m i c h e l l e

[keysersoze]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

The new First Lady will have the chance to knock down ugly stereotypes about black women and educate the world about American black culture more generally. But perhaps more important—even apart from what her husband can do—Michelle has the power to change the way African-Americans see ourselves, our lives and our possibilities.

It will be interesting. I think Michelle will do much in terms of creating a positive image.

It wasn't too long ago that Regan fostered up the false 'welfare queen' image that black women have been fighting against.

It will be good to have her and the girls in the white house - I look forward to them.

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

About that Nubian queen meme . . .

By: Ta-Nihisi Clarke
The Atlantic
November 25, 2008


UPDATE: To be perfectly clear, I think she looks beautiful. Sorry for the initial confusion.

I don't speak French, but I think I get the message...Man, it keeps hitting you doesn't it? This whole "black president" thing is like fragmentation bomb. And I keep getting smacked by the shrapnel. This is fucking embarrassing. Look, this blog is Ta-Nehisi thinking out loud. I say it's embarrassing because I'm constantly worried about getting sucked in and churning out hagiography--to the point that sometimes I find myself just looking for things to disagree with Obama on.

I was writing yesterday about the need to say something different. And yet when I see a picture like this, when I see a black woman, who isn't an entertainer, photographed like this I'm stunned. And the worst part is, as of this Fall, I knew all this was coming. I thought Obama would win, and I knew there'd be pictures just like this. Yet perhaps I've been too intellectual. I think intellectually, I was, and am, ready. But emotionally, I'm unprepared. I didn't do much thinking about how all of this was going to make me feel toward black people, toward my own identity as a black person. We've always been the antiheroes of the American narrative. I love the X-Men not the Avengers. I love Spiderman not Superman. I love Boromir not Aragorn (in the film at least). Lucille Clifton has this great short poem, which goes like this:

Love rejected
hurts so much more
than Love rejecting;
they act like they don't love their country

No

what it is
is they found out
their country don't love them.​

That's who we were for so long--"The Love Rejected." I've been hard on post-racial euphoria, because it's so obviously stupid. But equally stupid is cynicism in this age, to walk around like nothing's changed, like we simply are "The Love Rejected." That probably has more to do with my own fears, than anything out there being written. Anyway, I'm rambling. Again.

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/the_isis_factor.php

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

<IFRAME SRC="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/a-yellow-dress.html" WIDTH=780 HEIGHT=1500>
<A HREF="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/01/a-yellow-dress.html">link</A>

</IFRAME>

 

[keysersoze]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

Michelle was looking classy as usual.

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

COVER GIRL

Michelle in Vogue

P o l i t i c o
By NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON

Vogue says their cover girl is the "The First Lady The World's Been Waiting For." Oprah says she's "a full-blown, grown-up…

…woman. An authentically empowered real woman who looks and feels like a modern woman in the twenty-first century, allowing us to see the best of ourselves in her. [She's] bringing a sense of connection and accessibility to that position that no nation has ever witnessed."

Of herself, Michelle Obama admits: "I love clothes. First and foremost, I wear what I love. That's what women have to focus on: what makes them happy and what makes them feel comfortable and beautiful. If I can have any impact, I want women to feel good about themselves and have fun with fashion.”

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0209/cover_girl_0d3a0995-8b6b-4e36-82bb-5747e1146166.html

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

<IFRAME SRC="http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2009_March_Michelle_Obama/" WIDTH=780 HEIGHT=1500>
<A HREF="http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/2009_March_Michelle_Obama/">link</A>

</IFRAME>

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read


Michelle Obama's Hairstyles: A Retrospective

​

The Huffington Post
February 13, 2009

In Grade School

As a Teenager

At Princeton

At Harvard Law School

March 2000

March 2004

July 2004

October 2004

February 2007

July 2007

January 2008

Febriaru 2008

March 2008

April 2008

August 2008

August 2008

November 4, 2008

November 11, 2008

January 19, 2009

January 20, 2009

February 3, 2009

February 5, 2009



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/13/michelle-obamas-hairstyle_n_166665.html

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read


Mrs. Obama Meets Mrs. Windsor

Michelle Obama greets Queen Elizabeth during G20 summit


<font size="3">Diary of a Mad Law Professor</font size>
By Patricia J. Williams
The Nation
April 8, 2009


In 1985, Deborah Gray White published her now-classic little book, Ar'n't I a Woman? This gem of historical research examines the archetypes by which slave women in the plantation South were confined--the brazen, sexualized Jezebel; the domineering, emasculating Sapphire; the dependable, selflessly neutered mammy; and the perpetually loveless, suicide-inclined, tragic mulatta. These tropes haunt black women still: from the adventures of Flavor Flav and Strom Thurmond to the depictions from Don Imus and the minstrelsy of Tyler Perry.

It's not easy living on the receiving end of this unhappy iconicity. That's why so many minority women are so smitten by the work that Michelle Obama performs, if at a purely symbolic level. She defies the boxes into which black (as well as many Latina, Asian and white) women have been caged; she expands the force field of feminism in ecumenical and unsettling ways. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">I appreciate that there are those who feel that Michelle Obama has been "mom-ified" by the media. But given the centuries during which black women have been relentlessly taxonomized as mammy rather than mom, many black and brown women find this phenomenon paradoxically, even sweetly transgressive.</span>

In some ways it's an echo of the cultural tension within the "women's lib" movement of the 1960s and '70s: relatively privileged white women wanted to be liberated into the workplace; relatively exhausted and exploited black women wanted to be liberated from it. It's a tension that's still recognizable to some degree, if only as parallel reactionary forces. If Hillary Clinton was dogged by accusations that she was too much the aggressive career woman, Michelle Obama is now besieged with criticism that she's not nearly careerist enough.

I don't wish to romanticize either the "pricelessness" of domesticity or the econometrics of the workplace. My point is this: what's <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">frequently missing from the discussion of black women is their role as loving mothers, beloved wives, valued partners, cherished daughters, cousins, relatives.</span> Lord deliver us from the best of our few so-called role models: hard-working, hard-edged disciplinarians, the ultimate iron-willed church ladies. Where, for heaven's sake, is a picture of black femininity (in particular, that of darker-skinned, nontragic femininity) that might signify beauty, chic, elegance, vulnerability, sophistication?

