No perfect first lady

What do recipes and sleeveless dresses have to do with the presidential election? Substantively, not much, but they’ve sadly played a prominent role in recent campaign coverage.

After Michelle Obama’s guest spot on the daytime talk show The View, a number of media outlets commented on her stylish sleeveless attire, with some even pronouncing her the next Jackie O.

Cindy McCain, in the meantime, has been drawing criticism for posting “family recipes” on her husband’s campaign Web site that were duplicates of a recipe posted on the Food Network — a gaffe that was later pegged on an intern.

Although these stories are B-rate news and headline-filling junk, they offer insight into the very circumscribed roles that these potential first ladies are expected to play and how spouses affect the method by which presidential candidates are evaluated.

In fact, a recent Rasmussen poll found that 61 percent of Americans said that a candidate’s spouse played some role in their voting decision — a finding that seems understandable.

However inaccurate an indicator a person’s private life may be of their professional talent, in the political world, familial “success” is often extrapolated to potential as a public leader.

Caught in this whirlwind of familial and political expectations, potential first ladies are expected to fulfill incredibly limited, if not contradictory, expectations.

They’re to act as both a support to their husbands, yet not to influence them unduly; to be educated and intelligent, but not to voice their individual political convictions; to be both the dedicated mother and the world savvy diplomat. It’s a difficult line to tread.

Former first ladies who have crossed into the territory of governing and policy making — the most notable being Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton — faced sharp criticism in the past.

However, in the age of post-feminism, a first lady who took no stock in political affairs would be seen as neglecting part of her responsibilities.

Even during Bill Clinton’s brief stint as potential first spouse, the former president faced criticism for being too aggressive in his campaigning, which stemmed more from the custom of past presidents to remain apolitical than the feeling that he was overstepping his (admittedly vague) role in the campaign.

In Geraldine Ferraro’s 1984 bid for vice president, the candidate ran into controversy over her husband John Zaccaro’s shady business dealings.

In neither of these examples, however, was the candidate’s husband treated as a window into the character of their spouse.

All in all, it’s an untenable situation. Just like the presidential candidates, no first lady is going to please everyone.

There is no such thing as a perfect first lady, or any consensus on what that woman would look like. And with judgments of candidates’ spouses drawn more from personality than actual political principles, it’s unlikely that the conversation will change from this personality-focused tack.