Editorial: Who's in the picture

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - This week the National Portrait Gallery unveiled portraits of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama I was taken aback by the finished product of the First Lady.

The former President, in my opinion, was too gracious when according to FOX News praised artist Amy Sherald Even, "for so spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness of the woman I love."

The President here is clearly being nice and diplomatic. An artist I am not, but Michelle Obama is a very attractive woman, so who is the person in the portrait?

Dr. Eugene Gu, a health care columnist for the Hill tweeted:

It was reported that if the First Lady was disappointed in the portrait, she was far too gracious to let on. This artist beat out 2500 other artists to paint this portrait. I appreciate artistic freedoms, but I feel these portraits need to be more representative of the subjects being painted.

After her portrait was unveiled, the former First Lady said she, "was a little overwhelmed, to say the least. "She added, "I'm also thinking about all the young people, particularly girls and girls of color, who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up, and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall."

The artist said, "I paint American people, and I tell American stories through the paintings I create. Once my paintings are complete, the model no longer lives in the painting as themselves. I see something bigger, more symbolic,"

To me, I question if the model used for this portrait was actually the former First Lady.

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