Works Cited

Hillary Clinton Works Cited

Black, Allida M. "The Modern First Lady And Public Policy: From Edith Wilson Through Hillary Rodham Clinton." OAH Magazine Of History 15.3 (2001): 15-20. ERIC. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.

Caroli, Betty Boyd. First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2010. Ebrary-The Ohio State University. July 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/lib/ohiostate/docDetail.action?docID=10395074&p00=michelle%20obama>.

"Hillary Clinton Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/hillary-clinton-9251306?page=1>.

Kornblut, Anne E. Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win. New York: Crown, 2009. Print.

McCrummen, Stephanie. "Hillary Clinton: The Secretary of 1,000 Things."BostonGlobe.com. The Boston Globe, 02 Dec. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/12/02/hillary-clinton-the-secretary-things/gjaf6vcxUZug0BCvkhj4sO/story.html>.

Parry-Giles, Shawn J. "Mediating Hillary Rodham Clinton: Television News Practices and Image-making in the Postmodern Age." Critical Studies in Media Communication 17 (2000): 205-26. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Direct.asp?AccessToken=299A3918SXHBBMFWYW32HMYMBYZY8LFYSS&Show=Object&msid=937867098>.

Michelle Obama Works Cited

Bruce, Marino A., and Donald Cunnigen. Race in the Age of Obama. Bingley: Emerald, 2010. Ebrary-The Ohio State University. Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/lib/ohiostate/docDetail.action?docID=10445344>.

Caroli, Betty Boyd. First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2010. Ebrary-The Ohio State University. July 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/lib/ohiostate/docDetail.action?docID=10395074&p00=michelle%20obama>.

"Michelle Obama Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/michelle-obama-307592>.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/409390/april-11-2012/michelle-obama-pt--1

Sarah Palin Works Cited

 Denton, Robert E. Studies of Identity in the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2010. Ebrary-The Ohio State University. June 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. <http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/lib/ohiostate/docDetail.action?docID=10391909>.

Palin, Sarah. Going Rogue: An American Life. New York: Harper, 2009. Print.

Stremlau, Rose. "Sarah Palin And Me." Chronicle Of Higher Education 55.11 (2008): B32. ERIC. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.            

Nancy Pelosi Works Cited

Peters, Ronald M., and Cindy Simon Rosenthal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Ebrary-The Ohio State University. Oxford University Press, USA, Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/lib/alltitles/docDetail.action?docID=10382967>.

Condoleezza Rice Works Cited

Felix, Antonia. Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story. New York: Newmarket, 2002. Print.

Rice, Condoleezza. Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me.New York: Delacorte Press, 2010. Print.

"World Biography." Condoleezza Rice Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ow-Sh/Rice-Condoleezza.html>.

Madeleine Albright Works Cited

Albright, Madeleine K., and Hillary Rodham Clinton. "America's Commitment Women 2000." President's Interagency Council on Women, 5 Jan. 2000. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps15633/secretary.state.gov/www/picw/2000commitment/americas_commitment.pdf>.

Albright, Madeleine Korbel., and William Woodward. The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.

Blood, Thomas. Madam Secretary: A Biography of Madeleine Albright. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.

"Madeleine Albright (United States Secretary of State)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/13109/Madeleine-Albright>.

Conclusion

Through studying and researching these women, as well as having lived through all of their decisions and terms, I have discovered many things. Although there are obviously many more women in politics than just these six, I feel that these six women have had the most impact on our modern society and on us as young women. Their views and beliefs have helped to forge a path for our generation and generations to come. Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, and Madeleine Albright all are extremely strong, intelligent, and determined women who never let playing in a traditionally male-dominated game get them down and out. Although their ideologies may be different, their mindset has been the same throughout their lives. None of them let the traditional definition of what being a woman was keep them from seeking an education, participating in public service, and establishing careers that were and are normally reserved for men.
As I said, these are by no means the be all end all of women in politics who have influenced our lives, but I feel that these are the six we can relate to, because we see them in the news very often and their actions still influence us today. The progression women have made in the political sphere from colonial times until now is extremely encouraging, but it's still taking much too long for women to achieve major turning points in the United States Democracy. We still have yet to elect a female president, although we are inching closer and closer to this goal every four years.
In the meantime, here are a few more influential women whose decision-making affects our daily lives. The reason they were not included in a major blog post is because the amount of research and writing about them is nowhere near the scholarship on the six women I honed my research in on.

