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| A model first lady, despite receiving unprecedented scorn | A model first lady, despite receiving unprecedented scorn |
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| I recently attended a White House event that featured the cast of the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” But it was the host for the occasion who was most impressive: first lady Michelle Obama, still standing tall, chin up, despite nearly eight years of enduring the kind of crudities that the wives of some of the current presidential candidates are starting to get a taste of. | I recently attended a White House event that featured the cast of the Broadway hit “Hamilton.” But it was the host for the occasion who was most impressive: first lady Michelle Obama, still standing tall, chin up, despite nearly eight years of enduring the kind of crudities that the wives of some of the current presidential candidates are starting to get a taste of. |
| Personal insults in politics are certainly nothing new, and even first ladies have long been regarded as fair game. But racial contempt for the Obamas and the development of so many new ways to express it resulted in an unprecedented barrage of ugliness toward her. | Personal insults in politics are certainly nothing new, and even first ladies have long been regarded as fair game. But racial contempt for the Obamas and the development of so many new ways to express it resulted in an unprecedented barrage of ugliness toward her. |
| In a speech to graduates at Tuskegee University in Alabama last year, she recalled having “a lot of sleepless nights . . . fearing how my girls would feel if they found out what some people were saying about their mom.” | In a speech to graduates at Tuskegee University in Alabama last year, she recalled having “a lot of sleepless nights . . . fearing how my girls would feel if they found out what some people were saying about their mom.” |
| But it’s not just uncivil discourse that poisons the political environment. | But it’s not just uncivil discourse that poisons the political environment. |
| In 2013, a monument in Georgia to her great-great-great-grandmother — who was born into slavery — was vandalized. | |
| In September 2014, a gunman fired seven shots into the White House and shattered a window just a few steps from the first family’s formal living room. The president, first lady and one of their daughters were away. But their other daughter and Michelle Obama’s mother were there. | In September 2014, a gunman fired seven shots into the White House and shattered a window just a few steps from the first family’s formal living room. The president, first lady and one of their daughters were away. But their other daughter and Michelle Obama’s mother were there. |
| Fortunately, no one was injured. | Fortunately, no one was injured. |
| It’s juvenile for Donald Trump to tweet an unflattering photo of rival Ted Cruz’s wife and in poor taste for an anti-Trump super PAC to post a nude photo of Trump’s wife. But that’s nothing compared to the hateful caricaturing, disrespectful comments and threats that have been aimed at Michelle Obama. | It’s juvenile for Donald Trump to tweet an unflattering photo of rival Ted Cruz’s wife and in poor taste for an anti-Trump super PAC to post a nude photo of Trump’s wife. But that’s nothing compared to the hateful caricaturing, disrespectful comments and threats that have been aimed at Michelle Obama. |
| As the first African American first lady, Obama was expected to be flawless — meaning fashionable, sophisticated, smart and worldly, and never too loud, too angry or too black. | As the first African American first lady, Obama was expected to be flawless — meaning fashionable, sophisticated, smart and worldly, and never too loud, too angry or too black. |
| “Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to keep my sanity and not let others define me, there was only one thing I could do, and that was to have faith in God’s plan for me,” she told the Tuskegee graduates. “I had to ignore all of the noise and be true to myself — and the rest would work itself out.” | “Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to keep my sanity and not let others define me, there was only one thing I could do, and that was to have faith in God’s plan for me,” she told the Tuskegee graduates. “I had to ignore all of the noise and be true to myself — and the rest would work itself out.” |
| Health and nutrition, and caring for veterans are two of her causes that tend to get the most attention. But it was her passion for art and culture that brought the cast of “Hamilton” to the White House on March 14. In the audience were students from Laurel High School in Prince George’s County, Md., Osbourn High School in Manassas, Va., and Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Va. | Health and nutrition, and caring for veterans are two of her causes that tend to get the most attention. But it was her passion for art and culture that brought the cast of “Hamilton” to the White House on March 14. In the audience were students from Laurel High School in Prince George’s County, Md., Osbourn High School in Manassas, Va., and Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Va. |
| “We host a lot of special events here,” Obama told them. “We do a lot of really cool things. But this, for me personally, is the coolest.” | |
| Her affinity for artists, writers and entertainers is not without its critics. In a new book, “Listen, Liberal,” political analyst Thomas Frank argues that Democratic Party elites, such as the Clintons and the Obamas, have abandoned the working class in favor of a more affluent, “creative class” of professionals. | Her affinity for artists, writers and entertainers is not without its critics. In a new book, “Listen, Liberal,” political analyst Thomas Frank argues that Democratic Party elites, such as the Clintons and the Obamas, have abandoned the working class in favor of a more affluent, “creative class” of professionals. |
| But there was nothing elitist in Michelle Obama’s comments about art to the students. | But there was nothing elitist in Michelle Obama’s comments about art to the students. |
| “We also wanted to highlight all different kinds of American art — on all the art forms: painting, music, culture — especially art forms that had never been seen in these walls,” she said. “So what did we start with? We started with spoken word, because no one had ever held a poetry slam in the White House, that’s for sure.” | “We also wanted to highlight all different kinds of American art — on all the art forms: painting, music, culture — especially art forms that had never been seen in these walls,” she said. “So what did we start with? We started with spoken word, because no one had ever held a poetry slam in the White House, that’s for sure.” |
| They brought in a youngster from New York, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who performed the opening song from a musical he was working on about Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first secretary of the treasury. Seven years later, “Hamilton” is the hottest ticket on Broadway. A high school history curriculum has developed around the themes in the play. | |
| “I remember I was telling Lin-Manuel that he’s got to do this for, like, the Middle East, and all the other issues,” Obama said. “You’ve got to talk about slavery. You’ve got to cover it all.” | |
| So much for her critics. | So much for her critics. |
| “Are you all excited?” she asked the students. When they roared “Yes!” the first lady did a charming imitation of a teen girl shimmy to show that she was, too. | “Are you all excited?” she asked the students. When they roared “Yes!” the first lady did a charming imitation of a teen girl shimmy to show that she was, too. |
| May the next first lady — or first man — hold up as well as Michelle Obama. | May the next first lady — or first man — hold up as well as Michelle Obama. |
| To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. | To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. |