First Ladies Shouldn't Tell Girls to Shake Their Booties for the Bucks

I take no issue with Mrs. Obama's personal choices when it comes to raising her daughters.  If Michelle Obama wants to take her 10 and 13 year-old daughters to a Beyonce concert over the Memorial Day weekend, that's her choice.

No law prohibits a parent from exposing her children to a singer whose song lyrics, sexualized dance moves and erotic costumes is as close to soft porn as it gets. 

But when the First Lady of the United States of America pushes the singer as a "role model" in various kid-friendly, pop culture, and mainstream venues then there's a serious problem.

We have already witnessed the first couple's unabashed adulation of misogynistic, cop-hating, and foul-mouthed rappers, now Mrs. Obama has seen fit to hold up a scantily clad sexually gyrating singer as a person kids should emulate.

On April 11 the songstress posted a handwritten note to Michelle on her blog. She described the First Lady as a "truly strong African-American woman" whom she is "proud...to have [her] daughter...look up to."

Michelle responded via twitter: "Thank you for the beautiful letter and for being a role model who kids everywhere can look up to. --mo" 

Mrs. Obama's "special connection" to Beyonce is spilling over to actual indoctrination. It goes well beyond friendship and admiration.

The pair worked together last May to produce an exercise/dance video as part of the $10 billion Let's Move campaign. The video, featuring Beyonce and her signature tight shorts singing a reworked version of the hit "Get Me Bodied," was distributed to schools across the country. In the video the singer is joined by kids of all ages in a school cafeteria.

Last week the First Lady couldn't stop gushing. She was asked by a reporter at People Magazine if she could be anybody other than herself who would she be?

"If I had some gift, I'd be Beyoncé," Obama said. "I'd be some great singer."

Let me get this straight. FLOTUS, a Princeton and Harvard Law graduate and former attorney dreams of being a pop star with mediocre singing skills and a hot bod?

In a Good Morning America interview to promote her new garden book, Mrs. Obama again talked about Beyonce, "I love her to death," she said. 

A concertgoer who witnessed the Obama family during the Saturday night concert in Atlantic City on May 27 gave a glimpse into the superstar's effect on Michelle. 

"They sat up in a private balcony with Gayle King. Michelle was jamming out to 'Crazy in Love.' When Beyonce told the crowd to get up and jump, [Malia and Sasha] stood and started dancing and jumping. They were shouting when Beyonce asked, 'Do girls run the world?'"

"Together, all three of them did the 'Single Ladies' dance moves," the concertgoer adds.

Halfway through the concert the 30-year old Beyonce told the audience. 

Y'all have no idea how hard I worked! I had to lose 60 pounds. They had me on that treadmill. I ate lettuce!

Could Michelle Obama's war on fat people have something to do with her slavish attention to the sexy superstar?

In his recently released book Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House author Ed Klein chronicled the First Lady's rejection of Oprah when Michelle Obama was heard to say:

Oprah with her yo-yo dieting and huge girth is a terrible role model. Kids will look at Oprah, who's rich and famous and huge, and figure it's okay to be fat.

Oprah, a college graduate, journalist and the most successful black female entrepreneur in recent history was thrown under the bus by her former friend. Why? Because she was too fat and a "terrible role model?"

Beyonce, a sexpot and high school dropout, is Michelle's new BFF; and the right kind of role model for her girls. Michelle Obama lives in an opposite universe.

As the President's wife Michelle's comments carry a great deal of weight. When FLOTUS states in a popular magazine read by the masses she wants to be Beyonce, isn't it disingenuous of her to act as if it's fun and games?

What are kids actually learning from the entertainer's experiences? Do we really think young girls and boys are seeing Beyonce in her offstage roles as wife, mother and businesswoman?

Hardly. The youngsters are hardwiring Beyonce's suggestive images and lyrics into their vulnerable minds. 

The fact that only one in a million dropouts might actually become a rich and famous star doesn't deter Michelle Obama from opening her mouth. Why should she care? Her girls probably won't get knocked up and become a part of the 70% of single parent households now populating the black community.

The takeaway from the First Lady's reckless advice to young girls:  sex sells and you don't have to finish high school to make a lot of money.

How sad is that?

Read more M. Catharine Evans at Potter Williams Report