First Lady Title Outdated?

(CBS)  A weekly commentary by CBS News Correspondent Andy Rooney.

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I don't want to get in a lot of trouble over what might be considered a sexist opinion but I think it's time to drop the term "first lady." It's a way of trying to make the president's wife feel good about a terrible job.

The phrase suggests a dutiful woman who spends four years honoring Girl Scouts or having her picture taken with cute kids. Laura Bush is better than that. She's bright and attractive but the term First Lady doesn't fit her. Maybe she's too young for it.

The vice president's wife, Lynn Cheney, is called the second lady. We hardly know her at all. Maybe she'd get more attention if we called her the "vice lady."

We have had 42 different presidents - all but one, James Buchanan, brought a wife with him to the White House. Jim wasn't married.

We've had three more first ladies than presidents because three died in the White House and their husbands remarried there. No president was ever divorced from a first lady while he was in office -- although we've had a couple of very close calls. We won't show you any pictures of them.

The idea of what a first lady is has changed. Martha Washington fits my image of a first lady. Dolley Madison was one ... Bess Truman. The president's mother was a nice first lady. None of them rocked the boat.

There have been several presidents whose wives were not first ladies. Eleanor Roosevelt was not a first lady. Jackie Kennedy was something other than a first lady. Hillary certainly was not one. I'll bet she didn't like being called one, either.

The wife of Lyndon Johnson was named Claudia but she was known as "Ladybird". We liked Ladybird and that name always seemed just right for her.

The word "lady" has gone out of style though. You don't call women "ladies" much anymore. The word has a sort of stiff, upper class air about it.

"Gentlemen" isn't used much anymore either of course except on the bathroom doors in restaurants.

So I'm for gradually dropping use of the title "first lady". It's outdated and anyway, we could be faced with an awkward decision in the near future.

We might have to decide what to call a former president whose wife is elected president. Would we be calling Bill the first "first gentleman"?

I don't think so.


Written By Andy Rooney