Melania deserves our respect

Michelle Obama was a very good first lady. To some, she was one of the best.

I will admit that initially, I wasn’t very impressed with her “I’m finally proud of my country” shtick, even though I know that it was taken out of context and she really meant to say that she was proud that her black husband could be nominated to the presidency.

She was a good woman, a solid presence in the White House, smart, funny and an amazingly good mother.

Add to that her Harvard pedigree and her sculpted arms, and we can all agree that Michelle Robinson Obama brought honor to the position.

Still, she is not one of my favorites, and that’s only a matter of taste.

Most people have their own preferences, and mine run to Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy and Laura Bush who, if you combined traits from each, would have made an unbeatable first consort.

Eleanor’s social engagement, Jackie’s sophistication and grace and Laura’s quiet dignity are the hallmarks of what the president’s wife should be.

But all in all, Barack Obama’s wife was an effective and admirable role model.

She should be remembered fondly, even by those who did not vote for her husband.

I only wish that the people on the other side of the political aisle would do the same thing I just did, reach across the divide and say some positive things about Melania Trump.

I also wish chocolate flowed in rivers and lollipops cropped up in my garden, that gold dripped in lacy threads like moss from the trees and every day was a paid holiday.

Which is to say, I hope for miracles. Indeed, that is what it would take for the average Democrat or progressive to say something nice about our new first lady.

It is impossible these days to hear her discussed without the words being squeezed through a scrim of sarcasm, stripped of any sense of empathy or admiration.

Melania is either the butt of some very mean-spirited jokes, or vilified as a gold-digging prostitute who has a problem keeping her clothes on her lissome body.

At least they acknowledge her beauty, which is evident to the naked eye. (Even when she’s not naked anymore.

Yes, that was snark, but it’s okay because I really like this woman.)

For some people, mostly the sort of women who wear pink crochet hats in their Facebook profile photos and wept bitter tears when the glass ceiling turned out to be made of Lucite, Melania is not worthy of sisterly respect.

They are a bit kinder with her than they are with Ivanka, and much kinder than they are with Kellyanne, but there is still that underlying tone of disdain and the sense that nostrils are flaring at the thought that a Slovenian model is replacing the earth mother of the vegetable garden.

The thing that really angered me this week was the reaction of people to Melania’s visit to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.

She has been nothing but sober, elegant, gentle, gracious and humble during her international junket.

Her external beauty is obvious, and there is no question that she is the most physically exquisite first lady we have ever had.

But she has also shown kindness and a depth that we haven’t heretofore seen, as when she slowed her pace to accommodate the halting steps of the Israeli president’s ailing wife.

Or when she visited a children’s hospital in Rome and spoke to the residents in their native language (one of the seven she speaks fluently).

And then I found out, to my great surprise, that she is a practicing Roman Catholic.

When she bowed her head as the pope blessed a rosary in her hand, it was not a fabricated moment: She was spiritually moved.

We have not considered this aspect of Melania, who is probably dealing with her own quiet Via Crucis, for a variety of reasons that I can suspect but not fully understand.

She’s married to her husband, after all.

For that alone, and for the grace with which she has represented her adopted citizens, she deserves immense respect.