The First Lady's "People Diplomacy"

The Wall Street Journal reports:

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama is expected to arrive in South Africa on Monday to meet with women's groups, speak about the importance of education and youth leadership, as well as take in the sights.

Yet many say there's another unstated aspect of the trip: soothing prickly ties between the U.S. and South Africa. South Africa's shifting stances on crises in the Ivory Coast and Libya has showed the continent's foremost economic and political power to be an important but unpredictable partner—an ally that can turn fierce public critic. Mrs. Obama's might help reduce tensions in a way that a visit from a senior U.S. official couldn't, say analysts.

"This visit is a political exercise as much as it is a public relations exercise," says Chris Landsberg, a politics professor at the University of Johannesburg. "I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't send some key messages to South Africa's decision makers from her husband." One of those messages would be to convey the importance the U.S. places on its relationship with South Africa, despite their differences in foreign policy.

"This is very much a people diplomacy-type trip," says Elizabeth Trudeau, spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in South Africa. "There's no question in the United States and South Africa about the strength of our partnership, our friendship."