism of President Barack Obama, or of First Lady Michelle Obama (who by all accounts is loved by a vast majority of Americans, and much more popular than her husband), or of the Obama campaign.

But I did receive this e-mail message:

Bob —

Barack’s 51st birthday is coming up.

I hope you’ll wish him a happy birthday by signing the card we’re putting together for him.

You’ll be adding Bob, alongside thousands of other supporters’ names — folks from all 50 states, from all different backgrounds. Together, all those names will be impressive — they’ll show the strength of this campaign and our support for Barack.

And I know he’s going to love it.

Add your name today — and then ask a friend to join you:

These last few months until Election Day won’t be easy — so let’s show Barack we have his back every step of the way.

– Michelle

The short answer, respectfully and with all the regard I have for the President, is “maybe”.

Does the President really need a birthday card? Given the choice, wouldn’t he rather have our money and our votes?

The President’s birthday on August 4 just happens to be a few days away from my own. It is reported that they will be holding a small birthday party for the President in Chicago, which will serve as a campaign fundraiser. As far as I know, unless it’s a big surprise, nobody will be holding a fundraiser for my birthday.

It is unlikely that the President, the First Lady or the campaign are reading this. And if you are, shame on you, because you all have way more important things to do. But on the odd chance you are, here’s a deal. If Barack Obama, or even Michelle Obama, or even Jim Messina or some other campaign staffer will sign my card, I will sign Barack’s. It’s the least I can do.