The XX Factor: What women really think.

The Deceit of the White House Chef

Ladies! To the trenches! We've been slandered! Over at National Review's "The Corner," Lisa Schiffren bewails the "orchestrated deception" involved in the Obamas' (entirely traditional) hiring of a White House chef -- and dings the XX Factor in the process:

According the New York Times, Sam Kass, who cooked for the Obamas in Chicago will now move onto the government payroll as a White House chef.  ... Who knew? I believed all that stuff about how Michelle was an overburdened modern working mother, rushing from school dropoff to her high-paying, demanding work at the hospital, to dress fittings, to whatever it was she needed to do to support her husband's political aspirations, back home to take care of her daughters. Call me naive, but that model usually includes making dinner. ...

Didn't the women at Slate, among others, complain that there was something offensive about Sarah Palin's apparent ability to raise 5 children, run the state of Alaska, run marathons, and cook those mooseburgers—because it set the bar too high for ordinary women? But they were willing to believe that Michelle could do it all, and keep it all organic and healthy at that—because she has a law degree from Harvard?

Yes, I left parts of Schiffren's post out, but no, it doesn't make any more sense when they're put back in. I do recommend reading the whole bizarre thing if you haven't gotten your day's dose of 17 laughs in yet.

To take Schiffren's post seriously for a moment, rather than perpetrating some kind of lie, Michelle Obama has long admitted to being a bit cooking-averse (here's one instance, from May of 2007). Schiffren's a journalist, right? Call me naive, but that model usually includes Lexis-Nexising.