Communicating With Michelle Obama

First, congratulations to Barack Obama on getting the nomination.  He is a great orator and regardless of who I vote for I think he will be an exciting candidate.

From a healthcare communications perspective, I found an NBC Today Show interview with Michelle Obama very interesting yesterday.  She talked about three things that seem to be telling about her personality:

• She said she was more of a fatalist than an optimist meaning that if Barack is meant to be president than he will be.
• She said she was superstitious.
• She talked about not believing that living in the White House will change their family dynamic.

So, I would suspect that trying to get her to change behavior would be very difficult as a fatalist.  If she believes that becoming sick is inevitable, why would you change your diet or habits.

If she is superstitious, I would suspect that there are actions, phrases, colors, or other queues that could encourage her to take action.  What those are…who knows?

And, if she doesn’t believe that the White House will change the family, it makes me think that she is very inwardly focused.  She admitted not watching TV or reading the paper.  But, as an ivy-league lawyer, I have to believe she does those things and reads aggressively.  So, I am confused as to why she wouldn’t believe history.  I haven’t read the history of presidential families, but I am pretty sure kids raised in the White House are very different.

My take would be that she would be a hard candidate to motivate to change and successfully communicate with.