First Lady Hell: Michelle Obama Turned Her Office Into ‘Worst Wing’ & ‘Miserable Place To Work’ Former White House Staffer Claims
March 28 2014, Published 11:08 a.m. ET
From the East Wing to the Worst Wing! First Lady Michelle Obama is under fire from a former staffer who claims that her management style and fashion crises have turned her office into the “worst wing” in scathing new report.
Reid Cherlin, a former West Wing assistant press secretary working from 2007 to 2011 for President Barack Obama, 52, and his administration, has blown the lid off the inner workings in Michelle’s office, claiming that it is a “confining, frustrating, even miserable place to work.”
In his essay for The New Republic, Cherlin claims former First Lady staffers complained about the pressure of working for the Michelle, 50, and that she her time spent with staffers created “jealousy and discontentment” and they fought over the “access and responsibility” from her directions.
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The staffers reportedly griped that they weren’t given the means to effectively do the job.
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“How can we be the caliber that we’re expected to be with no attention and no resources and being an afterthought? All that can make for sparks.”
Cherlin also claimed that the focus on fashion was just as important as policy issues for the Harvard Law School graduate.
“The First Lady having the wrong pencil skirt on Monday is just as big of a f--k-up as someone speaking on the record when they didn’t mean to or a policy initiative that completely failed,” Cherlin said an unnamed former colleague revealed to him.
He said staffers wanted more access to the First Lady, and when they were included in meetings that became “vital status symbol, a way for staffers to measure their worth.”
“Every meeting was like an identity crisis, whether you got invited or not,” Cherlin claimed a former staffer told him.
“They don’t want to work for her; they want to be friends with her,” another reportedly said.
The White House defended Michelle in a statement to The New Republic, saying: “From day one, the First Lady ambitiously set out to make a measurable impact on the lives of everyday American families. “The First Lady is laser-focused on moving the needle wherever and whenever possible."