Jolene on Michele Obama

THE OBAMA INAUGURATION

First family aims to keep life as normal as possible

The Obama Family 6 years later

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
It was a small gesture, but it said so much.
Barack Obama interrupted an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters to tell his wife she had lipstick on her teeth. Immediately, Michelle Obama bared her teeth and rubbed at them with her finger.
We were charmed, first that the president-elect alerted his wife to the lipstick malfunction and second, that the future first lady, a graduate of Princeton University and then Harvard Law School, would so unselfconsciously tend to it on national TV.
It's the sort of moment that illustrates what the Obamas have said from the beginning: that they're normal, down-to-earth people. But can the Obamas and their two daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, preserve any semblance of normalcy in their lives once they move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
In that same interview with Walters, the Obamas vowed that their children would do chores around the White House, including cleaning after the impending first puppy. Michelle Obama, raised in a tight-knit, working-class Chicago family, has promised the girls they can have sleepovers in the White House.
Beyond the confines of the White House, though, looms the public spotlight. The Obamas have little control over that, and it can burn, as Chelsea Clinton learned when she became the object of skits on "Saturday Night Live."
The Obamas appear to be wary of the glare of media attention. The family often appears on stage, but the girls' face time with reporters has been limited. The president-elect has said he regretted letting the girls speak to NBC's Maria Menounos when "Access Hollywood" showed up at Malia's birthday party.
What the kids said was harmless enough — Sasha revealed her dad likes "minty gum" and Malia chided him for shaking hands with kids ("Just wave or say hi") — but Obama made it clear that he doesn't like the idea of opening windows into his children's lives.
Still, Sasha's chewing gum insight is eloquent: These girls spend enough time with their father to know what kind of gum he chews. That's not always the case with politicians.
Children add warmth to a White House, as the commander in chief's humanity has long been underscored by images of his children: Caroline and John-John Kennedy cavorting on a swing set, Susan Ford having her high school prom at the White House, Amy Carter reading a book during a formal dinner, Chelsea Clinton playing with Socks, her cat. The nation can look forward to smiling at photos of Malia and Sasha Obama practicing piano in the White House and cavorting with their dog.
Michelle Obama, who turned 45 three days ago, was a Chicago lawyer named Michelle Robinson when she met her future husband in 1989.
On the strength of an impressive first year at Harvard Law School and an engaging introduction memo, Barack Obama was hired as a summer intern by the law firm of Sidley Austin and Michelle, just a year out of Harvard Law School, was assigned to be his mentor. It was love at first sight for him, but Michelle has said she originally resisted Barack's advances, wanting to keep the relationship professional.
Eventually she agreed to go on a date with him after hearing him speak at a community function. The couple married on Oct. 3, 1992.
Michelle Obama left a job as a Chicago hospital executive to help her husband run for office. She has said that she'll carve a niche for herself in Washington, but that her priority will be her children.
In an article for U.S. News and World Report before the election, she wrote, "I will work daily on the issues closest to my heart: helping working women and families, particularly military families. But, as my girls reminded me in Denver, even as First Lady, my No. 1 job is still to be Mom. At 7 and 10, our daughters are young. My first priority will be to ensure they stay grounded and healthy, with normal childhoods — including homework, chores, dance, and soccer."
Her stated goals as an advocate in Washington will fall in line with that priority. She told Ebony magazine she'd like the government to focus on helping families by, for example, improving the nation's health care system.
As a professional woman who now will be a stay-at-home mom, Michelle Obama has won some fans in both camps.
"Women everywhere are excited about Michelle Obama as first lady," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, told Newsday.
"She's engaging and smart and outspoken on issues that are important to her. She has been clear that the issues of working women, and especially working moms, will be high on her agenda as first lady."
"America's vision of the stereotypical June Cleaver stay-at-home mom is about to get a shake-up," Jolene Ivey, founder of Mocha Moms, an organization for stay-a-home mothers of color, wrote in a commentary for cnn.com.
She praised the new first lady for "deciding to take time off from her career to focus on getting her children acclimated to life in the White House" and also for focusing attention on family issues.
"She'll be in the position to bring light to issues and organizations that are currently working in obscurity, and energize their efforts," Ivey wrote.
She's also be in a position to draw fire. Every word she utters will be scrutinized.
She told CBS's Katie Couric during the campaign: "I want to be as 'me' as I can be so that people, you know, if they vote for Barack, they know exactly who their first lady will be, all the good and bad. So pretty much what people see is what they get. ... I am a mother and a professional and a wife. And I know the struggles of trying to balance work, life, family."
That balancing act, never easy, is about to get a lot harder for Michelle Obama.
Austin community activist Eugene Sepulveda, who worked on the Obama campaign, says he has met the new first lady on a couple of occasions and thinks she can handle the challenge.
"She's completely authentic," he says. "Seems to me she and the girls will help President-elect Obama stay well-grounded."