The Problem With The Obamas

In an article for The Daily Beast (new fave site...noticed?), Curtis Sittenfeld, a writer crush of mine who penned Prep and most recently American Wife (which is a fictionalized story of Laura Bush...kind like W. in a sense), writes about the problem with the whole wide world being ga-ga for Michelle Obama:

"Now, after almost eight years of Laura-loving, Michelle Obama is about to become our first lady. I’m totally captivated by her, too—and so, it turns out, is everyone else. And though I’d have expected this affirmation of my taste to feel good, frankly, I’m not sure if I like sharing my first-lady-to-be with so many other people.

For a brief moment, I thought that I’d get to have Michelle to myself. Back in June, the media informed us that she was controversial and divisive and could cost her husband votes. The only problem with this argument was that, as far as I can tell, it was a total myth. For an article about Michelle I wrote for Time Magazine in September, I trailed her at the National Democratic Convention, and in advance of my trip to Denver, I began asking everyone I encountered for impressions of her. I got a wide range of reactions—you know, everything from 'I love her!' to 'I fucking love her!' Admittedly, the people I encounter skew toward my own demographic—white twenty- and thirty-something NPR listeners—but at the same time, I live in Missouri, which isn’t exactly a bastion of liberalism.

Of course, Michelle Obama is so charming, so smart and gracious and funny and beautiful, that I have no doubt she’ll soon win over her few detractors. The only question is, do I really want Michelle to accumulate even more fans? I thought that loving Laura Bush was lonely, but in retrospect I’m realizing that maybe I enjoyed my loneliness. I could feel protective of her for being underestimated and I could enjoy the righteous self-satisfaction of being able to see what others couldn’t—it was like being obsessed with an obscure indie band, knowing I was a member of a very exclusive club, whereas loving Michelle Obama is like being a member of Netflix."

This indie band reference is so on point. The thing is, we are part of a generation that came of age in an era of cynicism and niche. We are used to operating as part of the minority even if we're upper middle-class white kids who've had every opportunity. We only have mainstream tastes—Britney, Real Housewives of Atlanta, dodgeball—when we can embrace them ironically. But now, we have a president we believe in—one we like, respect, and ostensibly want to be or do. But in the end everyone else likes him too! It's like we've all bought tickets to some Miley Cyrus arena show thinking she would somehow never make it big. Now it's hard to be cynical, which is, for better or worse, the only world view we know. It's impossible to feel fringe or even especially unique. While it's not fair to call this a problem, I suppose, it's most certainly an identity crisis, and I'm fascinated to see how it & we shake out.