And so Michelle Obama represents a more comprehensive identity for all women, but particularly for black women. Even when she's just holding court at the head of the White House dinner table, she is a "black woman" performing a "white lady" role--a picture that still causes cultural confusion and anxiety. But Obama is at no risk of being sidelined as perpetual hostess; hers is a well-rounded life, one of multiple roles and layered humanity. She is powerful yet approachable, highly educated yet colloquial, bare-armed but modest, playful but consummately civilized.

If we do not always appreciate this at home, consider how she reflects upon our collective image abroad--and I do not mean whether her wardrobe competes with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's. She projects a powerfully modern image to conservative constituencies around the globe, whether in the Muslim world; or in Israel, where ultra-Orthodox newspapers recently airbrushed out all the women from a photo of Netanyahu's new cabinet; or in China, where male children are so fetishized that each year thousands of boys are kidnapped and sold.

Then there's Michelle Obama's physical embrace of the queen of England. It may be hard for Americans to fully understand the symbolic significance of that encounter, to comprehend the extent to which traditional class hierarchies are reinforced throughout the United Kingdom by a thousand little rituals of deference and yearning. Here's an example: for many years, an elderly British friend would send me a very nice plum pudding, always purchased from the high-end London grocer Fortnum & Mason. I didn't realize the entire significance of the gesture until another British friend told me that this was the very gift the queen sent to favored subjects. One year, my Christmas pudding suddenly came from Tesco--the Piggly Wiggly of the United Kingdom. Whatever had I done to fall in my friend's esteem?

It turns out that this was after Princess Diana had been killed. The queen had been roundly criticized for being out of touch with the common people, so the palace tried to reach out to her staff by sending plum pudding from Tesco. My dear friend, a true and loyal subject, had followed suit.

This raises a further question: why did the queen feel the need for such downscaling in the wake of Diana's death? "The princess touched people," friends told me, meaning that she literally used her hands to touch people, hugging AIDS victims and pulling starving Nigerian babies onto her lap. Royals "don't do" that, and Diana was adored for her willingness to break this taboo.

The queen is old school, however. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">So when Michelle Obama casually put her arm around the royal shoulders, the act risked being the order of misfortune that ensued when George W. Bush massaged Angela Merkel's neck. Instead, the palace quickly issued an uncharacteristically warm pronouncement that no protocol had been breached. What was truly remarkable, however, was that the queen, for the first time in her public career, had reached out her frail, white-gloved, little-old-lady hand, the one heretofore used only for waving, and encircled Michelle Obama's waist. For many throughout the British Commonwealth, particularly in South Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, this was a mime of egalitarianism, an unexpected kabuki theater of respect and mutual regard. Michelle Obama had somehow pulled off a superlatively graceful transgression--a symbolically charged moment of the kind that quietly turns a bit of the old world upside down, yet leaves us smiling at the new world glimpsed beyond.</span>​

About Patricia J. Williams

Patricia J. Williams, a professor of law at Columbia University and a member of the State Bar of California, writes The Nation column "Diary of a Mad Law Professor." Her books include The Rooster's Egg (1995), Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (1997) and, most recently, Open House: On Family Food, Friends, Piano Lessons and The Search for a Room of My Own (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2004.) . . . more


http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090427/williams?rel=hp_picks

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read


First Lady: Give back to others

First published in print: Sunday, May 17, 2009

First Lady Michelle Obama urged jubilant graduates at a rural California university to give back to their communities.

Obama made her debut as a commencement speaker to the first full senior class at the University of California, Merced. It is the newest and smallest school in the state's public system of universities.

Obama said particularly in this time of economic distress, communities need people to help out by starting after-school programs to help students succeed or work to reduce pollution and help the environment.

Obama also urged graduates to remember they are blessed. She says they should make their legacy a lasting one by giving something back.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=800965&category=ARTS


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[keysersoze]

Michelle Obama's Sociology Graduation Thesis at Princeton on the Black Community

If anyone wants to check out the thesis, here are the download links...

Part 1: http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf

Part 2: http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_26-501.pdf

Part 3: http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_51-751.pdf

Part 4: http://dyn.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_76-981.pdf


The thesis was removed and made unavailable when Obama was running for President but after election, Princeton University made it available to the public again.

 

[Logikal]

Re: Michelle Obama's Sociology Graduation Thesis at Princeton on the Black Community

I had picked it up a while ago. Probably around the same time this article was written.



After restricting access, Princeton University releases Michelle Obama's thesis
by Ana M. Alaya and Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday February 26, 2008, 8:36 PM

A college thesis by Michelle Obama about the impact of a Princeton University education on black students was withdrawn from public view for about a week - and neither the university nor Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will say why.

The university said that while the senior papers of former students are typically available to the public, Obama's thesis was "temporarily unavailable" at a university library until today.

"A thesis can be restricted or unrestricted for a variety of reasons including at the request of alumni," said Emily Aronson, a spokeswoman for Princeton. She declined to elaborate, and referred questions to Michelle Obama's press officer, "because it falls within the purview of alumni to discuss their academic work."

A spokeswoman for Michelle Obama also declined to say why the 1985 thesis was restricted at Princeton. But she said the campaign made copies available upon request.

During the past week, conservative bloggers have criticized the university for restricting access to the thesis until after the presidential election in November. Interest in the 96-page document has increased as race relations become a bigger issue in her husband's campaign.

The thesis, "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" is essentially an examination of whether a Princeton education - with its privileges, opportunities and exposure to students and staff who at the time were overwhelmingly white - changes what it means to be a black American.

Through a detailed survey of black alumni - and looking toward her own graduation - Obama explored, among other things, whether black Princeton graduates had come to identify with whites more than with blacks. She concluded, almost despairingly, that success in a majority white corporate world eroded the connection to the black community.

"I wondered whether or not my education at Princeton would affect my identification with the Black community," Obama wrote. "I hoped that these findings would help me conclude that despite the high degree of identification with Whites as a result of the educational and occupational path that Black Princeton alumni follow, the alumni would still maintain a certain level of identification with the black community.

"However, these findings do not support this possibility."

Obama included in her thesis a fair amount of self-reflection. She wrote that she sometimes felt like a visitor on the largely white campus, "as if I really don't belong."

