Michelle Obama has yet to astonish as first lady

Many first ladies of the United States have achieved great things, working with philanthropic organizations or launching campaigns of their own.

Now, Michelle Obama, wife of the 44th president of the United States, is striving to meet or even exceed society’s expectations.

In her early months in the White House, Obama frequently visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She also began advocating for military families.

In an effort to become well acquainted with the nation’s capital, Obama has had an active role in politics and has become an advocate for all of her husband’s policy priorities.

Obama made headlines when she decided to plant a vegetable garden and installed bee hives in the lawns of the White House, continuing the organic movement that Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush supported during their times as first ladies.

In her first year, she has hosted 200 White House events, visited 14 states, and eight countries. Most recently, she kicked off her campaign to fight childhood obesity, titled “Let’s Move.”

Obama has been frequently compared to Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan by publications such as Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

But such a perception is inaccurate and premature.

Sure there are similarities, the most obvious being Obama’s sense of style. She is frequently spotted wearing Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, Maria Pinto, and Isabel Toledo.

Her daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, warm our hearts just as in the 1960s when the White House was home to Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr.

But despite these similarities, Obama is not quite up there with the likes of Kennedy and Reagan.

Not yet, at least.

In 1982, Reagan launched the “Just Say No” drug awareness campaign. Eventually it led to the signing of a drug enforcement bill with $1.7 billion in funding to fight the drug crisis and ensure a mandatory minimum penalty for drug offenses.

She was also the first first lady to be invited to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Kennedy established the White House Historical Association, helped in the rescue of the Ancient Egyptian temples when they were threatened by flood waters, and helped build the John F. Kennedy Library in memory of her late husband.

Not that what Obama has achieved so far is inferior—no campaign to better this nation or the world could ever be—but this first lady is just not in the same league as her predecessors.

She has yet to undertake a project that will forever leave her mark on American history. Perhaps her current campaign, “Let’s Move,” will do just that.
Obama is on the right track.

I’m sure in the years to come she will be able to add to her list of accomplishments.
But until then, comparing her to the most famous first ladies of our nation is premature.