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July 2008 Issue
Political Accessories…
Jackieesque Obama or the Nancyish McCain?
By: Amal Marjani Bennett-Judge
Between their dislikes of dirty politics
and not wanting their husbands to initially run for president, Michelle
Obama, Democratic
wife of presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, and Cindy McCain,
Republican wife of presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, continue
to grace their
husband’s campaigns with elegance and glamour as they both support
their spouses as political accessories to the race to the White
House.
Their approaches to fashion and their backgrounds are as different
as night and day.
According to Glamour Magazine executive fashion editor, Yalof
Schwarz, Obama continues to modernize the sixties look. One sees
this at her husband’s victory nomination rally. She wore a Jackie
Kennedy inspired hair flip, big pearls, with minimalist makeup, and
violet '60s shift dress modernized with a black leather belt. With
that, Schwarz adds that even though Michelle may be nearly six feet, "she
has the perfect frame for a shift dress" that was designed by
local Chicago designer Maria Pinto, Obama's favorite designer.
 Jackie
Kennedy in India, 1962.
Cindy McCain, on the other hand, favors high-end designers like
Escada and Carolina Herrera. One sees this in her posing in this
months’ Vogue
in her size zero of Lucky Jeans and Michael Kors’ sweater, with
her heavy eyeliner and red lipstick, and loose hair waves.
As with their fashion, Obama and McCain disposition are also
different too.
 Michelle Obama on the cover of a February issue of Newsweek
Obama,
44, a Princeton undergrad and an alum of Harvard Law, came from
humble beginnings on the South Side of Chicago. She has taken
a more active
role in her husband’s campaign. On t he campaign trail, she is
an accomplished speaker that often reminds voters that she too
is just a middleclass mom that until recently had to balance
between college
loans, mortgage payments, a job, and two young girls.
However, even with Obama's ‘I am an average American approach,’ many
political pundits criticized her on her sarcastic comments about how
she thinks her husband snores really loud, leaves socks on the floor,
and how Barack has really bad breath in the morning. Many pundits say
that her bantering statements are demeaning to her husband’s
campaign.
Cindy McCain
Cindy McCain, 53, a former rodeo queen and cheerleader with
a master degree from University of Southern California and an heiress
to one of the biggest brewing giants, Hensley & Co, is noted for
taking a less active role in her husband's campaign. Nevertheless,
when she is by her husband’s side, observers notice that McCain
continues to perfect that Nancy Reagan ‘stare at your man’ look.
Classy
Nancy Reagan with a classic gaze (Reagan Library)
McCain too has drawn a lot of criticism. For instance, she refused
to release her tax returns and many critics complain that she
lacks the transparency that contradicts her husband’s whole message
of openness of the government.
As the mud slinging continues in the race to determine who goes
to the White House and who goes to the doghouse, these women continue
to serve as the emotional rock to their hopeful spouses.
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