She also questioned whether she would feel more or less obligated over time to work on behalf of the black community. Early in college, she wrote, she unquestioningly believed she would work "first and foremost" to benefit blacks. But as she approached graduation, Obama said she felt herself "striving for many of the same goals as my white classmates -- acceptance to a prestigious graduate or professional school or a high paying position in a successful corporation ..."

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

<font size="6">

Michelle on fast food </font size>​

<font size="4">

Talks to 'GMA' about health​

</font size>

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Michelle Obama says passing health care reform legislation is “not going to be easy” but the first lady thinks passing the bill is possible because “more and more people are ready for this kind of reform.”

In an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Obama said “the country has moved to another point in time.”

“It’s not going to be easy but you have more people who are ready to try to figure it out. And hopefully that will ultimately make the difference this time around,” Obama said.

Obama said she is also doing her part to promote nutrition and exercise because it “is to me one of the true keys of changing the health paradigm in this country.”

And change in health begins at home in the executive mansion where Obama says, “We try to do more meals as a family.”

“Just sitting together and having dinner has made a huge difference in how we eat and enjoy food,” Obama said adding that her daughter Sasha likes peas and daughter Malia is “a pretty big broccoli fan.”

Still, Obama remembers when her family was eating lots of take-out and recalls that she saw it “starting to take a toll on my kids’ health.”

After changing some eating habits, Obama says she feels more energized.

"I feel more invigorated when I'm following a healthy routine,” she said. “And if I feel that way, I can only imagine how my kids feel. So you know, this is something that we can take on in this country."

Obama said it’s the little incremental changes that make a difference in wellness and health.

“Government can’t do it all,” she said.

That doesn’t mean that Obama doesn’t like a little fast food once in a while.

"I love french fries: my favorite food," she said. "That's part of what we try to teach our kids. It's not about never, ever. There are some people who make that choice. We're not one of those. I love food. It's really about balance and choices."


http://www.politico.com/politico44/...ood_d7461d4c-4c11-4f32-866f-7bf1c11670bd.html

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

Michelle Obama's smashing summer style

The First Lady likes to wear colors and show off her arms year-round,
but she's finding other ways to spice up her summer wardrobe.

Above, Michelle Obama wore a floral reconstructed dress with
lace embellishments and orange trim around the neck to a White
House luau this past weekend. And what better summer
accessory than a lei!

But Obama's mix of colors and patterns during her
recent trip to London wasn't as much of a success.

On a recent trip to California, Obama looked radiant in
a Rachel Roy dress. The mixture of textures on top and
bottom were tied together with a pleated waistband,
which looked much like a cummerbund. But the sleeveless
dress seemed specially made for Obama, who should wear
the dark fuchsia shade more often.

Earlier that day, Obama went casual in a pair of leggings,
a geometric print top and her Puma sneakers, which retail
for $55.00, according to Mrs-rg, a Web sit devoted to
the First Lady.

But not all of Obama's casual footwear is necessarily
affordable, like this pair of $540 designer tennis shoes.
First Lady Michelle Obama volunteered a D.C. food bank
wearing her go-to brand, J. Crew, as well as a pair of
pricey sneakers by French design house Lanvin.

For walks with Bo, the First Lady goes from a very chic all-black ensemble on drearier days...

Her favorite color combination?...

... yellow and green.

Her shades of choice? Aviators! For a Memorial Day
getaway, Obama looked chic in a yellow J.Crew
cardigan, paired with a taupe skirt.

... and layering the sunny shade over a floral shirt
on a school visit, where she spoke on the importance
of healthy eating

For her May visit to New York, Obama recycled a wardrobe staple. She shopped her closet
and picked a Tracy Feith dress that could withstand the rainy New York weather

She even embraced Parisian style by wearing a scarf while sightseeing.

She also went economical for a White House lunch with former first lady Nancy Reagan,
choosing a cardigan ($24.99) and T-shirt ($9.99) by Gap. She also wore a white boucle skirt
by Michael Kors.

She also wore the cardigan to harvest the
White House garden veggies. Talk about
versatility!

Obama also gets sporty with her gardening attire,
wearing a burnt orange anorak to work on her
kitchen garden.

Iconic First Lady style? The belt over the outfit is an Obama favorite.
Above, Obama strolls the gardens 10 Downing Street with Sarah Brown.

Obama's wardrobe doesn't prevent her from getting her hands dirty...

... but it helps to layer appropriately.

Obama painted New York purple in an Isaac
Mizrahi wool and silk sheath and matching
jacket.

She was hot in this summer's trendiest shade - shocking
pink - at the White House Correspondents dinner.
Credits: MANDEL NGAN

Obama chose a similar fuchsia hue for her first meeting with French
First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in May...
Credits: Loeb/Getty

... and was a vision in white for her second meeting with Bruni-Sarkozy.

Obama wore a Michael Kors coat over a white sheath by Narciso Rodriguez and a pair of
Jimmy Choo Lantern heels. Credits: The White House

The silver strappy sandals are becoming a summer wardrobe
staple for the First Lady.

Obama officially has the right to bear her shoulder after a
stunning turn in an asymmetrical top, kicking off her
summer style. The First Lady paired the top with pair of
cropped white trousers, departing even further from the
traditional fashions seen around the White House.

Obama even broke out some fierce accessories...


[http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/07/03/gal_michelle_12.jpg/img]
... a pair of earrings.


http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/06/04/gal_dress_obama.jpg
But for a classic night in New York City, there's only one
option: the little black dress like the Azzedine Alaia.


[IMG]http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/07/03/gal_michelle_20.jpg
But lets not forget the argyle cardigans!

She seems to have one in every shade.




http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyl..._style/michelle_obamas_summer_style.html#ph32

 

[QueEx]

Re: article about Michelle Obama,,,,long read

FLOTUS Sport Feline Halloween Attire

Michelle Obama dresses up for Halloween while Obama sports slacks. | AP



By POLITICO STAFF
10/31/2009

Michelle gets into the spirit dressed as Catwoman with a leopard top and ears.

POTUS, FLOTUS – as Cat Woman! – first grandma Marian Robinson and some 2,000 children and a few hundred adults are trick-or-treating at the White House for Halloween.


Pool reports Obama dressed in casual slacks, checked shirt and a black sweater, while FLOTUS got into the spirit of things with an orange-and-black leopard-type top and cat ears, black eye shadow, her hair in a bun and lots of gold bracelets on one arm.


