theatlantic:

When Michelle Obama Talks, Do Women Listen?

First Lady Michelle Obama can charm talk-show hosts, deliver winning anecdotes about her husband’s socks, and bake a mean cookie. The mom-in-chief, as she calls herself, has broad appeal, but she’s particularly good at firing up the Democratic base. And as the candidates fight over female voters, Michelle Obama’s popularity could be pivotal.

[…]Romney’s wife, Ann, is also well-liked, capable of giving a strong speech and delivering personal anecdotes that soften her husband’s image. Ann Romney has also been an important conduit to female voters: her speech at the Republican convention, which included an ode to women and the burdens they bear, is a case in point.

But while Ann Romney tends to talk more generally about her husband’s kindness and leadership, Michelle Obama has made the case that the president deeply understands what women’s lives are like.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

Written by my cubicle neighbor and actual neighbor, Sophie Quinton. -BdM

“When Michelle Obama spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, she was warily viewed as a woman proud of her country “for the first time” and caricatured by The New Yorker as an Afroed and armed rebel soldier.

Four years later, she’s now better known as the fashionista first lady who tells us to eat our vegetables.

While President Obama was steadily losing favor over the last four years, his wife was undergoing a successful public makeover. In keeping with tradition, the first lady has mostly steered clear of politics to focus on feel-good projects such as outreach to military families, organic gardening, and efforts to fight childhood obesity. Voters have seen her competing against talk-show hosts Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon in friendly push-up contests and gracing a coffee-table book holding a basket overflowing with fresh produce.

But although Michelle Obama’s public image has changed, the goal of her convention speech on Tuesday isn’t much different than it was four years ago. Like Ann Romney did for her husband last week in Tampa, a spouse’s job is to bring out the candidate’s softer side. Nobody knows a husband better than his wife.”

For Michelle Obama, a New Image but an Old Role

PHOTO CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP

Have you bought your mom a card yet? Sunday is Mother’s Day. In honor of the holiday, we present Washington’s political moms [photos]. 

PHOTO OF THE DAY: First Lady Michelle Obama answers questions from children of White House and Executive Office employees in the East Room of the White House on Thursday, during the White House’s annual Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)