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Michelle Obama: Nancy Reagan’s Death Used As Excuse To Bash Current First Lady

By Steph Bazzle
Published on: 08:44 PST, Mar 6, 2016

Comparisons between Michelle Obama and Nancy Reagan have come up throughout the Obama presidency, with conservatives maintaining that the current FLOTUS doesn’t have the class, style, and quality that Ms. Reagan was known for. Memes have circulated comparing the two — often comparing an image of the former First Lady dressed for a formal event to an image of the current First Lady dressed far more casually. Or, as in the image below, the memes compare a less-flattering shot of Mrs. Obama to more posed shots of former First Ladies.

Michelle Obama, Nancy Reagan, class
[Image via Right Wing Art]
With Nancy Reagan’s passing this morning, at age 94, reportedly due to congenital heart failure, the rhetoric has renewed, on full blast across social media. Twitter is flooded with posts from those who would use the passing of a beloved American figure as an opportunity to bash the wife and family of the current President of the United States. In many cases, social media users are throwing Hillary Clinton in for good measure.

Many people responded to news and blog tweets to offer their opinions on the relative levels of class between Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Reagan.

In some cases, the rhetoric was promoted by media personalities and bloggers themselves.

Debbie Schlussel, the author, attorney, and political commentator behind the tweet above, elaborated on her own website, where she referred to the current FLOTUS as “Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Hussein Obama Idi Amin Dada,” and described a few of her complaints. These include Mrs. Obama apparently starving school children, redecorating the White House without being criticized, as well as wearing ugly dresses and shoes.

Some posters went beyond comparing to simply declare that the current FLOTUS has no class.

Others complained that the Obamas failed to acknowledge Reagan’s passing, though by early afternoon, the White House had posted an official statement from the couple, and honored her on social media.

Comparing Michelle Obama and Nancy Reagan, for the purposes of an insult, is inappropriate.
[Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images]
As far as class, one has to wonder how the late Mrs. Reagan would feel about being used as a comparison tool to put down another woman. A clue to that might be found in her relationship with Mrs. Obama in life. According to the New York Post, when the current First Lady contacted her for advice, Nancy was free with it, and was nothing but complimentary about President Obama winning the election.

“[Obama] ran the best campaign I have ever known — disciplined, well organized, very, very good. I was very impressed.”

Further, we can look at her own words on feminism. The L.A. Times reports on one of her most famous quotes, speaking to McCall’s magazine in 1985. Responding to critics who suggested she wasn’t a very good feminist, because she chose to live in her husband’s shadow. Nancy Reagan responded to that with the following words.

“Feminism is the ability to choose what you want to do.”

It seems unlikely that a classy feminist who believed in a woman’s right to make her own choices would be pleased to know her legacy was being used to insult other women. Would Nancy Reagan want to be reduced to a yardstick for measuring Michelle Obama’s class and style? Probably not — and to do so is to dishonor both women.

[Photo courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidental Library/Getty Images]

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