I was going to make this an Ethics Quiz, which is typically what I do with issues I believe can generate multiple and diverse ethics verdicts from the analytical and perceptive readers here, and often with matters I am not certain about myself. However, Michelle Obama’s custom designed skirt she decided to model as she appeared on a stage at the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago this week before “stakeholders” (Translation: Donors) was so indefensible by anyone who has not been permanently Obamafied, the crippling mental state where one is incapable of criticizing anything either Obama does or has done, ever, that my building a quiz around it would be dishonest.
As you can see, the former First Lady “wore a pencil skirt adorned with a large portrait of her late mother. The custom Acne Studios design was a tribute to Marian Robinson who died in 2024, aged 86.”
Ethics Observations:
Ethics Alarms 
I would say Hilary’s conduct is mitigated by the fact that she is a legitimate political figure in her own right. She has her own limelight and no longer needs to stand in Bill’s.
Thus, her bad conduct this week was not as a former First Lady, but as a failed Presidential candidate. She may still have the worst character, but, in this competition, Biden and Obama have to be worse.
-Jut
My vote for the worst option is “Dr. Jill”.
I had not considered the upstaging potential of the skirt and just thought it looked dumb. However, I am not a clothing person and pay little to no attention to what people wear unless they really make me do so. In addition, because getting dressed for these events is not an immediate thing, Barack could have spoken up at any time and changed the script. He chose not to. Therefore, I cannot vote for Michelle.
Hilary, while just a horrible person, has always been a horrible person and for her ridiculous statements about why the Democratic party lost, gets the Julie Award from me. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, Hilary has to tell the people that they were wrong to vote for who they voted for, and do so in a tasteless way. I dislike her and find her a horrible person, but attacking someone else for the problems she identifies is her modus operandi and I don’t think people take her that seriously.
Dr. Jill betrayed her husband, publicly and humiliatingly on stage in the worst of all ways, especially given his health. Michelle’s betrayal could have been stopped by her husband at any time. Hilary is not the wife to anyone that she attacked. Jill is showing the world what elder abuse can look like and getting praised for it. That seems more egregious than the other former FLOTUS’s.
That being said, I am not sure I’d cross the street to interact with any one of these women.
Sarah wrote, “Dr. Jill betrayed her husband, publicly and humiliatingly on stage in the worst of all ways, especially given his health.”
Agreed. Jill wins, hands down. I would add to it that she treated her husband like a slobbering preschooler – “You answered all the questions! Who loves her little boy? Me! I love my Joey! Kiss, kiss!” Not only did she betray her husband, she betrayed the nation by not stopping the train. She was enamored of the power and would do anything to retain it. But, Jill did not act alone. She had legions of people in her camp pushing the nonsense that Joe was capable of running the country.
As for Michelle, though, I have to confess that I did not see this controversy at all – perhaps because I don’t expect anything from the Obamas that is not steeped in narcissism and self-importance. When I saw the photo, I thought, “who is that on her skirt?” Then I found out it was her mom and I thought, “Oh, that’s a nice tribute.” But, then I saw it was for the inauguration of the Obama Presidential Library, and I thought, “what a terrible thing to do to her husband, who was supposed to bask in the moment of his legacy.”
While I think Pres. Obama was a terrible president, he acted presidential and generally defended the office itself. He has a right – as all former presidents do – to promote what he believes is his legacy. He is one of 47 presidents, which is a very small group of leaders of the most powerful economic and political entity on the planet. Is his library impressive? Don’t know. I hope so because it should be. George Bush the Elder’s library on Texas A&M’s campus is impressive. I haven’t been to others so I can only judge by that one.
Michelle, though, decided that the event should be about her and her lovely mom. What a jerk.
jvb