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

Before we start, I know, I know: where I come from criticizing the First Lady for decorating the White House lawn with giant Valentine’s Day hearts, when she, and even the mildest message of positivity, represents a major improvement in compared to its predecessor?

And I will still criticize. Because these hearts, I don’t like them. When they first found my feed this morning, I thought I was looking at a picture of the White House that someone had covered with stickers. But no, they’re really there, a Jill Valentine’s Day gift for us: a series of big white, pink and red hearts with words like “kindness” and “compassion” written 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 high school stage crew. If they should evoke sweet hearts – do I think so? – well … there is room for improvement.

And even in terms of messages, some of the words in the hearts – “healing”, “unity” – seem more directed at the pandemic and politics than at Valentine’s Day. Since when is Valentine’s Day about union? I tend to agree with an assessment I found on Twitter: Wasn’t that just “spreading messages of healing and unity by putting up posters in your backyard that say ‘healing’ and ‘unity’ and ending the day”? After all, it’s not that different from putting a lot of stickers in the White House.

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

When I boldly expressed these opinions to some of my colleagues, some argued that they liked the homely nature of the signs, found a certain charm in their rudeness and that any words of comfort were a relief in these brutal times. Perhaps I got it wrong, and these aspects of Jill Biden should be embraced rather than criticized: she is from Philadelphia, a city that prides itself on its fragmentation; she is an educator and here she was decorating the White House lawn as if it were a classroom. Also, since we are aware that she is an educator, why should she waste time with this first lady decoration bullshit? It may even be refreshing that she is not great at it or really doesn’t care about it.

Those are points, certainly. I think I am more compelled by the latter. Because he must is it Jill’s responsibility to decorate? Where was the second gentleman Doug Emhoff in all of this? Why isn’t he preparing to take on some of the macho work of being the spouse of the president or vice president, now that he exists so historically? (Besides, maybe he could get his art school daughter to help elevate the look a little bit?)

Instead, all he did was retweet the first lady. So I changed my mind; I have no more problems with Jill. Doug, however, is on the alert.