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If you’ve spent any time on Facebook or Twitter in the past few weeks, you may have seen the below meme making the rounds. Originally posted by right wing website Human Events, the superimposed images of Jacqueline Kennedy and Michelle Obama are meant to serve as a dig at our current First Lady. While the makers of the meme obviously have no problem with the idea of offending modern Democrats, the photo has mainly come under attack mainly for apolitical reasons, as social media users on both sides of the aisle are decrying it as an abhorrent piece of racist propaganda.  First lady historian Katherine Jellison sees the image as having far more to do with American attitudes toward race than with any sort of political divide: “Ideas about African-American women being more assertive, speaking louder, all of those stereotypes are coming into play here.” Sadly, many of the thousands of comments the original post has received reflect a bias against the First Lady that has nothing to do with politics. Jellison adds that anyone who takes the juxtaposed photos as a sign that Kennedy was a classier woman than Obama simply doesn’t understand the dramatic fashion in which media coverage has changed in the 50 years since JFK’s presidency. “The kind of image control that the Kennedy family was able to exercise just isn’t possible anymore,” Jellison says. Michelle Obama is inarguably a far more public figure than first ladies of old, and thus more likely to be caught in candid moments. While politicians’ wives in previous generations were primarily photographed on the campaign trail, Mrs. Obama covered Vogue  for the second time last March, and she’s launched several public initiatives, such as her campaign to bring healthier food to school cafeterias. It was announced in April that the First Lady will play herself on hit ABC series Nashville  and the FLOTUS been known to participate in Tonight Show sketches with Jimmy Fallon. In other words, she’s in front of a lot of cameras, and Jackie Kennedy probably yelled sometimes too, so relax, everyone. Michelle Obama’s 7 Best Looks 1. The Lady In Red Michelle Obama’s Jason Wu dress for President Obama’s second Inaugural Ball wowed the crowd.

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Michelle Obama-Jackie Kennedy Meme Generates Controversy