Hilary Clinton was once a powerhouse lawyer that scared the crap out of her opponents. Laura Bush was once the dream librarian that neighboring libraries would drool over. Nancy Reagan once shook her booty and sang her heart out as a Broadway actress.

What do these former first ladies have in common with one another?

Upon their husbands’ s elections as president, each gave up their successful careers to become full-time first ladies. It’s hard not to blame them. Being a first lady is a serious job. Traditionally, first ladies have taken an issue they believed in and brought it lots of money and publicity. If they didn’t have a particular passion for something, a team of strategists would give them one. Furthermore, not only are you the most public figurehead to give your husband the support they need to run a country, but whom else would host lavish dinners for foreign diplomats and smile adoringly at their husbands from behind?

The standard first lady prototype could potentially be challenged, however, depending on the results of this year’s presidential elections. Enter Dr. Judith Steinberg, wife of potential presidential candidate, Howard Dean.

To give you a little background, Dr. Judy graduated from Princeton University way back when and continued her education at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where she met fellow classmate Howard Dean, fell in love and married. Since then, the couple has settled in Vermont where they both practiced medicine together, while taking care of their kids. Obviously, Dean has left his practice to pursue the presidency, but his wife still holds firm to her practice.

Sounds okay so far, right? Well, all was fine and dandy until the public quickly noticed something early in Dean’s campaign trail – his wife was nowhere in sight.

And the media went nuts.

How could someone support a potential president whose wife doesn’t even accompany her husband on the campaign trail? And it didn’t help when Dr. Judy made it clear to the public that even if Dean did get elected, she had no intention of quitting her work as a full-time physician and mother. A first lady still working a full time job? Preposterous. And the fact that she still frequently uses her maiden name? We won’t even go there.

Washington doesn’t know how to handle the possibility of such a situation and neither does the press. There has been nothing like it before. So what do people do when they are unsure and scared? Criticize it, of course.

Poor thing. The media has not been very kind to her. But amid all the talk and controversy going around about what the role of the first lady should be, how unhappy the Steinberg – Dean marriage must be, what a selfish career-oriented woman Steinberg is, and attacks on her fashion sense – America is missing a huge point. A very huge point.

After a primarily negative media blitz last week lambasting Steinberg, she finally took some time off of her practice to do an interview with Diane Sawyer. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Nevertheless, I suppose that it wasn’t very realistic to think, given the weird woman persona the media has created about her, that she would never be in the spotlight. But what emerged from the interview was a woman with genuine compassion, humility and integrity – something you don’t see so much in the political circles these days.

Steinberg represents a segment of America that is frequently overlooked and underappreciated. She is one of millions who juggle both a full-time job and a family. While the media bullies her for her absence on the campaign trail, I wonder if they’ve taken the time to put two and two together to figure out that it’s probably because she’s taking care of sick people and raising her children. After all, neither is exactly a role that can be put on hold. Whether or not Steinberg’s desires to continue practicing is professionally realistic or not should she become first lady is uncertain, but the fact that she has already made clear her priority to her family and patients first before anything else, speaks volumes.

Jen Choi is a senior in English. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].