On Election Day, the nation will vote for the next President of the United States. Unlike any other time in the history of this nation, this is the first election were the entire country seems to be actively engaged in what each candidate has to say as well as what they will bring to our people. Not only will we have a new President come January 20^th, 2009, but we will have a new First Lady.

 

Historically, the First Lady has been the intellectual shadow of the President. Indeed, it hasn’t been until just recently that many scholars have begun to seriously study the contributions of presidential spouses and their role in American history. One book, Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts, stands out in my mind because her work chronicles the lives of particular “Founding Mothers.” In short, practically all of these women were powerful in their own right. Jackie Kennedy, for example, was a dynamic woman who brought elegance and grace to the White House while at the same time preserving the furnishings so that future generations can enjoy them.

 

Now, we have two more extraordinary women: Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama. The latter is an incredibly beautiful woman who has attended two of the best schools in the world: Princeton and Harvard, respectively. She is bright, well-spoken, and elegant. Both she and her husband Barack are raising two wonderful girls, and the mass media has covered them extensively. Should Barack be elected, I am positive she will make an excellent First Lady. Cindy McCain’s credentials, while not as spectacular as Michelle’s, are impressive. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and a Master’s in Special Education from the University of Southern California. Both she and John have four children, one of whom is adopted. But the thing that won me over isn’t what she does with her family; it’s what she does with her extra curricular activities.

 

Cindy McCain works actively with Operation Smile, a most noble organization. After studying facts for this article, I began to realize just how selfless this woman is. She has a personal fortune of over one hundred million dollars, yet she chooses to use her resources to help children in third world countries. Indeed, while Russia was invading the small democracy of Georgia, McCain was in that region helping with humanitarian projects for that country’s victims, amazing. She is a testament of American generosity, and what I found further extraordinary is that she does not live the life of the super rich. In the embedded YouTube clip below you will see that she also spends some of her time on trash heaps in Vietnam trying to help babies with medical conditions. I am in awe of this unassuming woman.

 

So, between these two very dynamic women, I believe Cindy McCain has a slight edge over Michelle Obama. If John McCain is elected our 44^th President, his wife’s contribution to Operation Smile will be even further highlighted because the platform of the First Lady is great. The children whose lives were directly affected by Operation Smile will have someone to look up to, not just in our nation but globally because Cindy’s work will bring it to the world’s attention. While it is safe to say that taxes are an unfortunate truth for the next administration regardless of who it is, what is uncertain is how the First Lady will contribute to her husband’s appeal. My thought is that any selfless act of kindness will be of tremendous help.