POTUS deemed FLOTUS to be “a very nice-looking Cat Woman."

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/flotus_sports_halloween_attire.html

`

 

[DJ Fukalya]

I love Michelle but her eyebrows bother me.

 

[QueEx]

Woman arrested in Hawaii for threat to first lady

35-year-old Kristy Lee Roshia is being held without bail after making threats
against Michelle Obama. These threats included calling the Boston office of the
Secret Service last month and telling them she wanted to "blow away" the First Lady.


Reuters
December 23, 2009


<font size="3">WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities arrested and charged a woman in Hawaii last week for allegedly threatening to kill President Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, days before the Obamas were due to arrive in the state for the Christmas holiday.

Kristy Lee Roshia was arrested on December 19 in Kaneohe, Hawaii, by the U.S. Secret Service after determining she had made the threat and had information about where the Obama family would be staying during their visit, according to court documents filed this week.

A detention hearing for Roshia was slated for later on Wednesday in Hawaii. She was charged with making the threat against the first lady and assaulting a Secret Service agent after she was arrested.

The threat was originally made on November 10 during a telephone call to the Secret Service office in Boston and she also threatened to kill a Secret Service agent and Marines during the conversation, the documents said.

Agents determined that Roshia was living near a Marine Corps base in Hawaii based on correspondence she had sent to the Boston office that arrived the previous day.

During an interview with agents on December 19, Roshia said she had gone to Hawaii in September to "protect Obama," had been to the location where the presidential family would be staying and was working at the golf course at the Marine base, a Secret Service affidavit said.

After Roshia was placed under arrest, she assaulted the Secret Service agent and claimed she would "blow away the whole Oval Office," the affidavit said.

Roshia began contacting the Secret Service in 2004 and from 2007 made numerous angry calls to the Boston office, sometimes five to 10 times a day, the affidavit said.

The Obama family is expected to leave for Honolulu, Hawaii on Thursday morning after the U.S. Senate votes on his top legislative priority, overhauling the U.S. healthcare system.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by David Alexander and Sandra Maler)
</font size>

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BM2R620091223

 

[Chitownheadbusa]

U. of C. shunning poor patients?

HOSPITAL DISPUTE | Obama's wife, 3 aides tied to plan to free up space

BY TIM NOVAK AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters

Sen. Barack Obama's wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don't have private insurance -- primarily poor, black people -- to other health care facilities.

Michelle Obama -- currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital -- helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.

Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program -- called the Urban Health Initiative -- to the community as a better alternative for poor patients. Obama's wife and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama friend and adviser who chairs the medical center's board, backed the Axelrod firm's hiring, hospital officials said.

Another Obama adviser and close friend, Dr. Eric Whitaker, took over the Urban Health Initiative when he was hired at U. of C. in October 2007. Whitaker previously had been director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Obama has said he recommended Whitaker for the state job, giving his name to Tony Rezko, who helped Gov. Blagojevich assemble his Cabinet. Rezko, a former fund-raiser for Obama and Blagojevich, was convicted in June on federal corruption charges tied to state deals.

Medical center officials and Obama's presidential campaign staff say the Urban Health Initiative -- along with a three-year-old companion program called the South Side Health Collaborative -- will dramatically improve health care for thousands of South Side residents. They say that, rather than having to wait hours at U. of C.'s emergency room, those patients get seen sooner and at less expense at neighborhood clinics and other hospitals. U. of C. even offers them a ride on a shuttle bus to other centers and sometimes provides the doctors at those facilities.

"Senator Obama sees community health centers as a vital part of efforts to invest in prevention and reduce costs," said Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman.

But the Urban Health Initiative has critics, including South Side residents and medical professionals.

"I've heard complaints from a handful of constituents, but I've also had calls from people in the health care profession complaining," said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, whose 4th Ward is just north of the hospital. "The medical professionals who have come to me are accusing the university of dumping patients on its neighboring institutions. ... Whether it's being implemented in the way that's in the best interest of the patient, I can't tell you."

Sen. John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent, criticized the Democratic presidential hopeful Friday for having pledged on the campaign trail to expand health care for Americans at the same time his top political strategist "was running a campaign to cut coverage for the poor."

Axelrod, whose firm stopped working on the project in October, responded that he was concerned that presidential politics was distorting the university's efforts to improve health care for poor people and to lower costs.

Whitaker, who has traveled with Obama on the presidential campaign trail, chalked up the criticism to people opposed to change.

"In the past, we opened our doors and saw whoever came," Whitaker said Friday. "We would see a patient who had general pneumonia, and if we needed to see a patient who needed a liver transplant, that liver transplant patient couldn't get in the door."

And rather than dump patients on other health care facilities, Whitaker said the initiative actually is improving their bottom lines.

"We were taking general patients away from Mercy Hospital, Michael Reese, and they were financially at risk," Whitaker said. "We harmed other hospitals without knowing we harmed other hospitals."

At the same time, the Urban Health Initiative is improving the university's finances. Fewer poor patients are showing up at the U. of C. emergency room for basic medical treatment and are no longer admitted to the hospital. That frees beds for transplants, cancer care and other more-profitable medical procedures that the university prides itself on.

"The collapse of the health care system was driving more and more people to the emergency room," Axelrod said. "The trend line was and is a disastrous one from the standpoint of maintaining the hospital. Their goal was to find an answer."

Axelrod's firm did polling and found that some of the university's primary-care doctors feared the hospital was turning its back on surrounding poor neighborhoods, according to a May 2007 report the firm gave the university.

Axelrod's firm also suggested the program's name be changed. "Some participants view the word 'urban' as code for 'black,' " according to a poll the firm commissioned.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1122691,CST-NWS-hosp23.article

 

[QueEx]

PETA pulls ads featuring Michelle Obama

Animal-rights group used first lady’s image without authorization

Michelle Obama appeared in a PETA ad with celebrities Oprah
Winfrey, Carrie Underwood and Tyra Banks. But the White House
said Mrs. Obama's image was being used without her permission.


Associated Press
January 12, 2010


McLEAN, Va. - The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Tuesday it is pulling an ad campaign that used the likeness of first lady Michelle Obama without her permission.

At the same time, PETA is urging the White House to take a stand against another unauthorized use — the debut last week of the Ringling Bros. circus' newest performing elephant, "Baby Barack."

