Amid 70,000 state layoffs, Macri hires image coach to make his wife into "the new Michelle Obama" [View all]

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Last edited Sun Apr 24, 2016, 10:39 AM - Edit history (1)

Argentine President Mauricio Macri makes no apologies for the 70,000 state layoffs ordered since he took office four months ago, referring to the fired employees as "junk contracts." He did, however, find room in his austerity budget for an image consultant for his wife, the socially maladroit First Lady of Argentina Juliana Awada.

The consultant, María Reussi, was given the newly created post of Assistant to the President on Matters of the First Lady and earns 90,000 pesos ($6,300) a month - a salary approaching that of the President's (130,000 pesos) and nearly six times the median full-time pay in Argentina. Her job, according to Reussi herself: "create a modern First Lady, in the style of Michelle Obama."

Introduced to Macri in 2003 during his failed first bid for Mayor of Buenos Aires by his now Chief of Staff Marcos Peña, Reussi is described as "Juliana's shadow." Her role goes far beyond that of the First Lady's social secretary (her official purview), instead including daily advice as to what to say, where to go, and how to behave in the political arena.

Reussi's task has not been easy. Ms. Awada is, despite being 42, very much a traditional First Lady who avoids speaking in public - least of all taking strong public policy positions like the last woman to serve as Argentina's First Lady, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, did during her husband Néstor Kirchner's 2003-07 term. Awada's first public speech as First Lady, in fact, was for a joint appearance with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama during President Obama's state visit in March - a speech Reussi wrote. There have been none since.

Nevertheless as part of what Reussi refers to as the First Lady's "Obamization," Awada has been encouraged to appear in supermarkets from time to time and has even planted a vegetable garden on the grounds of the Quinta de Olivos presidential residence in suburban Buenos Aires.

But the differences with the adopted template aren't limited solely to Awada's professional background (or lack thereof). Whereas Mrs. Obama is an accomplished lawyer with a personal history of social and political commitment to her native Chicago, Ms. Awada's work experience is limited to head of fashion design at her family's own boutique chain 'Cheeky' - a firm repeatedly found to be operating sweatshops staffed with undocumented Bolivian immigrants in Buenos Aires' garment district.

María Reussi, however, isn't daunted. "You will want to give the impression of an active woman from the professional standpoint, and not so much from matters of protocol," she explained, adding that Juliana Awada "has always been committed to social issues. When Macri was mayor, for instance, she visited soup kitchens and child care centers."

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They're both beautiful. But only one owns a sweatshop.[/center]