Can I just tell you?

I usually love that opening sentence before the host of the NPR program "Tell Me More," takes it away in a dash of intellectual fury. But this recent podcast by Michel Martin left me wondering if there's any hope for the media when so many of us live in a bubble.

Yes, I said us. When Michel talks about the trade offs made by Michele Obama, including giving up her own income, her privacy and, let's face it, some of her power as a person equally as important and valueable as her husband, I agreed. I understood when Michel talked about her husband, a successful attorney who represents high-profile clients. But at some point the line from the movie Broadcast News came to mind: "What do you do when your life exceeds your dreams? Keep it to yourself."

Americans facing record foreclosures and the largest unemployment rate in recent history don't want to hear Michelle Obama whine about too many butlers or how the opportunity to help lead the largest wealthiest nation on the planet places a crimp in her future plans.

Luckily, our incoming first lady is too smart and self-aware to do this. But can I just tell you that I don't want anyone else doing it either. Those of us privileged enough to choose to work or not, to have household help or not and to have to worry about choosing our words in public as we flit from one social event to the next, are damn lucky. We may bemoan our exalted status as we stand in front of our closet wondering what to wear tonight but we ought to keep these things to a whisper. The explanation that such bemoaning is not about money or status but about the intangibles, doesn't fly. Fixating on the intangibles is a luxury most women catching NPR on the fly as they rush from one necessary task to the other don't have.

Everyone has their right to an opinion. And I'm exercising mine right now. The world is scary. We need all hands on deck, even the most bejeweled.

Martin is right that black women have always worked. We've always had our own career and piece of money. And I get it that a move to the White House interrupts that flow for Michelle Obama. Yes, the next four years will be all about the presidency. But this is more than a charitable trade-off. It is the steps that lead to large spheres of influence. Improving the lives of ordinary Americans will be the public's reward if this all goes right. And for the Obamas? Well when they exit the White House, they and their children will find the world theirs for the taking. Need a job that pays gazillions, here's one. Need a top-notch surgeon, this one's on speed-dial. Need anything from the yawning list of things most families do without, its yours. That's how power and affluence works. I don't know anyone who doesn't get that. But back to the Broadcast News guy, "Keep it to yourself."

And while my heart is working harder than Beyonce, let me add my voice to the call for more diversity among the chatter about Michelle Obama. Aren't there viewpoints beyond a parade of well-heeled, politically-connected women with D.C. area codes? I only ask because from what I've read on the website The Root, every writer is looking for the incoming First Lady to be vindication for their particular set of principles. One writer heralds Michelle Obama as the new poster child for stay-at-home black moms. Another writer says Mrs. Obama puts an end to feminism because she is under 50 and non-white.

Wow. To have all of these expectations placed upon one's back, I mean if there is anything the public can sympathize with Michelle Obama about, it is that.