Janet Napolitano:

As the first female head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano has a huge job on her hands. She served as Arizona's governor from 2003-2009, as well as serving at the local level for some time. Napolitano's experience has established her as an expert on border control and security, and she says that progressing her career to the national level was natural and expected. 

"The Most Powerful Women in Politics, 2012." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lml45kili/janet-napolitano-19/>.

Margaret Hamburg

Margaret Hamburg is the Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration, and therefore oversees a quarter of the United States' economy. She has been very stringent in her efforts since being appointed in 2009, and has caught flack for partially causing drug shortages in the US for this approach. Hamburg is a Harvard-educated physician, and has served in many positions, including the commissioner  of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene prior to her current position at the USFDA. 

 "The Most Powerful Women in Politics, 2012." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://www.forbes.com/pictures/lml45kili/margaret-hamburg-2/>.

Susan Rice

Currently the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice has always been at the foot of the White House door. She was born in Washington, DC, and was mentored by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She is a well-educated African-American woman, having attended Stanford and earned many achievements there, as well as earning her masters and doctorate degrees at University of Oxford in England. As Hillary Clinton has announced she will step down from her Secretary of State Position at the end of 2012, Susan Rice is considered to be on President Obama's short list for the nomination to this position. She is not well-liked by Republicans, and has faced public scrutiny in the wake of the Benghazi attack on Americans. However, her strength in the face of this controversy, as well as her impressive background, may very well get her the nomination for Secretary of State. 

"Susan E. Rice Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/susan-e-rice-391616>.

Madeleine Albright: A Groundbreaking Hard-Hitter

“Advancing the status of women is not only a moral imperative; it is being actively integrated into the foreign policy of the United States. It is our mission. It is the right thing to do, and, frankly, it is the smart thing to do.” 

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, March 12, 1997

Madeleine Albright created a stir as a card-carrying, no-nonsense Democratic woman when she was nominated as President Bill Clinton's Secretary of State in 1997. After her nomination was confirmed by the Senate, Albright became the first female Secretary of State in the US. Although Czech-born and an escapee of Hitler's Nazi policies, Albright jumped headfirst into American politics and education. She received her BA from Wellesley College (where Hillary Clinton would later attend), and her master's degree and Ph.D. from prestigious Columbia University. Albright focused much of her time and energy on non-profit work and public service, as well as on political campaigns and security issues. 

Before serving as the first female Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright was named the US ambassador to the United Nations, "At the UN she gained a reputation for toughmindedness as a fierce advocate for American interests, and she promoted an increased role for the United States in UN operations, particularly those with a military component (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). Even when she was the UN ambassador, Albright used her position as her intelligence in order to set herself up for the Secretary of State job, if the opportunity would ever arise for her to obtain that appointment. When the Secretary of State from Clinton's first four years in office stepped down, Senator Patrick Leahy contacted Albright. He played devil's advocate with this bright woman, and was surprised by how prepared she was, "...she gave him chapter and verse on what the United States and State Department needed to accomplish during the next four years, spelling out her worldview in no uncertain terms, emphasizing her vision of the United States as an 'indispensable nation'" (Blood 8). 

Albright also knew all along that if she wanted a chance at Secretary of State, she had to act the part. In his book Madam Secretary: A Biography of Madeleine Albright, Thomas Blood highlights the lengths that Madeleine went to in order to educate herself further and become more involved at the international level in order to show everyone she was serious. Albright visited little-known and usually ignored cities and countries around the world-the places that then Secretary of State Warren Christopher tended to take off of his radar. In doing this, Albright was marking up political credentials left and right, but also creating relationships with these countries that hadn't existed before. The military's support was of special interest to Albright, "Albright made a special point of of becoming intimately acquainted with her essential foreign policy partner, the military, rarely missing an opportunity to court key members of the armed forces" (Blood 10). She flew into war zones and made her interest in foreign policy and support known. 

