I don't think anybody in the thread would be willing to have a current picture of themselves dissected in this fashion. I know I wouldn't, and I quite like the way I look.
Reading this thread is causing quite a paradigm shift in my perceptions of how truly ruthless women can be on such a superficial subject ... guess I've been sheltered.
As has been noted before, by you and others, those who are the harshest critics wouldn't have the nerve to show themselves here. Their own looks are probably far below what Mrs. Obama's are; their appearance, elegance, grace, deportment, intelligence, and education probably aren't any match for Michelle Obama's, yet they show no hesitation here in reviling her to the max. It's easy enough to hide behind a computer screen when you want to put someone else down.
Another point to make is that it isn't Mrs. Obama who is comparing herself to Mrs. Kennedy. I doubt Michelle has any desire to make a comparison or ever thought to. She's intelligent enough to know that two completely different women from two completely different eras and backgrounds, two different races, are not comparable. They are not comparable in any way. It is ludicrous to do so.
Jackie was raised to be a 'princess,' essentially. Her style and appearance, her ability to function in an elite milieu, those were what she was bred for. Her object in life was to be some important, wealthy man's wife. Michelle was raised to be an educated, middle class, working woman and mother. Two completely different worlds.
As well, if we are going to revile the women in leadership positions in our country for not looking like models, for not looking like the ideal of feminine beauty, for not acting like air hostesses who never crumple, fade or become disheveled, who never lose their calm composure or express a personal opinion, then we have failed ourselves as women and failed as a culture which is supposed to look upon women as equals to men.