| Presidential Wives |
 |
 |
 |
|
The presidential candidates are not the only ones who have impressive résumés. Both Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain have been well connected, carving out careers for themselves and making the world a better place with their humanitarian efforts. CCN now takes a look at the years and work of both of the potential First Ladies. Michelle Obama has achieved her success amidst some difficult circumstances. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago in a one-bedroom apartment where the living room was divided temporarily down the middle to create bedrooms for her and her brother, Craig. She listened to the stories of her maternal grandfather, a carpenter who was turned away from the union and many top construction jobs due to his race. He and Michelle’s parents—her father, Frasier Robinson, a city pump operator and a Democratic precinct captain, and her mother, Marian, a Spiegel’s secretary—served as role models in overcoming racism and poverty. Michelle was discouraged from applying to both Princeton and Harvard Law School by counselors who claimed her grades were insufficient. She went on to surpass expectations at both schools as a 1985 cum laude undergraduate of Princeton University and a 1988 graduate of Harvard Law School. After graduating from Harvard, she began her career at Sidley Austin Law Firm in Chicago as an associate specializing in marketing and intellectual property. A former associate dean at the University of Chicago and currently a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals, she sits on six boards, including the prominent Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a leading nonpartisan think tank that shares its research and expertise with the media, public, and government leaders, and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, one of the leading independent school groups in the nation.
It wasn’t until recently that Michelle decided to take time away from her job as vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she manages the hospitals’ business diversity program and oversees all programs and community relations initiatives between the hospital and the community. In an interview with the Washington Post, she said that she has always wondered if she was being a “good mother” by maintaining her career and leaving her two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, in the care of her mother. She also explained that she has struggled for years with the decision to not work and become a stayat- home mom. “Every other month [since] I’ve had children I’ve struggled with the notion of ‘Am I being a good parent? Can I stay home? Should I stay home? How do I balance it all?’” she said. “I have gone back and forth every year about whether I should work.” Michelle’s mother, Marian Robinson, stayed home with her and her brother Craig until they reached high school. Cindy inherited the company in 2000 following her father’s death. She earned a B.A. in education and an M.A. in special education from the University of Southern California and went on to teach children with disabilities at a high school in Avondale, Arizona. Her work with children with special needs continued as she went on to lead 55 medical missions to Third World and war-torn countries such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, and Angola, becoming an advocate for children’s healthcare needs, people living in poverty, and the removal of landmines. Her work in these countries stemmed from the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT), which she founded and ran from 1988 to 1995. According to the John McCain for President Web site, AVMT provided emergency medical and surgical care to impoverished children in many Third World countries. During a 1991 mission to Dhaka, Bangladesh, Cindy met Mother Teresa, who convinced her to bring two children home with her, both of whom needed medical care that could only be given in the United States. One of the children she adopted as her own, naming her Bridget.
Cindy also sits on the boards of HALO Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to landmine removal and weapons destruction in war-torn countries, and CARE USA, an organization with a focus on fighting global poverty, especially among women. Last year she attended an international board meeting in Tanzania to focus on the poverty there. Like Ms. Obama, Ms. McCain has also decided to take a break from traveling and work to support her husband’s presidential campaign. Cindy has four children with John: Meghan, John IV, Jimmy, and Bridget, their adopted child from Bangladesh. She is also a stepmother to three children from John McCain’s first marriage: Doug, Andy, and Sidney. ¶
Sources 1. publicallies.org/site/ c.liKUL3PNLvF/b.3158701/ |
Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain
Her father’s death in 1991 led her to leave the legal field and focus on community service work. In 1993 she founded Public Allies Chicago, a leadership program designed to foster new leadership and more collaborative communities, nonprofits, and civic participation. In partnership with local nonprofit organizations, the program works with citizens from 18 to 30 years old, many of whom are of color or from minority groups, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) groups, to build new leadership in communities to create social change via AmeriCorps-paid apprenticeships. Public Allies now has leadership programs in 15 communities across the nation. According to its Web site, many who participate in the program go on to careers in the nonprofit and public sectors.
Bridget was born with a cleft palate, a condition that Cindy has been dedicated to correcting through Operation Smile, an organization for which she serves on the Board of Directors. Operation Smile is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to repair cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial defects for children worldwide. Since 1982 Operation Smile has aided over 100,000 children and young adults in 25 different countries, providing them with free reconstructive surgery. Cindy herself has assisted with volunteer missions to Morocco, India, and Vietnam.Website Designed & Hosting by Timothy Osterbeck Web Development