Michelle Obama and Ann Romney have been wooing the American public, particularly American women, visions of their respective husbands straight out of the 1950s. These are men, their wives are saying, who are tough in the world and soft at home. Loving and fearless providers and protectors. If the media and public response is any indication, we’re lapping it up. Why are we so sucked in? What makes us so vulnerable at the moment to the vision they’re both painting of the good man?
I have to admit that I fell in love with Michelle Obama a long time ago. I couldn’t help it. That big sexy brain, deep articulate sincerity and the best arms of any first lady ever. I was a goner from the start. Ann Romney, not so much. When Ann asked the Republican convention “Do we send our kids out into the world saying ‘Just try to do ok’?”, the crowd roared “No!” and I thought quietly that I’m sure I’ve sent my kid out the door with those exact same words. Obviously I’ve set the bar too low to be a Republican.
Watch the first lady speeches if you haven’t yet. They’re fascinating. And as much noise as we’ve made about them being different (Michelle’s is better — no contest, Twitter says so) both women are doing something very similar. Both women are talking about their husbands the way so-called upstanding men used to talk about their wives. What the first ladies are showing us is that women have become the new good men.
With women still doing substantially more work than men both at traditional workplaces and in the home it’s no surprise that in the speech battle of the first ladies a great deal of time is spent filling the void many heterosexual women feel in the space where the idea of a good man used to be. It’s as if many women have missed that they have now become the fathers they always longed for.
zoekrupka.com 
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