PETA said it used photos of Michelle Obama in an anti-fur campaign because the first lady does not wear fur. But they never received authorization to use her image.

Michael McGraw, a PETA spokesman, said the decision to pull the Michelle Obama ad campaign, which also featured Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Underwood and Tyra Banks, was "to show good faith."

In PETA's view, the use of the Obama name by the circus is far more disturbing. In a letter Tuesday to the president, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk urges the White House to demand a name change for Baby Barack.

"'Baby Barack' is not even a year old, but his curious and energetic childhood has been cut tragically short while Ringling attempts to profit from your popularity by putting him on the road to perform in the circus," Newkirk wrote.

Norfolk-based PETA says the circus elephants are abused and the babies are taken from their mothers prematurely.

Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, says its elephants are well cared for and add that using the name Barack is intended as an honor.

Feld spokeswoman Amy McWethy said Barack was born 11:57 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2009, just minutes before the date of Obama's inauguration. He was the first elephant born by means of artificial insemination at Ringling Bros.' elephant conservation center in Polk County, Florida in the central portion of the state.

"We thought it was only fitting to call him Barack," she said. "He is an amazing elephant. We're very proud of him."

Baby Barack made his debut last week in Tampa to great fanfare, appearing with his mother, stepping up on an elephant tub and raising his trunk to the applause of the crowd.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Generally, in the past, it has said it does not condone the use of the first family's name or images for commercial purposes. Last week, the Weatherproof outerwear company agreed to pull an ad campaign built around a photo of Obama at the Great Wall of China in which he appeared to be wearing a jacket made by the company.



http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34827917/ns/today-white_house/

 

[QueEx]

<IFRAME SRC="http://www.michelleobamawatch.com/" WIDTH=780 HEIGHT=1500>
<A HREF="http://www.michelleobamawatch.com/">link</A>

</IFRAME>

 

[QueEx]

Michelle Obama and the Evolution of a First Lady​

​

​

Michelle Obama has been an anxious spouse, eager to help President Obama succeed​

By JODI KANTOR
January 6, 2012


Michelle Obama was privately fuming, not only at the president’s team, but also at her husband.

In the days after the Democrats lost Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in January 2010, Barack Obama was even-keeled as usual in meetings, refusing to dwell on the failure or lash out at his staff. The first lady, however, could not fathom how the White House had allowed the crucial seat, needed to help pass the president’s health care legislation and the rest of his agenda, to slip away, several current and former aides said.

To her, the loss was more evidence of what she had been saying for a long time: Mr. Obama’s advisers were too insular and not strategic enough. She cherished the idea of her husband as a transformational figure, but thanks in part to the health care deals the administration had cut, many voters were beginning to view him as an ordinary politician.

The first lady never confronted the advisers directly — that was not her way — but they found out about her displeasure from the president. “She feels as if our rudder isn’t set right,” Mr. Obama confided, according to aides.

Rahm Emanuel, then chief of staff, repeated the first lady’s criticisms to colleagues with indignation, according to three of them. Mr. Emanuel, in a brief interview, denied that he had grown frustrated with Mrs. Obama, but other advisers described a grim situation: a president whose agenda had hit the rocks, a first lady who disapproved of the turn the White House had taken, and a chief of staff who chafed against her influence.

The Michelle Obama of January 2012 is an expert motivator and charmer, a champion of safe causes like helping military families and ending childhood obesity, an increasingly canny political player eager to pour her popularity into her husband’s re-election campaign. But interviews with more than 30 current and former aides, as well as some of the first couple’s closest friends, conducted for “The Obamas,” a new book, show that she has been an unrecognized force in her husband’s administration and that her story has been one first of struggle, then turnaround and greater fulfillment.

Mrs. Obama is a supportive but often anxious spouse, suspicious of conventional political thinking, a groundbreaking figure who has acutely felt the pressures and possibilities of being the first African-American in her position and a first lady who has worked to make her role more meaningful.

Initially, she had considered postponing her move to the White House for months; after arriving, she bristled at its confinements and obligations — unable to walk her dog without risking being photographed, and monitored by her husband’s aides for everything from how she decorated the family’s private quarters to whether she took makeup artists on overseas trips.

New to the ways of Washington but impassioned about what her husband had been elected to do, she saw herself as a guardian of values. She was sometimes harder on her husband’s team than he was, eventually urging him to replace them, and the tensions grew so severe that one top adviser erupted in a meeting in 2010, cursing the absent first lady.

“She has very much got his back,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s longtime strategist, in an interview. “When she thinks things have been mishandled or when things are off the track,” he continued, “she’ll raise it, because she’s hugely invested in him and has a sense of how hard he’s working, and wants to make sure everybody is doing their work properly.”

Mrs. Obama’s difficulties illuminate some of the president’s central challenges in the White House, including how the Obamas’ freshness to political life, a selling point in 2008, became a liability in office. Her worries about his staff point to a chief executive with little management experience who clung to an inner circle less united than it appeared. (Mr. Emanuel’s relationship with the president grew so strained that the chief of staff secretly offered to resign in early 2010; Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, had a tense relationship with Mrs. Obama and with Valerie Jarrett, another adviser). She shared the president’s ambivalence about political chores and the back-patting and schmoozing that can help get things done in Washington.

Like many of the president’s supporters, Mrs. Obama was anxious about the gap between her vision of her husband’s presidency and the reality of what he could deliver. Her strains with the advisers were part of a continuing debate over what sort of president Mr. Obama should be, with Mrs. Obama reinforcing his instincts for ambitious but unpopular initiatives like the overhaul of health care and immigration laws, casting herself as a foil to aides more intent on preserving Congressional seats and poll numbers.

FULL ARTICLE

 

[QueEx]

Interviews with more than 30 current and former aides,
as well as some of the first couple’s closest friends, show
that Michelle Obama has been a little-recognized force in her
husband’s administration and that her story has been one first
of struggle, then turnaround and greater fulfillment.
​

Michelle Obama as Critic and Advocate








​

 

[muckraker10021]

To use street vernacular Michelle Obama is really Barack’s “ride or die” woman.

Name me another first lady who would present herself in public in the manner depicted in the videos below in order to aid her husband’s re-election prospects.

