And the mother-daughter dynamics
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I have sworn off writing about the arrogant, ugly and unstylish sense of fashion Michelle Obama insists on displaying periodically (does the woman have no shame?). My most recent post on her clothing was on how she was using her daughter Malia to advance hers and her husband's leftist views.
I am here to point out another disrespectful (to Americans and to the rest of the world) behavior, again concerning her daughter.
Family snap shots show playful and informal poses, usually to elicit happy memories for later years. But, once in a photography studio, formal is the rule. In fact most photographers have a series of shots they propose for these sittings, which are anything but casual.
At the top is the latest official photo of the Obama family taken by Anne Leibovitz. It has an odd informal style to it and Malia's pose almost looks playful, but I think there's more to it than that.
Part of the problem is the photographer, who manages to get sixteen-year-old stars to pose like 35-year-old sluts. But, there is a strange dynamic between mother and daughter, which we should have been spared had this been an ordinary woman (i.e., we wouldn't have these photos to look at).
Why does Michelle allow her daughter to wrap herself around her like that? What kind of daughter anyway (except for these self-conscious "low-self-esteem" types, who are always looking for attention) behaves like that? I think that is where the problem lies. I think Michelle must be a distant, and not very affectionate mother, for all the talk she does about her daughters. And I think that Malia has to seek that affection.
Could it be that Michelle is jealous of her own daughter? Malia is clearly a smart and pretty girl (smarter and prettier than her mother, it seems to me) and possibley outshines her mother. I've already written about Michelle's self-conscious reaction to an attractive Latina pop star dancing with her husband, where she was clearly jealous - to use a direct description.
Below is another photo of Michelle Obama with her arm wrapped around Malia's neck (they're walking on the White House lawn), as though she's doing a stranglehold on her. It is an insidiously aggressive clasp, and Malia seems to be laughing to make a joke of it - maybe she's in pain, or mildy irritated by it. But, it doesn't look like a "fun" pose.
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I can't find the other example I was looking for, but it shows Michelle standing with a stunned look on her face, and Malia walking off, as though she'd just made a riposte. It didn't look good.
This family put itself (forced itself) onto our screens, and not only that, it keeps on insisting that we see its weirdness as well. In any case, other than feeling sorry for Malia, all I can say is that we have a strange one in the White House.
