I’m being asked a lot these days whether there’s any point in discussing how women can help their husbands achieve greater career success. “Won’t this economy force many moms who work part-time or less back into full-time jobs,” and “Won’t most young women with children now realize that staying home is no longer a financial option,” media types inquire.

My answer is—that depends. If a wife sees her role in the family as only a mother and plans to focus her efforts solely on that front, then of course in these times of layoffs, loss of benefits, and forced leave without pay, her husband could be a casualty. And she will likely be forced back to 40+ hours a week in an office.

However, at-home moms and mostly-at-home moms who view their husband’s career as a family enterprise—say, the earning arm of the family project—have a lot to offer that can help keep their husbands from becoming victims of layoffs and downsizing. In fact, studies show that married men tend to weather corporate upheaval much better than their single counterparts, experiencing less job loss and less loss of income. Reading an article about Michelle Obama’s efforts to rally the public behind her husband’s economic plans reminded me why this is so often the case.

“In her first weeks in the White House, Obama has been the gracious hostess and loyal spouse, welcoming visitors to the Executive Mansion and accompanying President Barack Obama to a prayer breakfast and to a charter school to read to second-graders. But in a departure from her predecessor, Obama has also begun promoting bills that support her husband's policy priorities…Last week, she supported the economic stimulus bill on her visit to the housing agency and another to the Department of Education.

Obama plans to visit all the cabinet-level agencies on her tour to listen to and get to know Washington in the coming weeks, her aides say. They said she relished the chance to serve as one of the president's chief surrogates on critical policy matters.”

(read the rest here.)

Now, whether you agree or disagree with the stimulus package is not the point. The point is that most political pundits agree that President Obama is in a precarious position. He has taken over leadership during one of the worst economies of our time. The public is nervous and, as polling shows, not at all convinced the stimulus package is the answer. Some pundits are already positing that if he can’t turn things around within in a year, his party runs the risk of losing their majority in 2010 and Obama runs the risk of being a one-term president.

Michelle Obama has clearly made it priority prevent this possibility and is doing what she can to support her husband’s proposals within the bounds of what the public considers suitable. She’s practicing savvy public relations.

For example, she is not making policy or heading up anything in an official capacity as Hilary Clinton did in the early months of her husband’s administration—a move that understandably proved very unpopular with American public. Rather she is approaching the public in a way that most people perceive as entirely appropriate—she is being a persuasive spokesperson for her husband, a cheerleader if I dare term it that way. And she is gathering the knowledge she needs to defend his plans to critics and allies alike.

Obviously, most wives won’t be called on to address a national audience to support their husband’s careers. But they can be willing to network at every opportunity—maintaining important social connections and attending company functions. They can practice effective public relations, talking their husbands up to people in a position to be helpful. They can be willing to learn about their husband’s day to day work responsibilities—brainstorming contributions a man may make in his job that can protect him from layoffs.

Being the woman beside the man not only isn’t obsolete in economies like ours, it is vital. And one of the blessings that may come of it is that many women may realize that their husbands need them just as much as their children do.