By Sara Ward
Associate Editor
As the excitement from Inauguration Day dies down, it’s amazing what kind of stories have emerged as a result.
Among the expected headlines such as “Obama’s Address Filled With Inspirational Quotes” according to a Jan. 21 Huffington Post article or “President Addresses Thousands During Celebration” according to another Jan. 21 Huffington Post article, one surprising story stood out from the rest: “Michelle Obama’s eye roll: Was she throwing shade?”
First Lady Michelle Obama found herself listening to a conversation between her husband and Speaker of the House John Boehner as she ate her meal at the inauguration lunch, according to a Jan. 22 MSNBC article. The president leaned back to say something to Boehner and then Boehner tapped the first lady on the shoulder as he responded. Whatever the response was, the First Lady appeared to roll her eyes.
I understand why the First Lady’s apparent rude gesture may spark some interest because Boehner and President Obama haven’t been agreeing on all things political lately, but this should not be a major news story.
As the same article suggests, the reaction could just as easily have been a wife scoffing at whatever silly conversation her husband was having. We have no way of knowing what Michelle Obama was thinking in the moment, so why should media organizations assume she was annoyed about whatever Boehner said?
There are so many possible explanations for Michelle Obama’s eye roll. In fact, since there wasn’t any audio from the exchange, according to a Jan. 22 CNN article, we don’t even know if she was even reacting to Boehner in the first place. She could have been lightheartedly rolling her eyes at her husband. Both Boehner and the President appear happy in the video clip, so it’s hard to tell whether her eye roll was even serious.
It seems silly how popular news organizations like Huffington Post, CNN and MSNBC would choose to cover a story that resulted from a 20-second video clip. What’s worse is that so many of them jumped to the conclusion the First Lady was being rude. Unless a reporter was at the table with the Obamas, which seems unlikely, I don’t think it’s fair to judge a split-second reaction she had.
There are so many other stories from Inauguration Day that should have been higher in the list of importance. For instance, the public’s focus could have been on President Obama’s call for “collective action” to confront the challenges of the domestic economy and global affairs in his second inaugural address, which USA Today reported on in a Jan. 21 article. It seems to me that Obama’s plans for the economy and world affairs would be more important than his wife’s eye roll.
While it’s true that many of the major news organizations in our country reported on the important facts of Inauguration Day, both the First Lady’s eye roll and Beyonce’s suspected lip syncing became some of the most notable events of the day.
Everyone loves a little drama, especially when it comes to politics, but the main point of Inauguration Day that President Obama was being brought back for another four years of presidency. The actions of his wife shouldn’t overshadow that.
