It’s been four days since The Election and mirabile dictu, Barack is still president. No Rovian chicanery has caused a recount in some Ohio district, no “non-activist” judge has reinterpreted the amendments that allow women and African Americans to vote.  So that’s a relief, eh?

There are some rumblings among public school parents in NYC, of which I am one, about rumors that Barack is thinking about nominating Joel Klein (NYC Chancellor of Schools) as Secretary of Education. Klein is a high-handed autocrat who relies far too heavily on test scores as a measure of “accountability;” he cuts the school budgets at the whim of the mayor – while spending millions and millions of dollars on meaningless surveys that are expensively printed and mailed to every single public school parent in the city. There’s more to complain about, but this post is not going to be railing about NYC’s public schools. That would take an infinite number of blog posts plus my head would explode.

Instead – well, on this gloomy wet New York day, I’m going to weigh in on something infinitely more profound: The Michelle Obama Grant Park Dress Debate.

It was hideous. Maybe in person, or at a cocktail party, or on Project Runway, that red-and-black dress would be totally hot and fashion forward. But under the lights, on TV, and in front of 125,000 people? Uh…no.

Critics of the dress, however, have overlooked the truly horrible aspect of this Narcisco Rodriguez creation. The dress is at the top of this post – now look at this:
See that red double triangle?

Exactly.

Is that the image the new first lady should be projecting? Methinks not.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m still walking on air about Obama’s election and would willing give just about anything (first born? second born? Husband? all three?) to be able to attend any of the inaugural parties – or even to stand in the cold in DC and watch on some Jumbotron somewhere as Barack gets sworn in

(FYI: Inauguration Day? Also my birthday. Makes getting that much closer to 50 almost okay.)

Let’s just hope that this dress is the last time Michelle uses an arachnid as her fashion consultant. Maybe Tim Gunn could volunteer his services?