he story: This week, Family Circle announced that First Lady Michelle Obama's white and dark chocolate chip cookies had won the magazine's quadrennial Cookie Bake-Off, beating Ann Romney's M&M cookies by a mere 287 votes. Family Circle's tradition stretches back to 1992, when Hillary Clinton caused something of an uproar by mockingly stating that she should have "stayed at home and baked cookies" instead of pursuing a career. Clinton was accused of showing contempt for stay-at-home moms, and she subsequently participated in Family Circle's contest with First Lady Barbara Bush to show her domesticated side. Since then, the bake-off has come to be known as a "bellwether baking contest," predicting four out of the last five presidential winners.
The response: "Why the f—k are we still making the candidates' wives bake cookies?" says Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel. "With women ascendant in both parties, how much longer will Family Circle magazine gamely nudge the spouses of presidential candidates back into the kitchen for some good old fashioned Mom-ing?" And the Family Circle contest has proved controversial in other ways, says Mellisa Locker at TIME. The only time a losing candidate's wife has won was when Cindy McCain nabbed the trophy in 2008 — but "rumors swirled that McCain had cheated by copying a recipe off a Hershey's box." Still, just because the contest seems inherently sexist, doesn't mean it will disappear. "The 2008 contest also included its first would-be first gentleman, President Bill Clinton," says Kristen A. Lee at the New York Daily News. His oatmeal cookies, however, failed to impress voters.
Sources: The Huffington Post, Jezebel, New York, New York Daily News, TIME
- WATCH: Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly spar over the Obama scandals
- Could the Cleveland kidnapping victims have been rescued sooner?
- A linguistic dissection of 7 annoying teenage sounds
- WATCH: Suspect defends brutal beheading of London man in broad daylight
- Sadly, you are uglier than you think
- WATCH: LeBron James' unbelievable, last-second, game-winning shot
- Is Greek yogurt hurting the environment?
- London's gruesome attack and the rising threat of lone-wolf terrorism
- How a Ghost Army of American artists helped defeat Hitler
- 7 horrifying details from the Cleveland abduction police report
- WATCH: Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly spar over the Obama scandals
- WATCH: Suspect defends brutal beheading of London man in broad daylight
- A linguistic dissection of 7 annoying teenage sounds
- Is Greek yogurt hurting the environment?
- How the White House's war on media backfired
- WATCH: LeBron James' unbelievable, last-second, game-winning shot
- Sadly, you are uglier than you think
- 7 grammar rules you really should pay attention to
- Are we on the cusp of a solar energy boom?
- The politics behind Kanye West's 'New Slaves'
