First Ladies, Travel and Foreign Policies

Recently there have been some of those pseudo political outrage articles appearing about Michelle Obama’s trip to Africa. It has been depicted (falsely) as vacation paid for by huge tax dollars. It order for these misleading pieces of gossip to continue, there is usually a tidbit of truth in them, generally out of context, and mainly an excuse for hate mongering.

While it is true the trip likely cost a lot of money, those types of trips do, and because of security assigned to presidential families, it is necessary and should not be a surprise, much less a point for outrage. I see it as akin to those who violently complain about welfare abuses while remaining totality silent about corporate malfeasance.

First ladies, since the beginning of the country have often played very important roles in foreign policy. If one seeks to be fair just check out the history and you will find first ladies all over the place helping their husbands and acting as intermediaries or just good will ambassadors for the country. Also, they are widely happily accepted and improve this country’s reputation in the world. It is easy for us to recall the public fascination with Jacqueline Kennedy.

Most recently Laura Bush provided a needed counterbalance to her husband’s incredible poor standing among foreign nations. She substituted for the George W on weekly radio addresses and used that platform to advocate women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Edith Roosevelt, Teddy’s wife acted as a secret liaison between this country and the British ambassador. She was the first to leave the country on foreign policy issues with her husband. Eleanor Roosevelt was very outspoken in her role as first lady particularly in foreign policy. She was the first to do solo foreign policy trips. Jacqueline Kennedy went with her husband and on her own to foreign lands and was loved. Pat Nixon held the record as the most traveled first lady, with her husband to China and on her own to Peru and three African nations, plus solo trips for inaugurations in Venezuela and Brazil.

Our nation needs the good will of other nations more than ever. The trip of Michelle Obama with daughters has done that excellence. This is to be applauded rather than denigrated. The good will she have provided for this country far outweighs any costs involved. Only small minds cannot see that.

I am prone to see first ladies as I see pastors’ wives; often criticized unpaid members of a church staff if they are involved in the church, and vilified if they are not involved.