This Valentine’s Day display, I don’t like it.

Before I start, I know, I know: where can I criticize the first lady for decorating the White House lawn with giant hearts for Valentine’s Day as she, and even the blandest message of positivity , is such a big improvement over its predecessor?

And yet, I will criticize. Because these hearts, I don’t like them. When they first discovered my feed this morning, I thought I was looking at a photo of the White House that someone had covered in stickers. But no, they’re really there, an offer for Valentine’s Day from Jill to us: a series of big flat white, pink, and red hearts with words like “kindness” and “compassion” spelled out on them.

Giant lawn signs in general seem like an odd choice for a place like the White House, but these in particular looked like they were built by a college stage crew. If they’re supposed to conjure up candy hearts – I think they are? – well… there is room for improvement.

And even in terms of the messages, some of the words on hearts – “healing,” “unity” – seem more pandemic and politics-oriented than Valentine’s Day. Since when has Valentine’s Day been synonymous with unity? I tend to agree with one review I came across on Twitter: Wasn’t it just ‘spreading messages of healing and unity by putting signs in your heart that say’ healing ‘and “Unit” and calling it a day “? It’s really not that different from slapping a bunch of stickers on the White House after all.

I was excited to say goodbye to Melania Trump and her blood trees and see what kind of aesthetic Jill Biden would bring to the White House, but I guess I was expecting something a little more elegant. . If these hearts are a harbinger of what is to come, I am not optimistic.

When I bravely expressed these opinions to some of my colleagues, some retorted that they liked the handcrafted nature of the panels, found a certain charm in their tackiness, and that any word of comfort was a relief in these brutal times. Maybe I was wrong, and these aspects of Jill Biden needed to be embraced rather than criticized: she’s from Philly, a city that’s proud of her teardown; she is an educator, and here she decorated the lawn of the White House as she would in a classroom. Besides, while we’re on the note that she’s an educator, why should she waste time on this first lady decorating nonsense in the first place? Maybe it’s even refreshing that she isn’t very good at it or doesn’t really care.

These are points, certainly. I think I am most obligated by the latter. Why should is it Jill’s responsibility to decorate? Where was the second Mr. Doug Emhoff in all of this? Why doesn’t he step up some of the sexist grunt work of being a presidential or vice-presidential spouse now that it exists so historically? (Also, maybe he could ask his art school daughter to help uplift the visuals a bit?)

Instead, he just retweeted the first lady. So I changed my mind; I no longer have a problem with Jill. Doug, however, you are warned.