 

[QueEx]

FLOTUS Like a Butterfly,​

Sting Like a Bee​

CHARLOTTE -- Combining the star wattage of a wildly popular first lady, the skills of a now-seasoned political pro, and the carefully curated stories of real people, Michelle Obama on Tuesday knocked it out of the park during her Democratic National Convention speech.

Those who are fans of the first lady will doubtless spend the next few days dissecting her patterned silk Tracy Reese frock, or her very high pink heels, or how she made them feel.

But the first lady is no Barbie doll.

What she is is a Harvard Law School-educated attorney playing dress up in America's most old-fashioned White House position. She took the stage on the exceedingly well-programmed opening night of a political convention designed to reelect her husband -- and used the opportunity to deliver a series of devastating contrasts with the Romney family and policy agenda, cloaked in the bromides of wifely love.

Her description of her youth seemed a calculated effort to paint a contrast with the young Romney family Ann Romney sketched out last week.

You see, even though back then Barack was a Senator and a presidential candidate ... to me, he was still the guy who'd picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door ... he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too small.

But when Barack started telling me about his family -- that's when I knew I had found a kindred spirit, someone whose values and upbringing were so much like mine.​

Her discussion of her father working vigorously to put her through college despite his multiple sclerosis seemed a subtle but clear reminder that Ann Romney took up horseback riding as therapy for hers:

My father was a pump operator at the city water plant, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and I were young.

And even as a kid, I knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain ... I knew there were plenty of mornings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of bed.

But every morning, I watched my father wake up with a smile, grab his walker, prop himself up against the bathroom sink, and slowly shave and button his uniform.​

Her comments about the values her parents taught her were greeted by the audience as a direct jab to the Romney-Ryan distortions of the Obama Administration's welfare and entitlement policies, which have been described by some as "factual shortcuts."

We learned about honesty and integrity -- that the truth matters ... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules ... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.​

And her repeated refrain "that's who we are" seemed a distinct effort to undermine the argument that Mitt Romney can be trusted with the presidency, because of what his shifting positions reveal about his character:

Those are the values Barack and I -- and so many of you -- are trying to pass on to our own children.

That's who we are.

And standing before you four years ago, I knew that I didn't want any of that to change if Barack became president.

Well, today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen firsthand that being president doesn't change who you are -- it reveals who you are.​

Tonight, Michelle Obama reminded that she hasn't just been growing vegetables in the White House garden -- she's been sharpening her political skills, too.



​

SOURCE

 

[sex instructor]

To use street vernacular Michelle Obama is really Barack’s “ride or die” woman.

Name me another first lady who would present herself in public in the manner depicted in the videos below in order to aid her husband’s re-election prospects.

You can't help but see why Barack loves her so much

 

[muckraker10021]

 

[QueEx]

Re: Michelle Obama Steps Forward

Michelle Obama Pens Open Letter to Women


Our FLOTUS Michelle Obama is campaigning hard for her husband’s
re-election campaign. With just a few weeks left until this country’s
fate is decided for the next four years, Mo’s mission is to show women
how much weight their vote carries. In a letter published on Elle.com, she writes:
​

Dear ELLE Readers,

When I fell in love with Barack more than 20 years ago, I knew he’d be a loving husband and a devoted father. I knew he shared my determination to make a difference in other people’s lives. But I never dreamed that he’d one day be president, and I know that he didn’t either.

But four years ago—against all odds—I joined millions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life to vote for Barack. I didn’t do it just because we were married. I voted for him because I knew he was going to stand up for women like me—and our daughters, sisters, and mothers. When I look at all he’s done since that freezing day he was inaugurated on the Capitol steps—from health-care reform, to saving jobs, to fighting for women’s rights—I’m proud of how far we have come. And I’m determined to help him keep moving forward. (Visit Gottavote.org to find out how to register and where to cast your ballot.)

Here are five reasons to vote for Barack when you go to the polls on November 6:

1. 
   
   
   • He’s fighting for equal pay for women. Barack was raised by a single mom who struggled to pay the bills, and by a grandmother who worked hard at her job but hit a glass ceiling and watched men she actually trained climb the career ladder ahead of her. As the father of two girls, he wants to make sure that all our daughters grow up with the same opportunities as our sons and are treated fairly in the workplace. That’s why the first bill he signed as president was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act to help women get equal pay for equal work.
   • He’ll fight for our right to make our own health-care decisions. Thanks to the historic health-care reform he signed, insurance companies will have to provide access to preventive services like contraception and cancer screenings without a co-pay. And they’ll no longer be able to make us pay more for health insurance just because we’re women.
   • He’s putting affordable education within reach. When Barack and I were first married, our combined monthly student loan payments were higher than our mortgage. So he understands what it’s like to be saddled with student debt, and he believes that education should not be a luxury reserved for the privileged few. That’s why he doubled funding for Pell grants, fought hard to stop student loan interest rates from rising, and worked to raise the standards in our K–12 schools so our students are prepared for college.
   • He understands why women’s economic success is important[. Barack understands that women’s success in this economy is more than just a women’s issue—it’s a crucial economic issue for our nation. More and more women are now breadwinners for their families—so it is all the more important that we have a president who ensures that we have the good jobs we deserve and get the fair pay we’ve earned.
   • He believes everyone deserves a fair shot. Barack has never lost sight of the fundamental American promise that no matter who you are or how you started out, you can make a better life for yourself and your family if you’re willing to work for it. Barack wants to preserve that American dream for the next generation. And whether it’s investing in education or ensuring that regular folks don’t pay a higher tax rate than millionaires and billionaires, Barack is fighting to make sure that everyone in this country has a shot at success.

So before you cast your ballot, I want you to ask yourself, Who’s looking out for me? Who’s thinking about my family? And I want you to know that the man I have loved for more than two decades—the man who has worked so hard for so long to move this country forward—is looking out for you every day.



http://www.elle.com/life-love/society-career/michelle-obama-letter







​

 

[QueEx]

Re: Michelle Obama Steps Forward

First lady Michelle Obama participates in a physical activity with children during a visit
to Orr Elementary School in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)





​

 

[muckraker10021]

Re: Michelle Obama Steps Forward

First lady Michelle Obama participates in a physical activity with children during a visit
to Orr Elementary School in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)





​

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[QueEx]

Re: Michelle Obama Steps Forward

Michelle Obama arrives in Beijing with her
mother and daughters in U.S. ‘soft power’ push​

​

Beautiful Ladies !!!​

McClatchy Foreign Staff
By Stuart Leavenworth
March 20, 2014


BEIJING — Landing on an unusually blue-sky Beijing afternoon, Michelle Obama launched a six-day trip to China on Thursday, aimed at smoothing Sino-U.S. relations with a carefully orchestrated exercise in soft diplomacy.

