Michelle Obama, Like So Many Others

“I am always a little amazed at the response that people get when they hear from Barack,” she told the crowd at the Beverly Hilton, as her husband stood by looking like a puppy being scolded, reported Hud Morgan of Men’s Vogue. “A great man, a wonderful man. But still a man. …

“And then there’s the Barack Obama that lives with me in my house, and that guy’s a little less impressive. For some reason this guy still can’t manage to put the butter up when he makes toast, secure the bread so that it doesn’t get stale, and his 5-year-old is still better at making the bed than he is.”

She said that the TV version of Barack Obama sounded really interesting and that she’d like to meet him sometime.

Many people I talked to afterward found Michelle wondrous. But others worried that her chiding was emasculating, casting her husband — under fire for lacking experience — as an undisciplined child.

The State of . . . . Black Women. Michelle’s actions are something I’ve (rich) noticed among some of my friends and their husbands, boyfriends, or their male friends. The scenario doesn’t play out in front of a crowd of people like the Obama’s above, but the effect I think is emasculating for many of these men. It goes like this: Male friend talks about some job success or personal accomplishment. The female friend something like, “I hope you didn’t wear that ugly tie when you did it.” Or, for the people on this blog, “Were you wearing those fancy flat-front pants when you did it?” Neither has nothing to do with the accomplishment. However, looking at the flip side, if a guy does it, it looks like two guys joking around. Why is it that when women do it, it appears so damaging to the male ego? Do men do a similar thing to their female friends or partners? And importantly, should Michele cool off the jokes?