Comments on: Is “Michelle Obama” A New Brand?

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By: Bridget

Bridget — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:37:50 +0000

I didn’t find CNN’s statement to be an insult, I saw it as what it was comparing two women who have some similarities. I think the popularity of FL Michelle Obama and her husband inspired the Zahra Rahnavard fan out pouring.
I may be wrong, but can you state factually that Rahnavard has had the same reaction from her supporters last year or a year before?

I’m not sure why presented your article as if being compared to FL Michelle Obama is an insult.

By: elinor(Iran)

elinor(Iran) — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:13:34 +0000

Hi Shahrazad
This man Obama looks decent, he knows how to speak, he doesn’t open his mouth bashing or threatening to gain support or make a point. He is a wonderful man with his wife they make a real couple, they can kiss one another in public and that looks so decent, I am not that much concerned about the politics, because politics are always there to go wrong, when they are always there to go wrong, that makes them an independent variable that we cannot control, so why to bother, so we can feel good about how a president makes a conversation, if he looks humble, or wise, or things likewise.
About that husband’s surname, one has to run around the coutrtrooms to get her husband’s last name. That is not a previledge that one has to keep her dad’s last name after marriage. You are called by your husband’s last name while you have your father’s last name on your documents, and you can’t change that,. Suppose for some one like me, I drag the family names of my two ex-husbands, while married to the third. SInce my children are each from one of these unfortunate marriages and each attends a different school, I can be called several times during the day from each of the schools and each ady would call me with a different family name, the family names that I divorced with much rage and spite. Even thouigh my kids did like to share a family name with me and my new husband, this is the way we are going to live : each dragging along our own surnames and looking sop weird together, because as nosey as we are, there is no single day we don’t have to answer the questions. Now, tell me if that looks very cool ? HOnestly Shahrazad? haha

By: Shahrazad (Iran)

Shahrazad (Iran) — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:24:26 +0000

Elinor, I hope what you say about Obama’s ‘honesty’ is right. Though there are many news recently that prove otherwise. Anyway, ma ke bakhil nistim. Ishalla ke baraye amrikayi ha khoob bashe!

Nissim Dahan, it might be true that there are not many couples in Iranian political arena who come together into politics.
But there are many women and men who individually make news here. BTW, an iranian woman does not change her surname after marriage. For example Jamileh Kadivar and Atta’ullah Mohajerani are husband and wife and both of them are active into politics. Since their surname is different, they might be considered as individual in their political attitude and not like an ‘Obama’ family.

It’s not serious!, I am not accusing Mrs Obama for whatever she is famous for in the media. Of course she is a brilliant woman individually, but she came into fame bcs of her husband’s success.
CNN article is absolutely hummilating. It’s not difficult to notice how the writer is arrogantly looking down iranian/muslim women.
Zahra Rahnavard herself had a harsh reaction to this and Zahra Shjaee, her spokeswoman commented that there’s no parallels between Michelle Obama and Rahnavard and it’s a wrong comparison.(Persian source)
BTW, now i can guess what would be the american reactions if i did call Michelle Obama as America’s Zahra Rahnavard!!

By: ش

Wed, 27 May 2009 13:06:08 +0000

Michelle Obama suffers from lack of etiquette! e.g. remind her attitude before Queen of UK etc.

By: It's not that serious

It's not that serious — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:58:58 +0000

“She came up, just because of her husband and she was known just because of the fame her husband gained”.

Michelle Obama didn’t come up because of her husband. She’s her own person and became a success through her own hard work and excellent education. Now as far as her being known because of her husbands fame, that I agree with. That was going to happen if her husband was running for president. She was known in Chicago but she didn’t have a reason to be know nationally because that didn’t come with her job unlike her role of first lady.

You make it seem as if people are saying that they are the same person or something. That’s not what CNN was saying. They made the comparisons because of the impact that both women made on their husbands campaigns. ”

CNN’s article stated-”Never in the history of Iranian presidential elections has a candidate put his wife in the forefront of his campaign.” Is that true? If so, I wonder what 2 people inspired this man to put his wife in the forefront?

If someone was to say that Michelle Obama is America’s Queen Rania or America’s Shaikha Muzah, I don’t think anyone would be affended, unlike how you are about Zahra Rahnavard being compared to First lady Michelle Obama.

This isn’t about identity and where you come from etc. You make it seem like it’s an insult to compare Zahra to Michelle. It’s not that serious, I think it’s a compliment, just like it would be if Michelle were compared to Zahra. Most importantly I could care less about how you feel but it would be interesting to know Zahra’s thoughts on all of this.

Another thing, Michelle is know for her fashion because that’s what people are focused on. This women is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard (she did the work herself) and she is well accomplished but she can’t control what people choose to focus on about her because whether they like or dislike what she wears, someone always report on it.