Obama, joined by her mother, Marian Robinson, and two daughters, Malia and Sasha, was greeted on the tarmac at Beijing Capital International Airport by Chinese officials and newly installed Ambassador to China Max Baucus and his wife, Melodee Hanes. Also on hand were three busloads of mostly Chinese media, some of whom were there to scrutinize the Obamas’ fashion choices, which have been the subject of media speculation for the past week.

The White House signaled many days ago that this will not be a political trip. No discussion of China’s tensions with Japan. No lectures on China’s human rights record. The goal is to elevate Michelle Obama’s international education agenda and see some of China’s great sights, while also developing a relationship with her counterpart, Peng Liyuan, spouse of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who shares Obama’s interests in education and public health.

Numerous commentators have criticized Obama for not using her international celebrity status to advance a more ambitious agenda. But some say that, in a time of tension, stronger personal connections between the first families could go a long way toward a more productive dialogue between the United States and China.

“It seems like a no-brainer that this kind of one on one could produce some positive diplomatic results,” Damien Ma, a fellow at the Paulson Institute in Chicago, said in an email exchange with McClatchy.

Ma noted that a meeting between Michelle Obama and Peng has been talked about for some time, partly because Obama was unable to join her husband at the Sunnylands Summit last June, which Xi and Peng attended.

In the United States, Beijing’s use of “soft power” is getting increased scrutiny as China pumps money into U.S. universities, including the establishment of dozens of Confucius institutes. Such institutes feature arts and language programs aimed at projecting a benevolent image of Asia’s rising superpower.

The United States has its own instruments of “soft power,” and the Obama family is a big part of that toolbox. Over the next six days, China’s television audience _ the largest in the world _ will be inundated with images of an attractive multi-generational U.S. family, the feminine influence on the first African-American to be elected president. The optics can’t help but advance the U.S. image in China, even if the Obama doesn’t make speeches about the virtues of democracy.

Marian Robinson’s attendance also surely will resonate in a China, where grandmothers play an essential role in child rearing and other family priorities.

During her first day in Beijing on Friday, Obama and her family will be hosted by Peng, a famous singer in China, a celebrity and a behind-the-scenes political force in her own right. They will visit Beijing Normal School, which prepares Chinese students for study abroad, tour the Forbidden City and attend a ceremonial dinner and evening performance.

In the days to follow, the Obamas will visit part of the Great Wall near Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors in Xian and the Chengdu Panda Base, home to about 50 pandas under study. Mixed in will be education roundtables and school visits with students, which will be blogged and broadcast through a White House collaboration with PBS LearningMedia and Discovery Education.

On her opening blog post, Obama said she hopes to hear about the challenges, hopes and dreams of the Chinese learners she meets. “I’ll be talking with students about their lives in China and telling them about America and the values and traditions we hold dear,” she wrote.

Obama’s approach to overseas trips _ she’s described it as “do no harm” _ has been compared to that of Barbara Bush, who avoided overtly political statements, unlike the presidential spouses who succeeded her.

Laura Bush once criticized China for its support of the previous military junta in Myanmar. Hillary Clinton, at a 1995 United Nations conference in Beijing, spoke about mistreatment of women in a set of strong comments that didn’t directly name China but were clearly aimed at it.

In a briefing with reporters early this week, White House officials acknowledged the importance and sensitivity of relations with China on human rights and other issues. But they said such concerns were best expressed by President Barack Obama, rather than his spouse. One of those opportunities will come next week, when Obama and China’s top leaders are scheduled to see each other at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

“We have differences with China, on human rights, on trade, on cyber,” said Ben Rhodes, the administration’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. “I am sure President Obama will be raising a number of those issues directly with President Xi Jinping.”

Several human rights activists and China watchers have expressed disappointment that this week’s visit by a “modern first lady” is being so cautiously scripted.

“The simple truth is that it would not take much for Mrs. Obama to link her powerful public diplomacy moment with real political issues,” Elizabeth C. Economy, director of Asia Studies for the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a recent blog post.

In discussions with Peng about culture and education, said Economy, Obama “could raise the issues of visa denial for American journalists, greater access within China for American films, and the political challenges faced by American universities establishing partnerships with Chinese institutions in China.”

Such partnerships appear to be at least a partial focus of Michelle Obama’s trip. According to Tina Tchen, Obama’s chief of staff, there are 200,000 Chinese students studying in the United States, and 20,000 U.S. students studying in China. President Obama, she said, seeks to increase that number through an initiative she calls “100,000 Strong.”

On China state media this week, the focus has been largely style over substance, however. Several news sites ran photo galleries comparing the fashion statements made by the first ladies of the United States and China.

To prepare for the trip and generate a little buzz beforehand, Michelle Obama stopped in at the Yu Ying public charter school in Washington, where students who had visited or grew up in China offered her some advice. One warned her about China’s toilet facilities. Another said she should be prepared for people to stare at her.

Email: sleavenworth@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @sleavenworth
​

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/03/20/221849/michelle-obama-arrives-in-beijing.html#storylink=cpy

 

[QueEx]

Re: Michelle Obama Steps Forward

Saturday, March 22: First Lady in China
The one-week-long visit focuses on educational and cultural exchanges.
Michelle Obama plays table tennis at Beijing Normal School, a school that prepares students to attend university abroad.


​

 

[muckraker10021]

MICHELLE OBAMA Workout May 2015

<hr noshade color="#d90000" size="8"></hr>

 

[QueEx]

Everyone's Losing Their Minds Over Michelle
Obama's Amazing Vera Wang Dress

All eyes were on Michelle Obama when she arrived at the China State Dinner held Friday at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The First Lady looked effortlessly posh, donning an off-the-shoulder black silk crepe mermaid gown by designer Vera Wang, as she welcomed China's president, Xi Jinping, as the evening's guest of honor.

The beautiful custom gown features an architectural V-neckline and tulle sleeves, accented by a hand-draped silk textural organza pleated skirt.

Obama took to social media to share a photo from inside the dinner party, and, of course, that dress.


See More Pictures and Tweets @ https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/everyones-losing-minds-over-michelle-173300182.html​

 

[QueEx]

Michelle Obama Has A New Favorite Color
And let’s just say Kermit would be pleased.


April 8, 2016
Jamie Feldman
Associate Style Editor,
The Huffington Post

Drop everything: Michelle Obama, wearer of all things stylish and enviable, has a new favorite color.

Whether intentionally or not, the first lady has a habit of picking a certain pattern or color and riding its wave for some time. Royal blue had its turn, and most recently, florals took the front seat. Now, it appears she’s going back to an old favorite — and we’re green with envy.

You see, it all started at the Easter Egg Roll in Washington, D.C. on March 28. FLOTUS donned a grassy green top to kick off the festivities with the dad jeans-wearing president.

NICHOLAS KAMM via Getty Images
Best. Reading. Ever.

Shortly thereafter, on Tuesday, the first lady was spotted in green yet again, this time using her green thumb to plant fruits and vegetables in the White House kitchen garden. Perhaps the color of the super on-trend 3.1 Phillip Lim silk bomber, which retails for $850, was a mere coincidence. Perhaps.

Alex Wong via Getty Images
One seriously green thumb(s up).

Things start to take a real turn for the “is-this-her-new-favorite-color-or-what?” the next day on Wednesday, when she was spotted yet again in a mossy shade of green to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at the White House.

Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
More gorgeous green!

By the time another stop on her garden tour came along Thursday, not even Al Roker could deny it: Green is officially FLOTUS’ new florals.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Hey look! I match the plants!”
Sigh. She makes it look so easy being green.



Share this slide:

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More:
Michelle Obama Outfit Michelle Obama Green Jacket Michelle Obama Bomber Jacket Michelle Obama Favorite Color Michelle Obama Green Dress



SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michelle-obama-green-outfit-style_us_5707a042e4b03a9e75d41423

 

[QueEx]

Michelle and Barack Obama
Michelle and Barack Obama


About That Michelle Obama Essence Photo …
She Matters: I have so many questions. Like, where has she been hiding that all this time?



By: Demetria Lucas D’Oyley
September 9, 2016


I said I wasn’t going to write about it. But I have to. I. Have. To.

On Wednesday evening, I was practicing my ritual of procrastinating by browsing through Instagram. A friend, an Essence editor, posted a new image of the first couple that will run in the upcoming October issue. The Obamas are on the cover.

If you saw the picture, I know you saw … what everyone who saw the photo saw. All over social media, everyone’s talking about first lady Michelle Obama’s, uh, surprise ending. Constantly.


I want to be respectful of my FLOTUS. I do. I do not wish to objectify her. I will not. But it’s pointless to pretend not to see what we saw. And I’m making a public observation because, I mean, it stands out! It sits up! It cannot be missed. It’s the first thing everyone sees who looks at the image.

Case in point: I showed the picture to my husband with no commentary. He laughed.

Husband: That ain’t junk in the trunk. That’s luggage!

Me: That. Is. The. First. Lady.

Husband: She is a woman and I am a man with good vision.

Me: GREG!

Husband: You don’t need 20-20 to see that, though.

I have questions.

Like everyone, I’ve been looking at the first couple canoodle in photos for over eight years. They’re really into each other! And because I’ve been looking at—and loving on—them, I know well what they look like. Or I thought I did. This picture seems unlike the others before it. Is it the angle? The dress? Is Michelle Obama out of kitten heels and into stilettos? ’Cause as every woman knows, the right shoe can make a world of difference.

Is this new? And not “new” as in purchased, but new as in, did FLOTUS start up an as-yet-to-be-revealed fitness plan that enhances what was genetically occurring already? Is it the same plan practiced by Serena Williams, Tracee Ellis Ross and Erykah Badu? Because there’s a similar effect. And if there is indeed a plan, which is obviously working (very) well, what is that plan and when will it be released to the general public? I’m not asking for a friend.

One of my favorite comedians, Kev on Stage, didn’t even entertain that Mrs. Obama’s uh, gift, was made in a gym. He deduced that it was the result of cornbread. “She lied to us,” he said in a Facebook video. “Fruits and vegetables, you say? That’s cornbread! I know what cornbread residuals look like!”

Or have things always been this way? Is it possible that we, the black people, missed this glory for eight years? I mean, we saw something. And that, too, was admirable. But this is a whole other level. We didn’t see this.


It was no secret that FLOTUS is curvy. I mean, how could it be? And her husband said as much in an interview for Time magazine, in case there were people who were completely unobservant. “The fact that [daughters Sasha and Malia have] got a tall, gorgeous mom who has some curves, and that their father appreciates [it], I think is helpful,” he said.

“Some curves”?!

Sir. Understatement of the year.

Maybe we were all distracted. I mean, there’s a lot to gush over when it comes to Michelle Obama. She’s as brilliant as she is beautiful, as well-known for her elegance as for her side eye. Could it be that we were all so smitten by her all-around awesomeness—from declaring in inspirational speeches that “black girls rock” and encouraging our kids, and us, to “move,” to doing “Carpool Karaoke” with Missy Elliott on The Late Late Show With James Corden (and her vacays with Beyoncé)—that we missed … this? Were we so into her other wonderful physical attributes—the arms, the height, the bangs and all the other hairstyles, too—that we just didn’t notice?

Or did she intentionally hide it from us?

I heard from Jay Z that you can’t tie a sweater over such parts for camouflage and they can’t be hidden in pajamas. Did Michelle Obama do the impossible with all those fit-and-flare dresses she favors? If so, that’s magic!

But now the secret is out:

FLOTUS is blessed and highly favored, even more so than we
knew before. And we are blessed to have her as our first lady.​

Demetria Lucas D’Oyley is a contributing editor at The Root, alife coach and the author of Don’t Waste Your Pretty: The Go-to Guide for Making Smarter Decisions in Life & Love as well as A Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life. She is also a blogger at SeeSomeWorld.com, where she covers pop culture and travel. Follow her onTwitter and Instagram


SOURCE: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/09/about-that-michelle-obama-essence-photo/



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[muckraker10021]