Counterpoint: No job description? New First Lady will do just fine

The incoming First Lady will be just like the rest of us who are partners with our working spouses.

By MIKE SMITH

Last update: January 5, 2009 - 8:41 AM

Lauren Stiller Rikleen misses the point in her commentary "First Ladies need a job description" (Dec. 30), and in doing so minimizes the "work" of the First Lady and of all other at-home spouses who partner with their "working" spouses to ensure successful careers and home lives.

Rikleen claims that Michelle Obama must have a job description and salary to go along with her role as First Lady of the White House. Her claim, however, mistakenly assumes that the value of a woman's contributions to society or as a role model to others hinges on whether she has a job description and pulls a salary.

Get real. Success or value as a person is not simply about the money. I would venture to guess that Obama is looking forward to her role as First Lady and might even be insulted by Rikleen's claim that she is entitled to a salary. She made a choice, jointly with her husband, to leave her paid career and partner with him as he assumes the presidency.

More than eight years ago, I made a similar choice, admittedly on a smaller scale, by becoming the First Gentleman of the Beige House in Plymouth, also without a job description and for the grand salary of zero dollars and zero cents.

Yes, I stepped back from my career as a mechanical engineer to enter the support role of our family as an at-home dad. It was one of those life choices that my wife and I made together. Rather than looking at the traditional husband-and-wife breadwinner scenarios, I look at it as partnering roles. While we each sacrifice -- she misses out on time with kids to be at work, and I miss out on building a "career" -- as a whole I would say that this partnering has contributed to the success of our family, and that the rewards are immeasurable.

Rikleen bases her argument for a salary and job description on points that are irrelevant and that minimize the choices Obama and I and hundreds of thousands of other men and women have made. I don't disagree that Obama is a very accomplished woman, and I'm sure she is a fabulous, loving mother. It seems we may even have a few things in common.

Sure, Obama has an Ivy League law degree, and she'll have an office and a staff. For this, Rikleen suggests she should be paid. I have a Big Ten engineering degree and an office (although it is a countertop between two filing cabinets behind my wife's desk). My job duties as an at-home dad are undefined as well, and range from head cook to homework helper, driver, volunteer, gutter cleaner, plumber, grocery shopper, cleaner and launderer. Should I go on? Do I really need to get paid for this? No. Do I wish I had Michelle Obama's staff helping me out on a daily basis? You bet.

Regarding Rikleen's comments about other First Ladies and how they contributed to society without pay: It's called volunteering, and millions of Americans are doing the same every day.

So while Rikleen says that Obama has "relinquished the opportunity to be the role model in chief for working mothers," I say she can be the role model to all the First Ladies and First Gentlemen out there in their support roles as great parents and as dedicated volunteers.

Mike Smith lives in Plymouth.

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