Melania and Ivanka: Evidence that class still has its place

Osborn of playing loose with budget figures in our state’s ongoing budget crisis. However, in the same space you denigrate Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richard’s act of tweeting a Happy Mother’s Day message referring to women’s health care by saying that in the world of Planned Parenthood, “virtually all references to health ‘care’ can be translated as ‘abortion.” Really? Please have the courage to put some facts on that side of your mouth by publishing real statistics to back that up.

While you’re at it, please show a little empathy for Planned Parenthood clientele. For example, children whose moms kept them healthy by taking advantage of Planned Parenthood’s prenatal counseling are certainly entitled to say “Happy Mother’s Day.” Children whose moms received and acted on family planning advice are certainly entitled to say “Happy Mother’s Day,” And even those moms or women or girls who took advantage of legal abortion services, many of whom suffer grief and shame because of comments such as yours, are entitled to say or receive a “Happy Mother’s Day.”

Please make both sides of that powerful mouth of yours more honest, more sensitive, more compassionate.

Disrespected

It is unbelievable the disrespect that Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City, has been showing to the Oklahoma oil and gas industry. I have worked in this industry for 40-plus years and have owned a service business serving the industry for the past 35-plus years. I feel disrespected by Inman. To not state what the industry means to Oklahoma and what the industry has done for Oklahoma is a total injustice.

My business had substantial layoffs in 2015 and 2016 and had its income severely diminished, as all facets of the oil and gas industry have. Also, Oklahoma’s oil and gas giants ought to be thanked and congratulated. Thank goodness for people like Harold Hamm, Larry Nichols, Aubrey McClendon, Tom Ward, etc., who are great Oklahomans. We as an industry will not forget this disrespect. I hope the Oklahoma Democratic Party realizes what Inman has done with their relationship with the industry. y now you’re exhausted by all the head-swiveling news — the terrorist slaughter in Manchester; the president’s trip to Everywhere; and investigation upon investigation of the possible collusion with Russia, obstruction of justice, and liars by the dozen.

Which is why I’m sitting in Palm Beach practicing Lilly Pulitzer’s dictum: “Being happy never goes out of style.”

The otherworldliness of the nation’s most glamorous beach town makes current events seem at times remote. This sense was magnified recently by visions of President Trump’s sworddancing, orb-fondling, and demonstration of ugly Americanism in its latest iteration of massive wealth, arms deals and blind-eye talking — the president’s uncanny ability to see only what he chooses and to speak in terms compatible with that vision. Witness: His condemnation of Iran, which recently re-elected a moderate president, while schmoozing in autocratic Saudi Arabia, whence came 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists.

Other-awareness has never been Trump’s strong suit, especially as concerns his wife, Melania, who foreverfamously appeared to flick away the president’s hand when he reached toward her, seemingly trying to mimic Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was holding his own wife’s hand.

Captured on film, it was the flick (or slap?) seen ‘round the world — and in many cases, cheered. In that instant, the first lady became every American woman who donned a pink-kitten hat to protest the then-new president — and cemented her status as star of the show: “Melania of Arabia, High Priestess of the Testosterone-Intoxicated, TinyHands Revue.” Or something like that.

All politics aside —Melania and Ivanka Trump stood as beacons of light in a part of the world that remains cloaked in the darkness of religious fundamentalism and oppression. Preternaturally beautiful, they seemed to glide as apparitions above the sea of dark suits and white robes and must have struck fear in the hearts of men whose culture demands that women be publicly invisible.

Yes, they were relegated to traditional role-playing in Saudi Arabia. Some might have wished they’d had more significant roles, though surely Melania and Ivanka were grateful to be excluded from the all-guy Toby Keith concert. Otherwise, the importance of adhering to protocol can’t be exaggerated in diplomatic relations.

Many also noted that Melania declined to cover her head, which isn’t required of visiting dignitaries. Nor is going bareheaded considered insulting despite citizen Trump’s tweet criticizing Michelle Obama when she chose to leave her head uncovered. For the record, Laura Bush didn’t cover her head either while in Saudi Arabia 10 years ago. Bush only briefly donned a black scarf festooned with pink ribbons as a gesture of gratitude for the gift. It came from Saudi women showing their appreciation for the first lady’s efforts to raise awareness for breast cancer prevention and treatment in the Middle East, where, at the time, 80 percent of women with breast cancer died of the disease.

It is true that Western women are encouraged to dress modestly, as Melania and Ivanka did. It helps that both are beautiful and have fathomless wardrobe budgets. Despite their apparent ornamentalism, there’s little doubt both women made a lasting impression on Saudi women, who would have recognized and identified with their feminine power. Wordlessly, they projected strength, intelligence, grace — and a timeless wisdom that all women share.

This was also the impression of a Palm Beach image consultant I interviewed here, Susan Bigsby, who for 30 years has dressed an elite, diverse clientele. Following the petite Bigsby up and down Worth Avenue as she shopped for a client was like tracking a hummingbird on a sugar spree.

“Perfect and stunning,” she said of Ivanka and Melania. “Muslim women, while respecting their religion, also love glamour. You can be sure they were studying — and appreciating — Melania and Ivanka . ... They represented the American woman with appropriateness, elegance and style.”

Thus, as your long-suffering Palm Beach correspondent, I propose a toast to America’s first ladies for showing the world that despite our coarse, ham-fisted president, we have not completely forsaken class.

WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUP