The selling of Michelle Obama
NOT content with more than 10 million books sold, a Netflix deal in the high eight figures, a joint publishing advance with husband Barack worth $65 million, a highly profitable world tour, speaking fees that by now surely average around $500,000 per, and a recently acquired waterfront Martha’s Vineyard mansion purchased for $15 million, Michelle Obama is back with another craven money grab.
“Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” is her new publishing venture.
Billed as a sequel of sorts to her best-selling memoir, this squat, slim volume, priced at $19.99, is Michelle “now provid[ing] you with the encouragement to find value in your own personal journey,” the publisher says.
“Printed on cream writing paper, with a grosgrain ribbon, foilstamped cover, and removable half-jacket, ‘Becoming’ . . . includes thought-provoking prompts designed to help you reflect on your personal and family history: your goals, challenges and dreams; what moves you and brings you hope; and what future you imagine for yourself and your community.”
Some of these thought-provoking prompts:
“Do you have any favorite quotes? Capture them here.”
“Describe a memorable dinner. What did you eat? Did you eat at home or somewhere else?”
“Look outside a window in your home. Write down what you see.”
“List ten fun things you like to do.”
“List ten favorite vegetables and how you like to prepare them.”
“Who or what are you grateful for?”
“Create a playlist of ten songs that you could listen to on repeat.”
“List ten things you noticed on your way home today that no one else may have noticed.” “List your ten favorite movies.” “List ten outings you’ve been on with your family.”
That’s a lot of Top 10 lists. Seriously: Any fourth-grade class in a halfway-decent school is presented with more complicated essay questions.
It’s not hard to see how Michelle Obama, who this year passed Angelina Jolie as the world’s most-admired woman, has come to engage in such a cynical, soulless commodification of her time in the White House, one that, quite frankly, verges on an epic troll.
Last year, I attended the kick-off event for Obama’s multicity book tour in Chicago, and came away fairly horrified. It was hosted by
Oprah Winfrey and held in the 20,000-seat United Center, where only a small number of tickets were priced at $29.50; the average went from $500 all the way to $3,000. As eulogistic videos of Michelle were screened for a full hour — set to no shortage of female-empowerment anthems — attendees roamed the paraphernalia-stuffed halls.
Available for sale: a ‘Becoming” hoodie for $65, baseball cap for $35 and tote for $30; a “Find Your
Voice” mug, $20; a “Find Your Flame and Keep it Lit” candle, $35; a keychain, $15 (!); pencils and a bookmark, $10; and, proving that there’s no claim to partisan supremacy that can’t be commodified, a “When They Go Low, We Go High” T-shirt for $35.
What the Obamas are doing may seem harmless, but it comes at a cost. Not since the Clintons has a former First Couple engaged in such unapologetic, avaricious money-grubbing. And we all know what’s that done to their legacy. It’s a significant factor in Hillary losing the White House, but she’s still out there, too, grifting for fun and profit.
“I do think, at a certain point, you’ve made enough money,” Barack Obama told Wall Street in 2010. Seven years on, he made a reported $1.2 million giving just three speeches to, yes, Wall Street.
Hypocrisy, greed, a lack of selfawareness, an obstinate belief that they willll forever be loved by the party elite and the working i folks who put them in the White House, a postpresidential turn not toward philanthropy but celebrity: If anything, one would think the Obamas might have modeled their life and legacy on Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Who would have thought they would turn into the Clintons?
But such, it seems, is #Becoming.