A few months ago, there were rumors that the Obamas were going to move back to Chicago after they finished their tenure in the White House so that they could prepare Michelle to pick up the dynasty’s reins with a run for Senate against Mark Kirk in 2016. As promising as that sounds to all of us in the Windy City (because who can’t get enough of people who barely served our population before we sent them to Washington?), it soon became clear that no one with the Obama name would be inflicting themselves on any rust-belt states anytime soon. Plus, when Presidents consider retirement homes, they don’t usually select them in places they can only golf three months out of the year.
Fortunately, the Obamas have other options, one of which is California, which has a solid variety of golf options (you can even live in private communities with their own private courses), warm weather, and a pleasingly liberal electorate that doesn’t think too hard about who they send to DC. And while Barack Obama might be out of contention, rumor has it Michelle has her eye on the prize: Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat.
Michelle Obama is being urged by her husband’s true believers to move to California when she leaves the White House and to pursue the US Senate seat expected to be vacated by Dianne Feinstein in 2018.
The oldest member of the Senate, Feinstein, 81, has strongly suggested this will be her last term, Richard Turley will report in Orbmagazine.com on Thursday.
The first couple haven’t said where they’ll go when Barack Obama leaves office in 26 months, but Los Angeles is the leading contender.
Won’t that just be swell. And according to one Democratic pollster, Michelle wouldn’t even have to work for it. Basically, if a brick painted itself blue and spent $50K on television ads, it could have the Democratic nomination if it wanted to.
Michelle is, of course, not without her detractors and problems. Her major platform as First Lady has been “nutrition,” which hasn’t earned her a lot of friends among young people looking to eat enough to make it through the schoolday without passing out into their math books. And while most First Lady’s poll well among Americans because their motherly role makes them seem warm and inviting, Michelle is consistently in the low 70s on approval. Which sounds like a good number until you consider that it should be basically impossible to dislike someone who decorates the White House for Christmas and chooses the official administration china pattern. She has some administrative experience, thanks to a crony hospital job she got before Barack made it to national office, which should be another concern, except that her husband is a career politician whose first administrative job happened to be running the country.
To be fair to Michelle, life outside the White House will be an adjustment, and another government job would be just the thing to keep the good times rolling, though American taxpayers are more reticent to pay for lavish vacations and wardrobe additions for mere Senators. Fortunately for Michelle, I guess, that’s where the lobbyists come in. I wouldn’t get too excited for this prospect yet, though. The Obamas still have several years in the White House, and their last rumored real estate purchase – a lovely multi-million dollar condo on a scenic overlook in Palm Springs – fell through.
