Grandma-In-Chief

By GottaLaff

When Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, moves to Washington, she'll help redefine the notion of the 'all-American' family.

Great piece in The Daily Beast by Patricia J. Williams. Here are some excerpts:

Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s 71-year-old mother, is moving to Washington to help make the transition smoother for her grandchildren, Malia and Sasha.

Her plan to accompany the Obamas represents a kind of on-the-ground cultural reality: Among African Americans and certain other ethnic groups, extended families are more common than among middle-class white families. [...]

Marian Robinson is often described as the “linchpin” of the Obama family—and she’s largely responsible for the family’s ability to devote themselves to public service. [...]

The timing seems right for an iconic American family that depends on a granny rather than a nanny. In the last few years of exhaustion and economic downturn, there has been a shift away from thinking that floors will mop themselves or that moms can really effortlessly whip up 30-minute gourmet meals after a long day at the office. [...]

[W]e have the dizzying and hilarious spectacle of Sarah Palin trying to negotiate her last spate of interviews in the kitchen, juggling questions about energy policy, double standards, and handmade potholders. What calculated imagery of tight-rope walking: There she was in a jeweled necklace and black Oscar de la Renta suit, stirring stew and serving hot dogs, expressing her intention to “call Hillary tomorrow” to express her gratitude for cracking that glass ceiling.

That image is why I resist thinking of Michelle Obama as “mom-ified,” as some have called her. She’s doing one thing at a time. She works, she shops, she mothers, but she remains sane. She relies on her mother, her brother, her co-workers, her friends to make things work. Her husband has done the same. Their dependence on a close network of others is a fact. As a result, their life seems balanced: They’re consistently calm and collected; neither makes work look irrelevant or parenting look like a dead end; and their children shine with that reflected intelligence and their own good manners.

As our culture becomes more varied and diasporic—and as our economy continues its awful downward spiral—I suspect we will engineer new or hybrid models of both work and family. Like the Obamas, we will learn how to depend on one another in cycles of sharing and independence, foregrounding certain talents at one point, and others at another. The role of primary breadwinner may go back and forth between partners over the course of a career. In a globalized world, the education of children can no longer be considered an entirely domestic affair, or derogated as lesser, or “merely” women’s work. And ultimately, the American workplace—as soon to be modeled by the incoming occupants of the White House—cannot, must not, remain so enduringly hostile to the needs of family life.

Barack Obama has kept his promise. He has already brought noticeable change to this country, right up to, and through the doors of, the White House (and he hasn't even moved in yet). His family values are real, not manufactured, cynical attempts to bamboozle voters.

He continues to dazzle, with or without the speeches. Let's enjoy the honeymoon while it lasts.