The whole time Bill Clinton had known Albright, he voiced his opinion on her talents, often saying, "she gives the best public articulation of my foreign policy of any person around" (Blood 28). Even First Lady Hillary Clinton desperately wanted to see Albright get the position of Secretary of State, but instead of pushing her husband towards it, Hillary chose to support Albright from behind the scenes, helping to secure support for the nomination among the media and women. The media loved Madeleine, proclaiming her emminent nomination and celebrating before she had even received the offer from President Clinton. Obviously, Albright's massive efforts paid off, as she was recognized by Clinton and received his nomination for Secretary of State in 1997. 

The woman that stands before us today as former Secretary of State went through so much to achieve her lofty goals. She worked on Edmund Munskie's 1972 presidential campaign, and became close friends with him although he lost the election. As fellow staffer Billings stated, "There were times that some of the staff were so afraid of him that they would literally run away and hide" (Blood 120). However, Albright was not one of these scared staffers. She was never intimidated, and was able to put up with Muskie's somewhat scary manner. He came to view her as a trusted peer, rather than a staffer, and consulted with Albright on many important issues (Blood 120-121). Not only did Albright have her gender working against her in the political realm, her age was also a factor she had to overcome (she was nearly forty when she came to work on Capitol Hill). Blood calls these the two glass ceilings that Albright had to break through just to begin her career in Washington, DC (Blood 121). As a woman and a middle-aged woman, she was supposed to still be in her home taking care of children, not out serving on political      campaigns and foreign policy advisories. 

Madeleine Albright is the ultimate woman to look to when we think of the American dream for women. Her family was persecuted by the Nazis and forced to flee their homeland for the United States. She became more involved and educated than many men of her time, and wouldn't take 'no' as an answer for anything. Albright truly defied the odds handed to her as a middle-aged woman in America, and gained the publics' trust and respect as well as that of her colleagues and superiors. She worked harder to achieve her goal to be Secretary of State than any man I have read about, and continues to be an activist and supporter of the Democratic Party even today at age 75. Madeleine Albright will go down in history as one of the greatest women in the United States for her groundbreaking work and examples she set. 

Condoleezza Rice: Jane of All Trades

Although not so prominent in the political sphere anymore, Condoleezza Rice was at one point the most influential woman in global policy. 'Condi' as I will refer to her as at some points, is the former United States national security adviser, as well as the former Secretary of State, serving both positions under the George W. Bush presidency. She also served as a foreign policy assistant to George H.W. Bush prior. Condi was the first woman to serve as national security adviser. These accomplishments are of special note because not only is Condi a woman in these positions, she is African-American. Condoleezza became a well-known and much-loved member of the  sometimes unstable Bush administration. The public adored her, and her intelligence was never underestimated by the Bush family or her colleagues in foreign policy.
Condi is seen as a very likable and insightful woman, as well as ambitious and driven. When she was younger, Condoleezza and her family visited the White House at Washington, DC, where she proceeded to say, "Daddy, I'm barred out of there because of the color of my skin. But one day, I'll be in that house" (Felix 1). Condoleezza went on to attend the University of Denver her undergraduate studies in political science and Russian history, then attended Notre Dame University to earn her master's in government and international studies. After finishing her master's degree, Condi took a break from education after lining up an executive assistant job at an electronics firm. However, the company reorganized, leaving Rice lost and somewhat of a drifter in life. She eventually returned to the University of Denver to earn her Ph.D. Rice then earned a fellowship at Stanford and became a tenured professor there in 1987.
Condoleezza's education and interests display her intelligence, and as the National Review stated, "She is, all agree, an immensely appealing person, poised, gracious, humbly smart, still markedly Southern after all these years in other parts" (Felix 2). These traits explain why Condoleezza is thought of so highly by the Bushes and by the public. As an African-American woman who grew up in the South, Condi could have easily have settled for less and continued to give piano lessons after receiving her master's degree. However, she knew that she wanted more, and she gained the respect and awe of the men around her, including George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Both were dumbfounded by her talent for clarity and bluntness when discussing anything, but especially in foreign policy, "'One of the things that is appealing to Bush is that she can be very down to earth in cutting right to the heart of matters,' Philip Zelikow, who worked with Condoleezza in the first Bush administration, said. 'People in the foreign policy world are generally not good at that.'" (Felix 10). Rice seems to be a gem in the world of politics, even among men.
Condoleezza's accomplishments in foreign policy are historic because many of them dealt with the War in Iraq and the War on Terror after September 11, 2001. Her intelligence and experience may have been tested and questioned during these tough times for America, but ultimately her strategies and decisions were effective and she performed extremely well under pressure. The aftermath of 9/11 was by far Rice's most difficult job in politics, but as stated above, she handled everything with clarity and grace many had not often seen in politics.

