Michelle Obama: More than 'Mom-in-Chief'?

As the inauguration of Barack Obama approaches, the mainstream media are positively swooning.

From AFP:

Elegant, passionate, a strong career woman and a devoted mom, Michelle Obama has already become a role model with an army of fans as she prepares to become the nation's first lady.

...And while she has insisted that her main job will be "mom-in-chief" to her two daughters, Malia, 10 and Sasha, seven, her role may well evolve in the months ahead as the first family settles into the White House.

Officially Michelle Obama has said she has no political ambitions of her own, and indeed only this week resigned from her high-powered job as vice-president at the University of Chicago medical center, where she worked for seven years.

"Even as first lady, my number one job would still be mom," she told reporters just before the November 4 elections.

"My first priority will always be to ensure that our daughters stay grounded and healthy, with normal childhoods -- including homework, chores, dance and soccer."

Unpaid and with no official duties, the president's wife can exert enormous influence, since she has both the ear of the US leader and a powerful lobbying group all her own.

Even before moving into the White House, Michelle Obama has shown that she is eager to continue her husband's tradition of community work, encouraging others to help those around them through volunteer projects.

"Michelle looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart -- supporting military families, helping working women balance work and family, and encouraging national service," the transition team's website says.

And she has become a national fashion-setter, with models of her dresses snapped up by eager shoppers.

But in the long-term, the Princeton and Harvard-educated lawyer from a humble Chicago background could set her sights higher.

I don't buy this "mom-in-chief" stuff and that she has no political ambitions.

Michelle Obama is at least as ambitious and hands-on and out-spoken as Hillary Clinton was when she became the nation's first lady.

Was Hillary called "elegant, passionate, a strong career woman and a devoted mom"? Did she get that sort of adoration? I don't remember.

...E. Faye Williams, the chair of the National Organization of Black Women, enthused: "Michelle is going to make a great first lady.

"She's an accomplished woman, she's focused, she worked all her life and she's a great mother. Anything she decides to do, she'll succeed."

Whether Obama follows in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton by seeking to carve out a political career herself remains to be seen.

"It's possible. Once she gets it in her blood. She can pick up from the successes he had," said Williams, adding Michelle Obama was already breaking down all stereotypes.

"She's going to make us feel good about who we are," she added.

Which stereotypes have already been broken down by Michelle Obama?

And what is she going to do to make us feel good about who we are?

All these abstractions, nothing concrete.

It's all fantasy at this point, and it's out of control.

If Barack Obama is Abraham Lincoln, does that mean Michelle is Mary Todd Lincoln?