What the new US first family stands for

Women notice different things than men about other women, and I'm sure that you've heard women's conversations that start up as soon as a female celebrity hits the screen: "Ooh, look. That does nothing for her; it makes her look so thin/fat/wide/short/cheap/junglish/trashy...". These are often the same women who want men to focus on them for what they are not just their bodies and clothes. But I'm not going far down that road today. I even had to close my ears to talk of whether the dress worn for the Inauguration was appropriate because it was lined with some insulating material, and flapped open to show this. Am I missing something? Well, we can all argue about the desgn by Isabel Toledo, and the ball gown worn later in the evening, that was designed by Jason Wu, I understand. But, whatever happened to lauding the lady's double Ivy League school background; her work as a high powered attorney; staying firmly the mother of children of a high-ranking political figure, now historic icon; and now stepping out as America's first black first lady? All over for you, Michelle, as the focus is not really on you but on things like the Jimmy Choo shoes.

Women also notice different things than men about other men. "Obama walks differently to Bush", I noted to my wife, imagining the gait that the new president has, which is a softened version of the familiar strut of many black men. "Yes," she agreed, "He's more upright." I giggled as I thought that my wife was already focused on the new president's erection. It's not true, though, from what I have seen. Perhaps she is seeing in the new president a sort of Darwinian aspect, of the gradual maturation from simian roots to being more upright in stance and stride; in that sense it could be a subtle cheer that President Obama is more developed than his predecessor. The pictures that I have seen of the two presidents standing or walking side-by-side seem to show to me clearly that the 44th incumbent is longer than the 43rd for sure, but he is more rounded and bent over at the top when he walks, and he too has a shoulder slup, that I would say is more pronounced than W's. You can check for yourself. But, our man is perceived by at least one woman to stand up like a stiff stick not a piece of wilting celery. Perceptions are funny things, eh.