Michelle Obama can’t stop talking about her “me” era.
On the most recent episode of “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson,” the podcast she co-hosts with her brother, she shed light on her much-publicized absences from both President Jimmy Carter’s Jan. 9 funeral and President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
The former first lady played hooky because she’s taking some me time, baby!
When it came to Trump’s swearing-in, she admitted she had sartorially sabotaged herself. Michelle — a three-time Vogue cover model and darling of the fashion world who could have any designer clothing on demand — claimed she just couldn’t find the right outfit.
“It started with not having anything to wear,” Michelle said. “I was like, if I’m not going to do this thing, I got to tell my team, I don’t even want to have a dress ready, right? Because it’s so easy to just say let me do the right thing.”
The takeaway? She knew it wasn’t the decent thing to do, but like some third-rate self-help author living her truth, she was doing her.
“I’m here really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me … And it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was right,” she said before catching herself and continuing: “That was perceived as right.”
Michelle is practicing the art of saying no — which is fine if you’re turning down brunch with your least favorite cousin or a neighbor’s invitation to check out their latest multi-level marketing scheme.
Look, I’m sure Michelle Obama is refusing more invitations in a month than the rest of us will get in a lifetime.
But events that call on her to step back into her first lady pumps and show the nation that, sometimes, you have to rise above partisan divisions — those aren’t necessarily about enjoyment or filling your spirit.
They are about duty, a word that means less and less in our me-first culture.
It was lame when the Trumps didn’t attend Joe Biden’s Inauguration, and it was equally lame that Michelle, our former first lady, skipped out on Donald’s.
Missing Carter’s funeral was particularly disrespectful, considering the 39th president devoted his post-political life to service.
While living in the White House, Michelle was effective on many fronts. She was a great champion of American fashion designers. She led a worthy initiative pushing kids to not be lazy layabouts. Perhaps most endearing was her embrace of the multi-generational household, by having her mother, Marian Robinson, live with them and help raise her and Barack’s daughters.
The Obamas left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as cultural rockstars with money trees seeded by Netflix and Penguin Random House and speaking engagement deals. Her husband remained at the wheel of the Dem party (at least until the chaotic backing of Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid).
They were held up as the golden couple. Yet Michelle apparently can’t grasp the public interest in her personal life.
“My decision to skip the inauguration … my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me, were met with such ridicule and criticism,” she said on her podcast this week. “People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart, you know?”
Well, perhaps people reached that conclusion because the Obamas seem to be living separate lives — and every time Michelle publicly speaks about her husband, she sounds underwhelmed and resentful.
She’s regularly nitpicking things about him: his inability to be on time, or how she didn’t want him to run for president. How she had to stop him from playing basketball at the White House after he was injured: “You know, you’re playing like you’re 10 and now your lip is split,” she revealed on the podcast.
Honestly, she seems downright bitter about having obligations attached to his political career.
But that office is why she has her platform, her books and her podcast — which has all the excitement and entertainment of a sleep lab. And it’s why she has the public adoration; don’t forget, a Reuters poll last July found that Michelle, despite never expressing an interest in public office, was the only Democrat who had a chance of beating Trump at the ballot box.
But the more she speaks, the more she tarnishes her own legacy (and fuels that marriage gossip).
In this age of oversharing, it’s much cooler to keep some mystique.
