by Mark Silva
Michelle Obama - "Mom-in-Chief,'' as the editors at US Weekly are calling her in editions that will roll out tomorrow with the First Lady and daughters gracing the cover - is warming to playing two roles.
One is the mother of Sasha and Malia, who went with her husband, the president, to visit the younger daughter's school today. The other is the Harvard Law Schooled attorney who is hosting her first official White House event, the presidential signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Act demanding equal pay for all.
"Just call her Michelle,'' says the US Weekly report - though we wouldn't actually recommend that, as a matter of protocol. "From Pottery Barn furniture to casual staff parties, the full-time mother is reinventing the traditional role of the president's wife....
"On Jan. 22, just two days after moving into the White House, Michelle Obama threw her first party in the East Room of the stately 55,000-square-foot presidential residence,'' writes US Weekly's Eric Anderson. "On the invite list? Not politicians or visiting dignitaries, but the entire White House staff. "We're talking everyone, includ¬ing the plumbers, the florists -- everyone," an Obama staffer tells Us of the bash....
"Call it Step One of her White House makeover,'' he writes. "As first daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, adjust to a new life and friends, and their dad, President Barack Obama, 47, gets to work in the West Wing, Michelle already is bringing her own version of change to Washington, D.C., by reinventing the role of first lady.
"She's drawn on lessons from her predecessors (she praised Jacqueline Kennedy for rearing "sensible, caring, compassionate kids," and has tapped Laura Bush for advice on making the executive mansion a homier place) while also creating her own rules. Clothing? J. Crew. China se¬lection and food tastings? Let her social secretary handle that.''
See the inside photo: US Weekly Michelle Obama cover.pdf
Comments
I like how the magazine cropped out the President and put a fat Jessica Simpson in his place.
Posted by: FuzzBall | January 29, 2009 12:06 PM
"Keep it real?" This from a woman who had a private chef in Chicago? Oh yes, we all have that.
And please -- it's OK for the Obamas to trot out their children as props SOME of the time, but it's wrong for anyone else to do so? How hypocritical. Just like Obama himself.
Posted by: Beth | January 29, 2009 12:14 PM
Talk about genuine -and one who knows who the "people" are. Her actions remind me of the stories about Gerald Ford that resurfaced after he died: When Ford became President, he made a point of conversing with those people in the White house who had been ignored by President Nixon: Secret Service Agents, Marine guards, doormen, White House staff members, etc. Michelle appears to be of the same ilk - a genuine person who cares about the "little people".
Posted by: Buster | January 29, 2009 12:35 PM
And please -- it's OK for the Obamas to trot out their children as props SOME of the time, but it's wrong for anyone else to do so? How hypocritical. Just like Obama himself.
Posted by: Beth | January 29, 2009 12:14 PM
Oh please......The US Weekly does a story on her and her children and you call it troting out? Hypocritical is someone who claims they have "family" values but only for the families they wish to talk about. You loved telling us about Palin and hockey mom and baby Trig that Palin herself talked about, but heaven forbid the media mention it.
Posted by: bill r. | January 29, 2009 1:00 PM
Look at the bitter comments already posted. It's nice having first, a respectable roll model for our children to look up to in the white house. And second, to read the story about how a younger couple, with young children area adjusting to their new life.
Further, why is this any different than the stories run every time a new president is elected? *sigh* Some people never learn.
Posted by: Kitty | January 29, 2009 2:25 PM
Beth: Parents show off their kids all the time. Doesn't mean you want others making and selling a doll of them.
You dislike President Obama, that's fine. But be a respectful adult about families of those you disagree with.
Posted by: Joe | January 29, 2009 2:30 PM
You guys have issues with everything. Are you that unhappy with your own life that you have to find fault in someone else.
Posted by: CH | January 29, 2009 5:16 PM
How is being the Mother of Malia and Sasha a new role? O___o
I can't wait to read the full magazine article tho. Mrs. O is my role model.
Posted by: kleees17 | January 29, 2009 5:18 PM
Well Beth, why don't you study hard, do your homework, and then you too can go to college and do well yourself; or you can just be a whiner.
Posted by: Flo | January 29, 2009 5:38 PM
No, Flo---you can use affirmative action to work for a CIA front and become prez and wifey. Hopefully they're part of the angel wing of the cia that was out of favor during Bush 2.
Posted by: Not everyone gets to do that | January 29, 2009 11:16 PM
Why is it that when someone black goes to school, studies and works hard, EARNS a scholarship for their efforts, it has to be because of affirmative action. Give me a friggin break. MS or MR "not everyone gets a break" , quit hating and go for yours! At least they aren't running companies and stealing from regular folks like all of theose "white" CEO's on Wall St.
Posted by: FED UP WITH THE BULL | January 30, 2009 9:51 AM