Unlike the other women I have highlighted in this blog, Condoleezza is not married and does not have children. This may have allowed her to focus more on her career in politics and foreign relations, but it has not affected her ability to care and be a leader as a mother would in a negative way. Rice did however, travel with First Lady Laura Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne in President Bush's 'W is for Women' campaign. The goal of this campaign by the Bush administration was to steer women voters away from the Democratic Party by convincing them that the GOP cared about women's rights in education and health-"a far cry from the angry, warrior-like tone of the pro-gun, anti-abortion, macho-white-male party of past GOP conventions" (Felix 12). The Republican Party, Bush administration and Bush family clearly saw Condoleezza Rice as a woman that could connect with other women and make them feel important, even though this campaign didn't necessarily relate to her job in foreign policy. Her portrayal and the receptiveness of women to her words and actions was a positive attribute to the administration and Republicans.
Condoleezza still remains an iconic woman in United States history, and many people still hope she makes the decision to run for President of the US in the future. This ongoing love affair between Condoleezza Rice and the public displays just how much has changed in the realm of trust in women holding traditionally male leadership roles in America.
Here is a wonderful video of Condoleezza Rice speaking on foreign relations at this year's Republican National Convention; it shows why she is so respected as a woman among members of both major political parties and why she is such a great role model for future generations of women. I have included the highlights video from ABC News (The first video), as well as the whole speech from the GOP Convention's Youtube account (bottom video).

Nancy Pelosi: The Most Powerful Woman In Congress

Nancy Pelosi has had a highly controversial career in politics among the opposition, as well as within her own party. She is the first woman to have served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, taking that position in 2007. We have seen for many weeks now in our readings for History 2610 that it took women such a long time to be recognized as having valid political opinions. Therefore, it shouldn't surprise us that it took until 2007, only five years ago, for a woman to become Speaker of the House, and effectively, the third in line to the position of President. And yet this information does surprise us. The media and public make a huge deal out of women holding high positions in government and politics, because it is still unexpected.
When she was sworn in as the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi gathered the children and grandchildren attending the ceremony around her as she accepted the gavel from Republican Leader John Boehner, evoking the exact feeling she wanted to project: a combination of motherhood and political power (Peters, Rosenthal 3). There was a heavy media focus on Pelosi, as she was now the most powerful woman in American politics, and although she had been a notable politican in the House, she wasn't widely known, even as the leader of the then minority Democratic Party. Following her dual theme of mother and politician, Pelosi continued to present herself in the media rush of her inauguration as a daughter of the East (her father had been the longtime mayor of Baltimore, and she was raised Catholic), and as a housewife turned politician of the West (Pelosi was elected out of San Francisco). Her party and campaign wanted to get away from the "San Francisco liberal" claim that her opponents continue to make even today (Peters, Rosenthal 3-4).

For a long time, Pelosi was uninvolved in politics, choosing to be a mother and wife instead. Although she doesn't often acknowledge that her gender has played a large role in shaping her career as a politician, she makes powerful statements about gender when she does concede to it. Although many people still consider her to be an extreme liberal, there are good reasons why Nancy Pelosi was selected to be the most powerful woman in the country for four years. As Peters and Rosenthal state in Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics, Pelosi's personal ambition as a woman is largely unseen in politics, "She has persistently articulated the legitimacy of the uniquely female experience of motherhood as preparation for and authority in political office" (Peters, Rosenthal 194). It is a side of women that we have not studied in class, and so I find Pelosi's view on motherhood extremely convincing and revolutionary. Nancy Pelosi sees her role as a mother as a gift in the political realm-it's something she has that no man she will go against will ever have. Motherhood forces a woman to be organized, time-conscious, and very decisive and confident in her decisions, while also being concerned and caring for her children. These facets allowed Pelosi to be successful as a politician in ways that other women haven't been-she views motherhood as a blessing to her career and a resume builder rather than something that held her back in politics.
Although Pelosi lost her position as Speaker of the House in 2010 when the Republicans took majority in the House of Representatives, it is important to continue to watch her career in politics, and also look to future women who could follow in her footsteps. Pelosi's impact on people and her unique view of motherhood as a stepping stone for a political career should make women realize that motherhood can prepare them for many things. Nancy Pelosi's role in history as will shape future generations of women to come, and the importance of her ambition should never be undervalued.

