Obama Girl Interview

Amber Lee Ettinger is pretty honest about her calling -- "I was a cheerleader...I've been in entertainment all my life, even if that meant dancing during basketball games" as a teenager in Hazelton PA. But the born entertainer was never a prom queen, owing to the fact that she didn't "kiss-up" to teachers in the game of high school politics.

And it's this focused self-awareness and self-definition that makes quick work of any would-be haters who'd presume to speak disparagingly about her from a capitol "F" feminist vantage point, and she's certainly had her detractors -- Ben Relles, the brain-trust of barelypoltical.com told me Wonkette.com called her "Everything that's wrong with the American system".

Sure, in the most basic sense Ettinger is a sex symbol (albeit, a very wholesome one) but there is something different about Ettinger-as-Obama Girl from, say Marilyn Monroe singing to JFK nearly half a century ago. For one thing, the two have never met. And it's with some poignancy that we hear her speak graciously about never having met Obama, for whom she was inarguably an effective cheerleader in the crucial state of Pennsylvania.

I'll concede that were I Obama, I'd probably have to walk a fine line cuz I don't think Michelle Obama would be having it, but as Ettinger points out, a note from the prez just saying that "he got the joke" would be nice, like the "thank you" note he sent Shepard Fairey, whom his campaign contacted to do the now-ubiquitous Obama poster.

Of course, Ettinger did also benefit enormously from the Obama Girl campaign, and she continues to do so, with a radio show, scripts coming via FedEx, tracks on iTunes, the ongoing web show and her design career (she studied design in college, with a focus on lingerie).

It's an interesting thing to find one's self discussing lingerie construction and the perfect-fitting bra with an American icon like OG, and even more interesting is her discussion of her close relationship with her Mom, who's published 15 books on fashion history (Amber was her model) and with whom she is re-launching the "Inspired By Amber" jewelry line her mother started when she was a child.

For the record, she has declined offers from Playboy et, al, just as she did when they tendered offers (at a different price point) when she was Miss Hawaiian Tropic, which is just one of the many jobs she's held. Hearing her go through her resume, we understand clearly that she's a hard-worker who has forged her own unique American journey, and earned her big break by never giving up, simple as that.

This is part 1; in part 2, I speak with barelypolitical.com's founder Ben Relles, who created the Obama Girl web movement with Ettinger after they met at a Starbucks when Relles posted an ad for barelypolitical.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• OBAMA
• GIRL
• VAZQUEZ
• barely
• political
• Amber
• Ettinger

[fromruinstudio]

I'm glad to see this interview I may take her more seriously in the future.

[AmberLeeEttingerFan]

Amber lee is an awesome person.