From Flotus to Potus: The rise of First Ladies

The European Union’s regulation on the sale of cabbages, it is claimed, has 26,911 words. There are fewer words in the Donald Trump locker-room banter video, shot a decade ago, that is now almost certainly going to cost the pompous billionaire the US Presidency. “Damn the media,” he will always rue. Ironically, the same media that propelled Trump to stardom and national prominence several decades ago is now the same media kicking him back to the gutter and off the ultimate prize. Yet he almost defeated them! Trump’s non-conformist campaign almost single handedly toppled the Washington status-quo in a manner so stunning that it will be talked about for many decades to come; that Trump almost tramped the American system. There is still a slight chance of a Trump victory, albeit a terrifying prospect, to many. British Poet Oscar Wilde was a ‘frenemy’ of the media. But he once remarked that, ‘in America the President reigns for four years, but Journalists govern forever and ever.’ He was correct. When Hillary Clinton wins the American Presidency next month, she will have the media to thank for her four years in the White house where she, for eight years, lived as the 1st Lady. Why would she have the media to thank for her victory? Kimberley .A. Strassel , a Wall Street Journal Columnist argued in an article this week that the press has ‘buried Hillary Clinton’s sins’ and chosen to unearth those of Trump, in an elaborate effort to have the former 1st Lady win the Presidency. Much as that is a fair argument, we can’t deny one fact that US democracy is at the dawn of a new discourse; a new era where it will become a normal global phenomenon for remarkable 1st Ladies to advance on to the Presidency and Mrs. Clinton is set to set precedence. Which is why I pity Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari for saying, the other day, that his 1st Lady ‘belongs to his kitchen and bedroom,’ not the Presidency. It is simply not true anymore. It is as well that Hillary is poised to win. That way, it will sanitize the practice, should it happen in smaller democracies around the world. That way, no one will call it ‘family rule.’ Hillary’s Presidency will be a reversal of roles. From being Flotus, she would assume the role of Potus, while her husband Bill becomes ‘1st Husband.’ Hillary Clinton’s historical mark shall undoubtedly give 1st Ladies around the world, a new image; people will start looking at them, wondering in silence how they could do as Presidents. Watch out for Africa, South Africa and Zimbabwe could present first scenarios. Also, the Hillary vs. Trump contest is ironically, the best match we could ever have gotten for a final showdown between man and woman; in Trump, we have a typical traditional representative of men, boisterous, patronizing of women and cocky. Mrs. Clinton on the other hand, is an embodiment of women’s physical inadequacies; the other day she fainted causing her campaign to lose a couple of days. But she’s been able to edge her swaggering opponent and now leads the national polls. Trump’s likely loss to a woman will be interesting and full of symbolism. For a man that admitted to groping women, it will be interesting to see how he reacts to Hillary groping him out of her way to the White House. He will probably continue meowing like a pussy-cat but history will have been written nonetheless. It doesn’t matter that Hillary Clinton will be a One-Term President. She will have set the precedence for 1st ladies not only in USA but also Africa. As America’s first Black President prepares to bow out, some are already toying with the idea of a Michelle Obama Presidency. Her story would not be ‘USA’s first female President.’ It would be ‘USA’s first Black female President.’ Many women look up to Obama’s 1st Lady, including Donald Trump’s wife Melania, who was caught in a hailstorm of claims of plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s speech on the occasion to unveil her husband as the nominee for the Republican Party. In her campaign, Hillary Clinton has also often been heard using Michelle Obama’s famous quote, ‘when they go low, we go high’ to counter Donald Trump’s fiery attacks on her record. A brainy woman, Michelle is also a great orator. Every time she has given a public speech, in the past, she has been asked whether she would ever consider running for office. But she has dismissed that notion, close to a dozen times between 2012 and 2016. In a September 2012 interview, Michelle said, “It takes a lot of patience to be the president of the United States. I’m not that patient.” I think that is not true. I think that being a 1st Lady of any country is naturally, like being Vice-President; the balancing force behind Presidents. In January 2016, President Obama also dismissed claims of a Michelle Obama Presidency. He said; “Let me tell you, there are three things that are certain in life; death, taxes and Michelle not running for president.” But with Hillary Clinton’s impending Presidency, this indeed, is the rise of First Ladies.

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From Flotus to Potus: The rise of First Ladies