Michelle Obama has weathered the storm of criticism over shoes, shorts and bold statements about the nation, but in the end, the FIrst Lady always shines with ease and grace. Once again, Mrs. Obama caught the spotlight Thursday when she snagged the No. 40 slot on the Forbes 100 list of the most powerful women in the world.
“Not only is she a First Lady, she’s the first African-American First Lady and that accords her a certain amount of power,” said Heidi Brown, a ForbesWoman staffer who had a hand in creating the list.
Brown said when a candidate is chosen, they take into account the amount of attention she receives, and it is no secret the media is enchanted with Michelle Obama.
“She’s done a lot to get her message out,” Brown said. “She’s been effective at reaching out not only to the media, but to regular people as well.”
Trailing behind the First Lady are other female members of the Obama administration, with the exception of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who took the 36th spot, which is down from the 28th position she occupied during her presidential campaign.
Homeland Security guru, Janet Napolitano scored the 51st position, SEC chief Mary Shapiro took slot 55 and head of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius took the 56 slot.
The newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor also made the list in position 54.
The World’s Most Powerful Woman issue of Forbes dons the internet queen Carol Bartz of Yahoo on it s cover, she earned was No. 12 on the list.
