London Telegraph
Gosh, Obamas gush much too much mush
BRYONY GORDON
November 12, 2009 - 3:04PM

This week Michelle Obama, First Lady, wife, mom, has taken on a new role, as dating adviser to the world's single females. In an interview with American Glamour magazine, she clearly sets out her policy on one of the most pressing social issues facing young women. Rule number one: don't pick a man just because of his looks. "Cute's good," says the woman married to the cutest political leader the world has ever seen. "But cute only lasts for so long, and then it's, 'Who are you as a person?'

"That's the advice I would give to women: don't look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. Look at how the guy treats his mother and what he says about women. How he acts with children he doesn't know. And, more important, how does he treat you? When you're dating a man, you should always feel good..."

Oh stop, Michelle, I'm welling up. "You should never doubt yourself. You shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who doesn't make you completely happy and make you feel whole. And if you're in that relationship and you're dating, then my advice is, don't get married."

I suppose this can be summed up as: kiss that frog, for he may well turn into a president, too (or, at the very least, a Prime Minister, though that thought is surely enough to make any girl's stomach churn). The "it's what's inside that counts" message is sweet enough, if hardly original, and is no doubt meant to give us all hope. But I wish Mrs Obama hadn't bothered to deliver it.

Actually, I wish that when President Obama was inaugurated early this year, he and his wife had sworn an oath to stop banging on about just how normal their relationship is. The pair of them never seem to tire of offering up little vignettes designed to make the American electorate feel that they are just like them. To whit: the knowledge that their first kiss tasted like chocolate (they had just eaten ice cream), that they have weekly date nights, that Barack once had bad morning breath, that back in the day, they came close to breaking up because he was so obsessed with politics. It's funny how the more they try to play up their imperfections, the more sickeningly perfect they seem.

Last month, the New York Times ran a piece over 7000 words long in which the couple were interviewed about their union.

"We were in the Oval Office," wrote the journalist, "nearly 40 minutes into a conversation about the subject of their marriage."

Good grief, does the man not have better things to talk about? Health care reform? Climate change? Afghanistan? No!

Let's instead hear once more about how they met, at a Chicago law firm, and how she initially refused to date him (there are lots of videos of them talking about this on YouTube).

Let's find out what Barack bought Michelle for her 44th birthday (a silver pendant necklace), and how they like to play Scrabble and watch movies at the weekend. This, we will all agree, is really useful to know.

There are websites devoted to "cute" quotes that the couple have trotted out about each other.

Here is Barack in 2007, talking about what a bad husband he can be: "I leave my socks around. I'll hang my pants on the door. I leave newspapers lying around. But she lets me know when I'm not acting right."

And here he is about romantic gestures: "What I realise as I get older is that Michelle is less concerned about me giving her flowers than she is that I'm doing things that are hard for me... carving out time... She appreciates the flowers, but to her romance is that I'm actually paying attention to things that she cares about, and time is always an important factor."

On the day of his inauguration, Obama famously quipped: "How good looking is my wife?"

Yes, she's really, really good looking, as are you. In fact, you are both perfect. By all means ram this down each other's throats, but not ours.