Chapters 11-12, The Wrath of Michelle, Out to Lunch Summary and Analysis

Chapter 11 focuses on the understated role of Michelle Obama as an influential person in the Obama Administration and the Obama White House. Klein argues that the media have sanitized her to make her unlike Hillary Clinton, as a woman who was politically hands off but who cared about childhood obesity. But in fact, good journalism reveals her to be a major player.

Michelle is in many ways Obama's progressive ideological conscience. She encourages him to stay focused on moral imperatives while his advisers tell him to pay more attention to political reality. This was of particular import during the fight for Obamacare. She encourages his messiah complex.

While the "chattering classes" think that Michelle actually discourages Obama from seeking political office, she arguably has encouraged...