Recently in Michelle Obama Category

First Lady Michelle Obama launches a White House mentoring program on Monday, starting with a session of girls from Washington area schools paired with women from the White House East and West Wings. On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama hosts classical music stars for a White House Music Series event, to include a workshop with music students. My story on Mrs. Obama's week ahead is here.

(White House photo) Jill Biden, Michelle Obama at Game One of the 2009 World Series at the new Yankee Stadium.

WASHINGTON--President Obama and First Lady Michelle don't have identical wedding rings, just redecorated the White House residence and have wrestled with their marriage through the years, says the cover story in the Sunday New York Times Magazine by Jodi Kantor. But living together in the White House has eased strains in the marriage that existed when Obama was an Illinois state senator, Illinois senator and on the road campaigning for the White House. My column on what's new in the New York Times article is here.

The Obama marriage has been put under the microscope before. Politics Daily editor-in-chief Melinda Henneberger wrote a series in Slate you can find here.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden will be in New York tonight for the World Series opener with the Yankees hosting the Philadelphia Phillies. A native South Sider, Mrs. Obama grew up watching the Cubs. For more on this--and her tennis game--she told Jay Leno on Friday she gets beat by President Obama--check out my story here.

What is certain about the presidency of Barack Obama--whether one term or two--is that there will be an Obama presidential library some place in the United States. Given that Chicago is Obama's adopted home town, where First Lady Michelle was born and the city where he launched his political career, it is hard to imagine that the library won't be in Chicago.

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Michelle Obama at Breast Cancer Awareness event (photo by Lynn Sweet)

Read my story on First Lady Michelle Obama touting President Obama's health reform legislation and breast cancer awareness here.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, sit for a family portrait in the Green Room of the White House, Sept. 1, 2009. (Official White House Photo)

Photo by Annie Leibovitz/Released by White House Photo Office

Mrs. Obama on the South Lawn on Wednesday. (AP)

First lady Michelle Obama exercises with a hula hoop during a healthy kids fair on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Wednesday. (AP)

First lady Michelle Obama adds arm exercises as she hula hoops during a healthy kids fair on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday. (AP)

First lady Michelle Obama hula hoops with children during a healthy kids fair Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House. (AP)

A group of children at rear watch as first lady Michelle Obama exercises by jumping rope during a healthy kids fair on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday. (AP)

First lady Michelle Obama is barefoot as she competes in a race during a healthy kids fair Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House. (AP)

First lady Michelle Obama watches children eat something healthy Wednesday on the South Lawn of the White House. (AP)

(Jailbreak Toys)

WASHINGTON--The latest commercial use of the image of First Lady Michelle Obama comes from Jailbreak Toys, coming out next month with six-inch plastic "action figures" of the first lady. She's for sale--the toy that is--for $12.99.

The doll is made wearing three dresses, all from notable days Mrs. Obama had the campaign trail; read my story about the dolls and the clothes here.

One of the outfits on the doll is the dress Mrs. Obama wore on ABC's "The View" on June 18, 2008 during the campaign. That's the show where Mrs. Obama confessed she did not wear panty hose. My blog post about Mrs. Obama's panty hose confession here.

First Lady Michelle Obama talks with, from left, Chicago 2016 board member Marty Nesbitt, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Education Secretary Arne Duncan aboard Air Force One prior to departure from Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 2, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON--This photo from the White House captures some of the central Chicago and Illinois figures in the Obama White House en route to Washington from Copenhagen where they pitched Chicago for the 2016 Olympics--only to be stunned to have Chicago come in last.

WASHINGTON--The prime minister of India will be the first national leader honored by the Obama White House. The White House social office, headed by Desiree Rogers, is working on the Nov. 24 event. I write about state dinners thrown by the Bush and Clinton White House and the upcoming Obama dinner here.

August, 2006, in Nairobi, Kenya: Then Sen. Barack Obama, wife Michelle, daughters Sasha, Malia and other children help plant tree with 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. (Photo by Lynn Sweet)

WASHINGTON--How can this great honor given to President Obama on Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize, be seen through American lenses as anything but premature? Obama gets the prize less than nine months into his presidency, on the very day he is meeting with his war cabinet--his national security team--to wrestle with ongoing battles in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Genealogist Megan Smolenyak explains how she researched Mrs. Obama's roots at Roots Television

The New York Times has an in-depth article on the family history of First Lady Michelle Obama. Her great great great grandparents include the enslaved Melvinia Shields and, as the New York Times said, "the unknown white man who impregnated her."

Click here for an interactive graphic of the Michelle Obama family tree, put together with the help of genealogist Megan Smolenyak

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/10/08/us/politics/20091008-obama-family-tree.html

The first week of October marks two anniversaries for President Obama--he and First Lady Michelle were married on Oct. 3, 1992--and Obama on Oct. 2, 2002 delivered his speech opposing the Iraq War at a Daley Center rally. I write about this here.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle each told their personal Chicago stories to the International Olympic Committee on Friday in a quest to win the 2016 Olympic games for the city. Obama spoke about his adopted city and Mrs. Obama talked as a native South Sider.

Both Obama's used their biographies to woo votes from the I06-member IOC, voting later Friday between Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

"I was born and raised on Chicago's South Side, not far from where the Games
would open and close," said Mrs. Obama, speaking before her husband.

"Sports were a gift I shared with my dad -- especially the Olympic Games.

"Some of my best memories are sitting on my dad's lap, cheering on Olga and
Nadia, Carl Lewis, and others for their brilliance and perfection. Like so many
young people, I was inspired. I found myself dreaming that maybe, just maybe,
if I worked hard enough, I, too, could achieve something great.

"But I never dreamed that the Olympic flame might one day light up lives in my
neighborhood.

America's First Couple closed Chicago's final presentation, which featured several videos, including an opener with a blues musical backdrop, "Sweet Home Chicago."

Obama assured the IOC that Chicago's diverse neighborhoods means that every player will in a sense have somebody from home--to cheer for them. Obama talked about Chicago's neighborhoods--highlighting some of the city's most diverse communities.

Said Obama, "You see, growing up, my family moved around a lot. And I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group. Then I came to Chicago. And on
those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white; Latino and Asian; people of every class and nationality and religion. I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities, but one where citizens from more than 130 nations inhabit a rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods.

"Each one of those neighborhoods - from Greektown to the Ukrainian Village; from Devon to Pilsen to Washington Park - has its own unique character, history, song, and sometimes language. But each is also a part of our city - one city - a city where I finally found a home.

"Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different just as we celebrate what we have in common. It's a place where our unity is on colorful display at so many festivals, parades, and especially sporting events,
where perfect strangers become fast friends at the sight of the same jersey.