‘Mom-in-chief’ brings empathy to the US Democrat Convention
In America in this election year every day is Mother’s Day. Oh to be a mother, especially one living in a swing state like North Carolina, Florida or Ohio.
You will be showered with verbal bouquets extolling your sacrifice, your wholesome goodness, you ability to share, love, cook and work like a donkey. Sometimes you may feel you are in a timewarp and it’s the fifties. There is little talk of you in the job market, in the shark pool of male dominated ambition. This is more about you as a mom at home.
One reason for all this adulation is that women of maternal age vote in larger numbers than any other demographic. That’s why we used to have “soccer mums” and “security mums”. But those labels were deemed too narrow. Mothers who hated soccer and only sent their kids to little league baseball felt excluded.
So this time round it’s mums in general. The other reason is that, well, almost everyone loves their mother, don’t they?
In Tampa at the Republican Convention the word “mom” or is it “mum” (never ever “mother”) was mentioned 354 times in speeches. I counted them.
The GOP momfest reached its apogee with the candidate’s wife: Ann Romney, mother of five boys. That alone should get a medal.
She talked about life on the maternal coalface – breaking up fights between the boys, doing homework, cooking and keeping the household ship shape while Mitt was off fixing companies, Olympic Games or running for office.
Not to be outdone the Democrats deployed their own weapon of maternal affection last night, the woman who described herself as the mom-in-chief. Michelle Obama strode onto the stage last night after a very momsy introduction from a military mom whose four boys are serving in four branches of the military.
Michelle towered above the previous speaker like an avatar of elegant motherhood. In her sleeveless dress she proved once again why this country cherishes the right to bare arms.
She spoke with the steely passion of a lioness defending her brood or, more importantly, her husband from Fox News. And through the prism of her self-appointed role as mom-in-chief she told the audience about the man who can at times seem aloof, arrogant and detached from the ordinary folks who put him in office.
The mom-in-chief extolled the virtues of the dad-in-chief, who works from home all the hours that day and night give him. He is there at meal times chatting to the girls. He helps with the homework. He and she care even more about the kids than they care about the country, she told us. I should hope so.
The crowd inhaled and then burst into tears.
After all the trench-warfare of the campaign and all the pain of the economy Michelle offered them a cathartic moment. This is the same Michelle who four years ago was labelled as unpatriotic and shrill by some. Since then the First Lady has laboured hard on her homely image tending the vegetable garden in the White House (can’t imagine Jackie Kennedy or Nancy Reagan doing that), championing safe issues like the fight against obesity and racking up some stellar popularity numbers.
At one stage last night it felt as if the crowd would declare FLOTUS POTUS by popular acclamation. Michelle was so good at channeling the human side of her husband that I wondered if Barrack Obama could match the bar set by his own wife.
“Ann Romney’s speech was good. Michelle Obama was electric” and that’s according to a Republican friend of mine. The mom-in-chief felt the pain of the nation. Now her husband has to prove that he can make the pain go away in the next four years.
Follow @mattfrei on Twitter.