Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Michelle Obama comes to global prominence bearing the weight of expectations that she’ll be every woman’s role model, representing every mother of young children and every professional trying to balance career and family.

There’ll be another burden too: Beginning with next week’s inaugural ceremonies, everything about the nation’s first black first lady will be dissected, from her policy positions to her parenting to her wardrobe.

Eleanor Roosevelt introduced the notion of first lady as activist; Jacqueline Kennedy brought a sense of élan and high fashion; Nancy Reagan spoke out against drugs; Hillary Clinton came in as a policy maker attempting to overhaul health care.

But none of them broke a barrier as formidable as does Obama: the barrier of race.

“Is there an extra burden?” said Valerie Jarrett, who will serve President-elect Barack Obama as a senior White House adviser and has known the Obamas professionally and personally for 17 years. “Yeah, there is. But Michelle is a pragmatist” who “understood that going into this,” Jarrett said during an interview in her Chicago office last week.

Cautious Agenda

A cautious agenda reflects this practical sense. Jarrett said the new first lady will focus on being an advocate for military families, raising awareness for work-family balance and promoting volunteerism.

Obama, the subject of at least four biographies, may try to do the opposite of Clinton, first cultivating a softer image and then playing a more active role in the administration, said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of a book called “How Obama Won.”

“It’s going to take a huge amount of adjustment on behalf of the country to get used to the sight of a black woman as first lady,” he said.

In part that is because so few black women have held any kind of high office, and in the civil rights movement most were behind-the-scenes participants.

“For some people, it will be kind of a culture shock,” said Paul Taylor, chairman of the Philosophy Department at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Conventional Roles

Most first ladies have played conventional roles, serving as hosts to the White House, making ceremonial appearances and presiding over state dinners.

“As much progress as women have made in electoral politics, the role of first lady has evolved more slowly,” said Quinetta Roberson, a Villanova School of Business scholar who co-authored a study about Michelle Obama.

“To the extent that first ladies fail to conform to traditional gender roles, the more criticism they tend to get from the media and public,” said Roberson.

In his book “The President’s Wives,” Robert P. Watson categorizes first ladies on a scale from non-partners to full partners. He argues that only Roosevelt, Rosalynn Carter and Clinton obtained full partnership.

The risks are significant for Obama. The daughter of a city pump operator and a secretary from the South Side of Chicago, the 44-year-old corporate lawyer attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

‘Neck Snap’

“She’s got to deal with the stereotype about black women being bossy and too strong and domineering,” said Emory University political scientist Andra Gillespie. “If you see her neck snap too much, people are going to say ‘that’s a little too sister or too ghetto.’ That’s different than anything her predecessors had to deal with.”

Jarrett rejects the word “outspoken” to describe Obama. “I would call her thoughtful and honest and candid,” she said.

The issue of racial stereotypes is probably more defining for the incoming first lady than it is for her husband. A descendant of slaves in South Carolina, Michelle Robinson was raised in a neighborhood transformed by white flight.

At Princeton, she wasn’t shy about her views on race. Obama’s senior thesis was on “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.” At Harvard, she protested the lack of minority students and professors.

“She cannot escape race the way her husband can escape race,” said Gillespie. “She cannot invoke a white parent or an exotic upbringing to deflect racial anxiety.”

‘Mom-in-Chief’

News coverage of her was limited until last February when, in commenting on her husband’s early victories in the Democratic presidential race, she told an audience she was proud of her country for the first time as an adult. That prompted critics to call her unpatriotic. Obama later said her remark had been poorly worded.

Beginning with an appearance on The View in June, Obama sought to soften her image. Days before November’s election, she made clear she wasn’t interested in a policy role in her husband’s administration and would instead be “mom-in-chief.”

Obama, who turns 45 on Jan. 17, will be the youngest first lady since Jacqueline Kennedy in an age in which the media glare has never been stronger, dialing up the degree of public interest in her every move.

“She’s referred to as a young woman, but she’s really defining what it is to be middle-aged,” said Marian Salzman, the New York-based marketing and trendsetting expert who coined the term “metrosexual.”

Obama is “going to live her 40s under the spotlight of the media,” said Salzman. Obama, who’s already been featured in magazines like Essence, is being celebrated as a modern-day Kennedy for her youthful look, A-line dresses, string of pearls and hair flip.

Obama must also grapple with the scrutiny of her daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7.

Temple University’s Taylor says even the Obama girls’ hair may become a public fascination. “Hair has always been a vexed issue for African-American women,” he said. Will Michelle continue to allow Malia to wear cornrows? “It’ll be interesting to see how they deal with that.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla in Washington at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net; Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 15, 2009 00:01 EST