2020 Vision? Or Perhaps 2024? Paper: Michelle O Soars to 'Rock Star' Status...

Far from being a mere postscript to her White House years, the former US first lady’s memoir, “Becoming”, has proved a literary phenomenon and turning point in her career, dominating bestseller lists and filling stadiums during a promotional tour.

And such is Michelle Mania that last month, she stole the show from the biggest stars in music by making a surprise appearance at the Grammy awards.

“She’s a rock star at this point. She’s now a political celebrity, ” said Lissa Muscatine, a co-owner of the Politics and Prose bookshop in Washington and former speechwriter for Hillary Clinton.

It was the top-selling title last year at Politics and Prose, a Washington institution. Muscatine said: “Political memoirs are typically not that interesting because they’re often written to correct a record or cement a legacy. But she was able to tell her own story, she’s a smart woman and she knew what she wanted to say. She does enough to make it enjoyable and compelling and entertaining.”

Obama may also have inadvertently benefited from the current political climate. Muscatine added: “People living through Trump have shown a yearning, a nostalgia for the Obamas even though it’s only been a few years. They miss a husband and wife in the White House who took the jobs seriously. So when there’s anything Obama, people want more of it.”

Obama’s star power is guaranteed to lift any TV show or awards ceremony. At the Grammys in Los Angeles she walked on stage hand-in-hand with Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith and Jennifer Lopez. Later she showed a humorous side, posting on social media an image of a text exchange between herself and her mother, Marian Robinson. Robinson asked: “Did you meet any of the real stars or did you run right after you were done.”

Obama has 12.2m followers on Twitter, compared with her predecessor Laura Bush’s 278,000 and successor Melania Trump’s 11.6m.

Still just 55, Obama, a former lawyer and hospital administrator, is breaking the mould of her predecessors. Betty Caroli, a historian and biographer of first ladies, said: “Her book is certainly different from previous first ladies’ books, if you compare the past six or seven. Their pattern has generally been 70% life in the White House and 30% growing up. Hers is the opposite.

“As a historian I’m disappointed because I would have liked to know more about what decisions she influenced. But the 70% about growing up, her parents and education really set her up as a separate person. If something tragic happened to Barack Obama, she would be a successful personage on her own. We wouldn’t have said that about Laura Bush.”

Opinion polls suggest that Obama would beat Trump if she ran for president next year, but she has consistently ruled out a foray into politics. Caroli added: “She has indicated she will try to make a difference; she won’t retire to a California spa. She said she wanted to be an inspiration to young women and she has been.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/09/michelle-obama-becoming-book-career