“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
I actually saw the story on Drudge of the lovely Michelle hating her job as first lady. That does not surprise me. However I did get diverted by a real lovely, Heidi Montag. She has very lovely hands, does she not?