MARCUM BLOG
The Marcum Blog
An ongoing section of open thought and intellectual ambition by writer
& producer David Marcum.
Viva Michelle Obama!
There is only one thing for certain about this year’s presidential election. Come January, the White
House will be thrown into a conundrum about the position of the First Lady.
The role of First Lady is one we take for granted. We live in a patriarchal nation (that poses as an
enlightened one) and, for two centuries everyone didn’t even bother to assume the candidates would
be straight married men, they just knew it. So, since straight men have to be married and have kids to
be valid human beings in this country (did I mention that we only pose at being enlightened?), we knew
that his wife would be the First Lady, the most important job in the country that gets no pay.
But when women finally said, “Enough, already!” we saw the rise of women governors, most of whom
were married, and whose husbands became—and this is an actual title—First Gentleman. The first First
Gentleman was James E. Ferguson, the husband of Texas governor Miriam A. Ferguson, who served
two separate terms in 1925-27, and 1933-35.
Let that sink in. Texas, the “everything is bigger” state, which espouses a brand of machismo that,
if bottled, could probably outsell iPhones or even Chia Pets, had the first elected woman governor!
And during the Depression, when we know a lot of men were already looking for work. Suck on that,
Vermont!
But wait, there’s more, an incredible synchronicity, in fact. You see, James Ferguson was a governor
of Texas before his wife served, but…he was impeached. That means if Hillary Clinton is elected
president, both First Gentlemen at the gubernatorial and presidential levels will have formerly held the
titles their wives filled, and both were impeached. In Ferguson’s case, he was removed from office for
misapplication of funds, and in Clinton’s case, he stayed in office despite a besmirched reputation and
befouled blue dress.
Of course, no such coincidence exists between Martha Washington and Donald Trump’s wife,
Melania. Martha was born in Virginia and, as far as we know, she never posed for anyone semi-naked
in a captain’s hat, though if she did, I am
betting it was for Alexander Hamilton. Even
more conversely, it was Martha who brought
the money to her marriage, so in every
category she and Melania seem to be
opposites. Martha was far from perfect,
though. She not only owned slaves, but
brought over one hundred of them into the
marriage. There’s no argument that as First
Ladies go, that’s a pretty low low point.
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