A Presidency Built on Marriage

Can I tell you something?

I'm very political.
I'm a huge fan of Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris-Perry and their doctorally based analysis of the current political climate.

I watch as much Rachel as I can.

But probably the most convincing thing for me of Obama and his vision and who he is

is his marriage.

He's so affirmed by the way she loves him.

Look at these two!

I love good oratory skill as much as the next person....I was raised in the Black church after all. But their marriage is what does it for me.

No one is married like that, in the way that Barack is to Michelle, without work.
They have done so much work in their marriage on themselves and the partnership they share.

If you're able, go back and watch when Barack first calls Michelle's name in his farewell speech.
Do you see the way she's looking at him? She sees him in totality: his flaws and his greatness and she loves him.
She loves him down in her bones...that's what you're seeing on her face.

That's love... warm gooey, life affirming love 

Barack is man that grew up with patriarchy. He's literally the most powerful person on Earth leaving the seat of power and the thing that makes him weep is.....thinking of his wife.

The way the Obamas love each other tells me he's fundamentally as good a person as I believe him to be. No one has a wife as powerful and brilliant as he does and gets away with foolishness. Michelle is his greatest check and balance and the fact that she loves him tells me almost everything I need to know.

And you know what? I know that moment. When I defended my PhD I had a thank you slide that highlighted my own check and balance.....

This is what I showed my entire department at my defense

and that is when my voice caught.
Nearly 6 years in a lab, countless hours spent behind a bench or microscope, presenting novel paradigm shifting research, knowing a patent was in the works because my dissertation was being embargoed for 2 years....none of that got to me.

But talking about her, acknowledging that this day never would have come without her, that I wouldn't have seen this day without her....
nearly broke me.

You know what else it did? It got to my Russian advisor. He'd expressed that he had no real issue with some of the things happening in his native country with LGBT rights around the Winter Olympics. He'd never said anything to me about my coming out but he looked at me when my voice caught and I think he really saw me and I think it moved him on homosexuality. When I approached him later on about some issues at home with coming out he was receptive and I like to think that seeing what she meant to me made a difference there.

I get it Barack. I absolutely understand it. You see that picture of her looking back at me? Amp that up by about 100 and that's how I look at her.

They are the best public advertisement for marriage and the fact that my own marriage was legally affirmed under his administration is all bonus. He knows exactly how much he gets from his own marriage and wants to share that with all of us!

If anyone wants to know why I so love marriage, look at how a really solid marriage grounds our President and First Lady.

Look at the Obamas