The timing was extremely unfortunate. Just a few days following watching her husband, 81-year-old Joe Biden, “get lost” in the presidential debate, in the CNN studio in Atlanta, Dr. Jill Biden appeared in the August issue of American Vogue. The cover shows her haughty, blissful, bathed in Anna Wintour’s benevolent glow. The tagline that accompanies her photo is also impressive: “We will decide our future”.
It has become almost a rite of passage for First Ladies to be photographed for the cover of Vogue. With the notable exception of Melania Trump, who was never given the privilege, for most First Ladies it’s only a matter of time before they get the call from the magazine. This was Biden’s third appearance. In fact, this is her second cover during her husband’s first presidential term, a sign of Wintour’s enthusiasm for the Biden team, for whose sake she organized a fundraiser in London last month.
The image, shot by renowned Canadian portraitist Norman Jean Roy, projects a typical Vogue persona: Mrs. Biden’s hair is perfect in the style of the ideal teacher-mom, and two turquoise balls dangle from her ears. She wears a white Ralph Lauren tank top that oozes power but also beseechment. She looks “presidential” and exudes confidence.
Even so, following her husband’s recent disastrous appearances, it’s hard not to liken her to some kind of medical assistant – “the woman in the white coat” – or, even worse, the benevolent director of a luxury nursing home. The reactions were shockingly negative. Republicans were vitriolic in their comments. The Democrats are completely confused.
After the devastation in the presidential debate, Vogue hastened to contact Mrs. Biden for a necessary supplement, for the internet at least. “We will not let these 90 minutes define the four years that he is President,” she said. “We will continue to fight.” President Biden “will always do what’s best for the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the little insider access the Bidens have allowed the magazine finds Jill oozing Democratic conviction, giving it her all in her career as an educator, fighting for women’s reproductive health and her husband’s campaign .
“Democracy is in danger”, she repeats at the various gatherings, while at the same time she appears absolutely determined to make the message heard. Given the circumstances, however, the message seems out of place and insincere. It’s hard to hold back a spontaneous laugh reading: “Joe’s really the talker among us, I mostly listen.”
The interview ends rather prematurely so that Jill can spend time with Potus [President of the US] at their home in Wilmington. There, the pair “spend an entire morning together, just coffee, you know, talking…”, as Flotus tells us [First Lady of the US] in a way reminiscent of visiting a grandparent in an institution.
A week is a long time in politics – in the world of monthly publications, it can be an eternity. Vogue has a history of unfortunate and ill-conceived timing. Who can forget “Desert Rose,” as the magazine’s 2010 profile of what it described as the “fiercely democrat” Asma al-Assad, wife of dictator Bashar Assad, whose regime would was a brutal crackdown on Syria’s nonviolent protest movement beginning shortly following publication? This article has been removed from the internet and very few copies of the issue are still out there.
But in the age of social media, it’s much harder to pull off such an unfortunate cover title. After the devastation in the presidential debate, Vogue hastened to contact Mrs. Biden for a necessary supplement, for the internet at least. “We will not let these 90 minutes define the four years that he is President,” she said. “We will continue to fight.” President Biden “will always do what’s best for the country,” he added.
One is tempted to feel some sympathy for Wintour, but on the other hand, schadenfreude [χαιρεκακία] it is a more intense feeling. In this age of hyper-scrutinized interviews (and one can only imagine the endless negotiations that preceded this infiltration of the White House “vaults”) it’s delightful to see something so staged go so wrong. The First Lady’s story is less exciting. Just the idea that Jill Biden is some kind of female Machiavelli whispering in the President’s ear is an unbearably boring and misogynistic scenario.
Source: The Financial Times
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