Difference between Michele and Michelle? One ‘L’ and 550 ‛sleeveless’ mentions

Both Michelle Obama and Michele Bachmann like to go sleeveless. But the first lady’s name has appeared in news articles that also used the word “sleeveless” on 551 occasions, according to the Lexis database, while the Republican congresswoman’s name has shared space with “sleeveless” only once.

Actually a Lexis search for “Michele Bachmann” and “sleeveless” turns up two results, but one is a reader’s comment at the DumpBachmann Web site, which doesn’t really constitute a news mention.

The other, a report on President Bush’s 2008 State of the Union address from the Washington Post blog The Sleuth, recalls Bachmann’s extended smooch with Bush before his 2007 address. “Sleeveless” comes up only in describing the outfits Bush daughters Jenna and Barbara wore to the 2008 event.

So basically, members of the news media have gone ga-ga over Michelle Obama’s sleevelessness, while Bachmann’s unclothed upper appendages are the one subject about her upon which they’ve remained silent.

It’s like the press applying the “sore loser” tag to Vice President Al Gore within weeks of the 2000 election, and hardly at all to Norm Coleman months after the Republican fell behind Al Franken in the contest for his old Senate seat.

So yes: Obama is more famous (for now) than Bachmann and may bare her arms more often (though the style is a staple of both women’s wardrobes).

But even so, a double standard seems to be at play when a deserving media hound like Bachmann gets completely skunked on something as newsworthy as showing shoulders.