This is what the decline of the regime looks like.

Laura Bush visits Jerusalem and is hated by everybody. The Israelis protest her, and the Arabs protest her. (It seems the Israeli protestors wanted to free Jonathan Pollard, a platform, which, all other things being equal, is senseless: after all, a captured spy is a captured spy. We can be confident his job description involved not getting caught.)

Now, Mrs. Bush she were a President, the fact that nobody likes what she is doing could be legitimately taken as a sign of good, or at least prudent, policy.

But First Ladies are supposed to be liked by everybody. This point is so obvious that we doubt it has ever needed to be stated until now. Even 'controversial' First Ladies are only controversial among Americans. (Eleanor, Nancy, Hillary were pretty good at either diplomacy or statecraft). Arguably, a First Lady is sometimes (yes, because of sexist, partriarchal condescension) an instrument of foreign policy.

Protesting a policymaker is one thing; protesting a First Lady is tantamount to a manifestation of the pending loss of all civilized discourse.