Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

The Obamas Are Reminding Us What Leadership Looks Like

November 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM UTC

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

Former FLOTUS.
Photographer: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

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Yes, Michelle Obama’s new photo book, The Look, is about her fashion evolution. It’s about how she wielded the power of clothes to advance inclusion, representation and accessibility. It is also about something much simpler: joy.

It’s an invitation to visit another era — one when the East Wing still existed and America’s First Lady was both engaging and engaged. It is an implicit critique of the current White House, now shorn of the East Wing and, by extension, the humanity and connection it can create.