“Cookie Mom-ster,” “Mom in Chief,” and “Sugar Mommy” : [de-] constructing ideal femininty of Presidential candidate wives
type: CreativeWork
description: A 2004 New York Times’ article regarding the role of potential First Ladies at political conventions wrote, “The public will someday accept a fully independent first lady, Ms. Gibbons predicted, 'I don't see how we can go backwards.’'' (Purnick, 2004) That isn’t to say, however, we have continued moving forward. Perpetuating the trend that began two decades ago, in 2012 both Ann Romney and Michelle Obama delivered speeches at the Republic National Convention (RNC) and Democratic National Convention (DNC) respectively. Prompting a continued study of the first lady include not only Michelle Obama’s self-titled “Mom-in-Chief” speech or the ever present role of fashion and the First Lady, but also her permanent role as the candidate’s feminine counterpart and its close management demand examination. To be sure, this thesis comes at a time of significant importance, with Hillary Clinton vying for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination. I agree with past scholars that presidential spouses, as part of the presidential institution, have ushered in a level of public power not previously possible for women (Anderson, Campbell, Jamieson, Sheeler, et al). However, the power of the first lady is constrained by feminine expectations that prevent the emergence of a fully independent first lady. We should question the limitations of the spousal role and challenge the discourses that create those limitations, as they hinder the realization of a fully independent first lady. Since 1992, nearly every spouse has given a public address at the presidential nominating convention, with all candidate wives from 2000-2012 taking part. The emergence of this campaign trend has prompted communication scholars to call for the expansion of research surrounding these speeches (Brown, 2012). Scholars have previously noted that first lady campaign discourse provides a sandbox in which our country experiments with various levels of first lady independence (Parry-Giles, 1996, Campbell, 1998, Ande…
abstract: A 2004 New York Times’ article regarding the role of potential First Ladies at political conventions wrote, “The public will someday accept a fully independent first lady, Ms. Gibbons predicted, 'I don't see how we can go backwards.’'' (Purnick, 2004) That isn’t to say, however, we have continued moving forward. Perpetuating the trend that began two decades ago, in 2012 both Ann Romney and Michelle Obama delivered speeches at the Republic National Convention (RNC) and Democratic National Convention (DNC) respectively. Prompting a continued study of the first lady include not only Michelle Obama’s self-titled “Mom-in-Chief” speech or the ever present role of fashion and the First Lady, but also her permanent role as the candidate’s feminine counterpart and its close management demand examination. To be sure, this thesis comes at a time of significant importance, with Hillary Clinton vying for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination. I agree with past scholars that presidential spouses, as part of the presidential institution, have ushered in a level of public power not previously possible for women (Anderson, Campbell, Jamieson, Sheeler, et al). However, the power of the first lady is constrained by feminine expectations that prevent the emergence of a fully independent first lady. We should question the limitations of the spousal role and challenge the discourses that create those limitations, as they hinder the realization of a fully independent first lady. Since 1992, nearly every spouse has given a public address at the presidential nominating convention, with all candidate wives from 2000-2012 taking part. The emergence of this campaign trend has prompted communication scholars to call for the expansion of research surrounding these speeches (Brown, 2012). Scholars have previously noted that first lady campaign discourse provides a sandbox in which our country experiments with various levels of first lady independence (Parry-Giles, 1996, Campbell, 1998, Ande…
author: Quandt, Lindsay Katherine
language: en
keywords: hegemonic masculinity, two-person career, hegemony, feminine style, both/and, rhetorical presidency, first lady agency, feminism, double bind, gendered politics, gendered nationalism
date published: 2016-08-05
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:42:13Z
provider: IUPUI
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: IUPUI

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/1805/11876

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.7912/C2/478