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

Before we start, I know, I know: Where do I come from when I criticize the first lady for decorating the White House lawn with giant Valentine’s Day hearts when she, and even the faintest message of positivity, represents enormous improvement over its predecessor?

And yet I will criticize. Because these hearts, I don’t like them. When they first came across my food this morning, I thought I was looking at a photo of the White House that someone had covered in stickers. But no, they really are, a Valentine’s Day offering from Jill to us: a series of big, flat white, pink, and red hearts with words like ‘kindness’ and ‘compassion’ pinned on them.

Giant lawn signs in general seem like an odd choice for a place like the White House, but this one in particular looked like they were built by a high school 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 reporting, some words on the hearts – “healing,” “unity” – seem more focused on the pandemic and politics than Valentine’s Day. Since when is Valentine’s Day about unity? I usually agree with a review I came across on Twitter: wasn’t this just “spreading messages of healing and unity by putting up signs in your yard saying ‘healing’ and ‘unity’ and calling it a day”? It’s really no different than putting a bunch of stickers on the White House.

I’d been 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 was expecting something more elegant. If these hearts are a harbinger of things to come, I am not optimistic.

When I boldly expressed these views to some of my colleagues, some retorted that they liked the homey nature of the plates, found a certain charm in their tackiness, and that any words of comfort felt like relief at all in this cruel times. Maybe I was wrong, and these aspects of Jill Biden should be embraced rather than criticized: she’s from Philly, a city that prides itself on her scrappiness; she’s an educator, and here she was decorating the White House lawn as if she could be a classroom. Besides, while we know she’s an educator why should she waste time on this first lady adornment nonsense in the first place? Maybe it’s even refreshing that she’s not good at it or really cares.

These are points for sure. I think the latter force me the most. Why should is it Jill’s responsibility to decorate? Where was Second Lord Doug Emhoff in all of this? Why doesn’t he step in to take on some of the sexist grunt work of being a presidential or vice presidential spouse now that he exists so historically? (Maybe he could also ask his art school daughter to improve the images a bit?)

Instead, he only retweets the first lady. So I changed my mind; I don’t have a problem with Jill anymore. Doug, you’re aware, though.