By: Nissim Dahan

Nissim Dahan — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:14:54 +0000

There is not doubt that Michelle Obama’s prominance is a result of her husband’s success. That is probably true of a great many women who come into the limelight, and of men who are married to prominent women. However, in Michelle’s case, I have a feeling that her own voice will soon resonate loudly in the public sphere, not unlike Hillary Clinton, who has become a powerhouse in her own right.

What is important, in my opinion, is to give voice to the women in any way possible, either as a result of their own accomplishments, as in the case of Mrs. Rahnavard, or as a result of their husbands’ accomplishments. The voice of women has been silenced too often, and in too many places, and this has enabled ideological extremism to flourish in certain parts of the world. The moderating influence of the feminine, and I know I’m generalizing here, can be used to balance the ideological extremism of men. Empower Muslim and Arab women in way that they deem appropriate, and you will have changed the face of the Middle East. As the givers of life, and as the caretakers of life, women are uniquely qualified to reconstitute their societies consistent with a Vision of Hope.

I would also agree that the American media does tend to present information in a way that is palatable to the American psyche, and that this has to change to a certain extent. If we are ever to bring peace to this world, and that’s a big “if,” we must learn to think as others do, and to tailor our good intentions in ways that are palatable to people who are different from us. Since I believe in a universal notion of common sense, I don’t think this is impossible to do. We can present our agenda for change in a way that relates to all people, based on values which are shared universally. Yet even as we do this, we should reach out in way that respects who people are, and what they want to be.

By: elinor(Iran)

elinor(Iran) — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:34:40 +0000

Shahrazad jan
No one can deny that the recent Amrican election inspired people of the world and the governments and the democracies and all the countries with an upcoming election. The moment that the husband and wife in the USA were in front of the people, with great people among them tearing, no one can deny the greatness of the moment and what that meant to the history of man in this little earth of ours. Well, there are mant countries whose leaders are way apar and afar from being called democratic or the elections held being considered some thng that would draw the real votes of the people, but, the same leaders did crave for moments of such significance in their elections. Those moments are never created unless people and parties and all the ones who have the tools of powers in their hand, be honest aobut the needs of a country, honest about what people want, and what they need, and what exatly helps them pass the mopment and step into the future with confidence.
I am not very sure that the current elections in Iran will feature moments as such, but may later in the future in the right time, when the real representatives of the people are not banned from the elections and parties step in, and that parties indeed be of diverse essence, not just a party with a man whose coat is shorter and the one whose har is white, and that be the difference between what these parties are. We have a way ahead of us as we dream abotu the time when the true representatives of the people make it to the parliament and to the government anddraw from the constitution in a way it wouldn’t call for stoning of any other individual, imprisonment of any other religious minority, cutting the hands and legs of a bandit in a privincial region as a punishment, filtering whatsover brings people with their opinions on the same platform that would perhaps reflect how the integration of peole might look like ( sacy no? )
You know, we really shouldn’t blame all these problems on these condidates, nor on any individual, it is our collective problem and we need to deal with it collectively, and I hope one day in the future we do find the momnents that will freeze us in one spot in the history, but that wouldn’t be this election, just an opinion, nothing more than that.
Amen to a better Iran, a better Middle East, a better World at large.
I was reading of what Mrs. Rahnavard said in the newspapers, she said she didn’t wear the hijab as a young lady, that she changed her ways and now she likied the dress code. I hope she would consider how helpful freedom is, in giving you a Choice, so that if you are not wearing the hijab, you would have an option of either wearing, or just not wearing without being insulted, I mean with being respected actually.
Does she support the idea of an Islamic Republic of Iran that would give the ladies a Choice? Would she voie her ideas about this matter, or her true ideas would hide behind the flowers on her scarf?
In any cae, it is good to see women in the media, their opinions reflected, even if they are the representaives of a selective layer of the society and culture. It is a start

By: Shahrazad (Iran)

Shahrazad (Iran) — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:33:38 +0000

Wladimir,
well, somewhat i can not agree with what you said. Unfortunately that’s most important problem with western media when they -intentionally or unintentionally- do not try to learn about people of the East or represent their real identity. They usually fail to completely understand them or they maybe just want to respresent the western ideals as original, and show the Eastern ones just like some second hand copies. (As i saw CNN put a very disgusting foto to represent ordinary Iranians, what you get one in the millions!)
The example about book you mentioned, just prove this statement. Otherwise when a writer is “honestly” writing about a particular nation, tries to represent them as they are, so those ‘Christian’ audience would learn something new!

By: Wladimir

Wladimir — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:37:38 +0000

Journalists try to make it easier for the readers/viewers to relate themselves to. CNN is focused on American viewers, that’s why the comparison. For instance Patrick Cockburn wrote a book about Muqtada Al-Sadr and made a lot of comparisons of the Shia’s martyrdom, with the concept of martyrdom in Christianity during the Roman empire. His audience was mainly from ‘Christian’ countries.