Sarah Palin: Pity and Victimization in 2008

Sarah Palin has been a controversial figure in the political realm since she came into the national spotlight in 2008. She hadn't even served a full term as Alaska's governor when she was selected as the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee for John McCain's campaign for the election of 2008. This made many people wary of Palin, along with many other factors that the media presented during the campaign. Although Hillary Clinton was also running in this election, albeit for the Democratic nomination for President, Sarah Palin's identity as a woman was much different than Hillary's, and her family life was also different. This particular blog post will highlight how VP Nominee Sarah Palin played the victim during her campaign with John McCain.
When Palin was first announced as John McCain's running mate, the public's opinion of her went downhill fast. The Democrats honed in the idiocy of Senator John McCain for choosing someone that hadn't even completed a full term as governor, but in an interesting juxtaposition, the Republicans shot right back by zooming in on presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's inexperience in politics. The media was also very focused on Palin's family life, as it didn't fit the social norms of American society. Palin was married, but her oldest daughter, Bristol, had become pregnant as a teenager out of wedlock, and Palin herself had a very young son with Down syndrome at the time of this campaign. The media played devil's advocate and made the public question whether or not Palin had time for both her duties and the issues of her young family (Denton 73).
Sarah Palin did not seem to take gender issues in the election as seriously as Hillary Clinton did, and displayed this when she joked that the only thing separating a hockey mom (which she considered herself to be) and a pitbull was lipstick (Denton 73). Nobody in her party threw up a red flag at this comment-they played it up as Palin being a tough, non-nonsense woman. However, the victimization role came in when Senator Obama used the following adage to attack Republican policy, "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper. It's still gonna stink" (Denton 73). The Republican Party twisted these words into an attack on Sarah Palin's gender, and she ran with it.
The senior adviser to McCain's campaign, Carly Fiorina, described Obama's comments as evidence of his chauvinism and stated that he had belittled Palin as a woman by alluding to the fact that she was not competent for the job of Vice-President. Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift also played on feminist sympathies by stating that "Palin had been the target of an outrageous smear campaign" (Eilperin, 2008). Denton also points out that McCain himself had used the same "pig" analogy that Obama had in order to describe Obama and Hillary Clinton's respective policies. Unlike Palin, though, Clinton didn't use these comments as an attack method against McCain. Therefore, Palin's attack on the Democrats was a one-sided attempt to gain sympathy and support from women-which is probably the only way Republicans can gain women's votes these days.

Sarah Palin further carried out her victim card in the waning days of the campaign, as well as after the election was over. After the insane bill for her campaign wardrobe was released, she claimed that there was a double-standard between male and a female candidates when it came to media coverage; females were more scrutinized for how much they spent on their campaign wardrobes and how they looked than men were, a media focus that Palin said made people focus more on women candidates' clothing rather than their policies. This viewpoint can be summed up in a few sentences taken from Denton's book, "Rather than sticking to coverage of female candidates' platforms and professional experience, they instead choose to devote valuable air time and print space to frivolous topics such as wardrobe and hairstyle. Such coverage undermines women's abilities to present themselves as serious candidates and leaders because they are forced to spend time talking about lighthearted minutiae, rather than consequential political policy" (Denton 74-75).
Palin's political identity as a woman in the campaign was heavily shaped by her role as a victim and how the media portrayed her. Compared to Hillary Clinton, Palin was often seen as not being tough enough to take the criticism that was dished out to her in the political playing field, and also for making people wary based on her interesting family life and politicial decisions. Overall, playing the victim and concurring attacker role did not work out for the Republican Party or Sarah Palin, and she and John McCain were defeated by the man they cried "wolf" on for chauvinism, Barack Obama.

