The XX Factor: What women really think.

Armed and Dangerous

I’m with you, Dayo. I cannot quite believe we are entering the third week of sleevegate, wherein America cannot find anything more interesting to pick over than Michelle Obama’s right to bare arms. You’re correct that Maureen Dowd’s fainthearted “defense” this weekend was hard to follow. She sets up David Brooks as the Neanderthal who finds the first lady’s display “ostentatious” but then half piles-on, smirking that “the only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps. Her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh.”

I keep wondering if her critics have a problem with Michelle Obama because she's too sexy, as they say, or because she has pretty much flushed the glamour rulebook down the toilet. Unlike past political glamazons, from Nancy Reagan to Sarah Palin, Mrs. Obama doesn’t meet a fashion rule she hasn’t busted. It’s not just that she shows her arms instead of her gams (a la Palin) or the high-lowbrow fashion mix (shocking!) even Dowd grudgiungly admires. It’s more that she just doesn’t seem to care what any of us think of her, including America’s Next Top Model, David Brooks. And that must be driving Washington mental.