Michelle Obama Remixes The First Lady Game

According to a report in today’s Washington Post, Michelle Obama is making power moves inside the White House in efforts to increase the impact level of her role to something that means more to her, and her personal brand as the First Lady.

She is a woman of substance, with a background in law, public policy and management, who found herself relegated to role model in chief. The West Wing of the White House — the fulcrum of power and policy — had not fully integrated her into its agenda. She wanted more.

So, earlier this month, she changed her chief of staff, and now she’s changing her role.

Her new chief of staff, Susan Sher, 61, is a close friend and former boss who the first lady thinks will be more forceful about getting her and her team on the West Wing’s radar screen. The first thing Sher said she told senior adviser David Axelrod, whom she has known for years: When I call, “you need to get back to me right away.”

Let the rebranding of Michelle Obama begin. What we have seen thus far is merely, to quote the article, “a soft launch”, and now it’s time for phase 2. I love it. Because really? I don’t see her giving a damm about china patterns.

A First Lady Who Demands Substance