Michelle Obama: The Womens' Woman

I think it is interesting to juxtapose Michelle Obama with Hillary Clinton because of the time period in which they were first ladies, and also because of how similar their husbands are in their ideologies. Although she herself is not a politician, the level of involvement Michelle Obama has as the First Lady of the United States is almost at the level of a politician. We have discussed a lot about race, specifically African-Americans, in the United States in History 2610 this semester. Being the first black First Lady in America plays a huge role in defining who Michelle Obama is as a woman, and has played a large role in the media attention put on her since her husband, Barack Obama, first began campaigning for President in 2006. During Bill Clinton's campaign, the focus on Hillary Clinton was shaped around what kind of woman she was: powerful, evoking fear, and intelligent. Michelle Obama has had this focus shone on her, along with the extra burden of race added to how media and the public have portrayed her.
We have studied black women mainly through Dorothy Roberts' book Killing the Black Body, and how black women are negatively viewed by society even to this day. This is further elaborated on in a political sense in Marino Bruce and Donald Cunnigen's book, Race in the Age of Obama. As stated above, Michelle Obama has the notion of race working against her, "African-American women are too often labeled "ugly" or even invisible. Patricia Collins (1990) asserts that characterizing them as mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mommas has been the foundation to essentialized notions of black women" (Bruce, Cunnigen 32). Bruce and Cunnigen also point out that despite all this, black women have always tried to redefine how they are perceived by society by seeking an education and focusing their work on public service.
Michelle Obama is the antithesis to the stereotypical black woman. Like Hillary Clinton, she was born near Chicago, Illinois, although did not grow up in the upper middle-class as Clinton had. Obama attended Princeton for her undergraduate career, and then went on to receive her law degree from Harvard. Michelle has focused much of her energy throughout life and in her role as First Lady towards social issues, many of which deal with minority issues. She has a passion for public service, which is shown through her many career positions in the City of Chicago administration as well as within the University of Chicago, where as associate dean of student services in 1996, Michelle created the university's first community service program. Obama became vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago's Medical Center, where she worked until Barack was inaugurated as President (Biography.com). The quality and amount of education she received rivals her husbands', and the amount of money Michelle made as an attorney and hospital executive far exceeded what Barack was making as a Senator. She is a self-made woman, much like Hillary, but seems to be so much more than that, too.
There was a common theme in the media, and still is today as Michelle Obama will continue to be the First Lady for the next four years, that attempted to compare Obama to other First Ladies, as I am comparing Michelle and Hillary. However, many media outlets simply had to concede that there couldn't be a comparison, because nobody else was on the level of Michelle Obama (Bruce, Cunnigen 41). Michelle Obama is a special type of woman, "J. Zamga Browne, in the New York Beacon argued that there were two 'flavors' of first ladies, one fitting the traditionally meek, 'grin and bear it' woman; and then, there have been the 'ball-breaking' Democrats, like Roosevelt and Clinton, who had independent minds and lives. The most exciting and unique thing about Obama, 'is the way she so skillfully unites all three: supportive, independent and a fashion icon'" (Bruce, Cunnigen 41). Michelle Obama's combination of all three of these traits have put her in the spotlight more often than almost any other first lady.

Finally, all of these themes come together to show that 2008 was a turning point for not only first ladies, but for women of the United States. Unlike Hillary Clinton, Michelle has felt no need to pretend to be a typical wife or mom, and she used her first public event at the White House as First Lady to celebrate a new law concerning something close to her life's work-workers' rights (Caroli 337). As Betty Caroli also states in her book, First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, "This willingness to combine professional expertise and a traditional women's role marked something new...an important turning point for women" (Caroli 337).  Overall, Michelle Obama has been able to connect with and inspire women across America through her grace and ease of being her own woman and not standing in the shadows of her husband, by being a supportive wife and mother, and still being involved in community and public service. She has not sacrificed either one of these identifying factors, and has showed women that it is possible to identify yourself as a woman in many ways, not just through one factor.
Below,
I have included a link to a video of Michelle Obama from The Colbert Report that displays what she does as First Lady through her passion for public service:
 Michelle Obama on Colbert Report-Military Initiatives, Family