As the 100-day mark for the Obama administration approaches, many in the media are taking some time out to assess all that’s happened and all that’s been accomplished. I know the history of the “100 days”, but it seems like these retrospectives are cheesy and great examples of bad journalism. Still, there’s an interesting piece in the New York Times about Michelle Obama’s “100 days”, and some of it is intriguing.

It seems Michelle Obama feels very strongly about controlling her public image. Shocking for the First Lady of the United States, right? For her magazine covers, she doesn’t want to work with the various magazines’ professional stylists, dressers and make-up artists, preferring to work with her own team. Michelle also prefers to wear her own clothes for magazine covers, eschewing haute couture for off-the-rack clothes and her favorite up-and-coming designers.

Michelle Obama has also emerged as one of the least controversial First Ladies thus far, and one of the most popular women in America, with approval ratings higher than her husband. This, after being mocked and stereotyped for a year as an “angry black woman”. Perhaps that’s where this image-consciousness came from?

Vogue magazine, the fashion world’s chronicler of first ladies, bedecked Hillary Rodham Clinton in black velvet and Laura Bush in blue silk. But not Michelle Obama. She insisted on choosing her own dress (a sleeveless, magenta silk number) and using her own hair and makeup stylists for the glossy photograph splashed across Vogue’s March cover.

This was nothing new for Mrs. Obama, who has pointedly controlled her look on the covers of People, Essence, More and O, Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. Editors at Essence, who suggested colors, styles and accessories, said her staff did not call to acknowledge their overtures. Editors at More said they were dumbfounded when, after painstaking negotiations, Mrs. Obama showed up at the photo shoot with a different dress from the one she had promised to wear. (She ultimately agreed to go back to her first choice, a pink Maria Pinto sheath.)

“We were like, ‘Excuse me, we tell you what to wear,’ ” said Lesley Jane Seymour, the editor-in-chief of More, who said Mrs. Obama refused to wear anything other than her own clothes for their October cover. “She wanted none of that. She was creating the cover. She was creating the image. There’s definitely a will of steel there.”

Indeed, the new first lady is methodically shaping her public image, and in ways that extend far beyond fashion.

She has given coveted interviews primarily to women’s magazines and news outlets that have allowed her to highlight her domestic side: her focus on motherhood and her efforts to settle her family in the White House; her interest in gardening and healthy living; her affinity for mixing off-the-rack and designer goods; and her efforts to open up the White House to ordinary Americans.

By focusing on her domestic persona and harnessing the fascination with her family, the first lady and her communications team have emerged as the key architects of one of the most remarkable political transformations in years. Only 10 months ago, Mrs. Obama was described as an angry black woman by some conservatives and as a liability to her husband. Now, she is widely admired for her warmth, and her vibrant and accessible manner, and her race seems almost an afterthought to many Americans. She has the highest favorability ratings of any incoming first lady since 1980, and is even more popular than the president.

[From The New York Times]

Of course, once everyone starts talking about how you’re not that controversial, that becomes the controversy. Some critics think that a First Lady who is a Harvard-educated lawyer should be doing a bit more than playing dress up on magazine covers. However, the NY Times points out that Michelle and her staff are immersed in several different policy discussions. It’s just that Michelle and her team handpicked some of the least controversial policies – stuff like AmeriCorps, supporting military families and healthy eating.

The image that Mrs. Obama is projecting, however, fails to fully reflect the multifaceted first lady. A Harvard-trained lawyer and former hospital vice president, she is also a tough-minded professional who cares deeply about influencing public policy and sometimes promotes legislation at her events. Her top aides, for example, are often immersed in policy discussions in the West Wing that are not publicized by the White House.

Some people who know Mrs. Obama lament that this side of her is so rarely on public display. Some blame the news media for being more interested in her exercise routines than in her thinking on big issues. Others believe that her aides are placating those voters who prefer more traditional first ladies.

“We’re not getting all of Michelle Obama, and that’s a shame,” said Connie Schultz, a journalist and author whose husband, Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat, is friendly with the president.

“It’s the softer, domestic side that we’re seeing, which appeals to a lot of people,” Ms. Schultz said. “But a lot of us are cheering her on and hoping we’re going to hear more from that public policy side of Michelle Obama. Maybe it’s the old-fashioned feminist in me. I want to keep celebrating that brain.”

Mrs. Obama has declined to sit for wide-ranging interviews with several newspapers, including this one, preferring to focus on particular themes. (She gave The New York Times an exclusive interview about the White House vegetable garden, for instance.) Some political analysts believe Mrs. Obama hopes that her surging popularity will ultimately allow her greater latitude to operate more openly in policy realms that she cares about.

“She’s building up enormous goodwill,” said Paul Costello, who served as an adviser to the former first lady Rosalynn Carter. With such strong support, Mr. Costello said, she might ultimately feel confident enough to “push the envelope.”

For now, Mrs. Obama seems perfectly comfortable with her public persona.

[From The New York Times]

I can see both sides of this – I’d really like Michelle Obama to get more publicly involved in more difficult policies and issues, but I totally understand the media campaign she and her team are engaged in. Michelle’s critics had a field day with many of her poorly-worded statements or outright gaffes during the primaries and general campaign. The stereotype that some in the media created of an angry, hen-pecking, strident, ball-busting woman was both sexist and racist, in my mind. I, too, think the image turn-around is quite extraordinary. Her high approval ratings won’t continue if she’s seen as sticking her nose into a policy discussion, or taking on some difficult issue-driven crusade.

Here are the Obamas at the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn on April 13th. Images thanks to WENN.com .