Michelle Obama: January 2010 Archives

(AP photo)

Madame Tussauds' in New York adds First Lady Michelle Obama to the wax museum lineup.

WASHINGTON-- President Obama and First Lady Michelle will be voting in the Feb. 2 Illinois primary, the White House said Monday night. The First Couple have requested absentee ballots and "they will be arriving at the White House shortly," the White House said.

While the Obamas obviously are living in the White House, their voting residence remains in Chicago. Their ballots would be issued by the Chicago Board of Elections.

WASHINGTON -- "As some of you may know, one of my first jobs was in a mayor's office -- working for Mayor Daley out in Chicago," first lady Michelle Obama told the nation's mayors Wednesday, as she enlisted them as partners in her drive against childhood obesity.

Michelle Obama and Bo greeting White House visitors, Jan. 20, 2010 (photo by Lynn Sweet)

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama and Bo, the family dog are greeting White House visitors now to mark her first year at the White House. Live streaming at 9:52 a.m. Chicago time, 10:52 eastern time at www.whitehouse.gov/live

WASHINGTON--Happy Birthday, First Lady Michelle Obama. She turns 46 today, Sunday. The Obama administration turns one on Wednesday.

On Saturday night, President Obama took her to dinner at Restaurant Nora, one of this city's best known special occasion eateries with a gang of Chicago pals as guests. The Obamas lingered at Nora's for four hours. My spy who happened by chance to be at Nora's told me the presidential party was in the private upstairs room--and the other guests were frisked and "wanded" before being allowed in the restaurant near Dupont Circle. Nora's is well known for serving locally produced organic food. The First Couple arrived at 6:38 p.m. and departed at 10:22 p.m.

Here's the Chicago flavored guest list:

Marian Robinson, the First Lady's mother
Valerie Jarrett, Chicago pal and Senior White House advisor
Eric and Cheryl Whitaker, Chicago pals
Eric Holder, attorney general and his wife, Sharon Malone
Mary Nesbitt and wife Anita Blanchard, Chicago pals
Susan Sher, Chicago pal and the First Lady's chief of staff
Elizabeth Alexander, former Chicagoan (University of Chicago), now at Yale, delivered poem at Inauguration.
Cindy Moelis, Chicago pal and director of the White House Fellows program..
Jocelyn Frye, Mrs. Obama Harvard Law School buddy and Director of Policy and Projects in the First Lady's office

LYNN SWEET CHICAGO-CENTRIC FOOTNOTES:
1. Jarrett, the Whitakers, Nesbitt, Blanchard vacationed over the holidays with the Obama family in Hawaii. The same group also traveled to Oslo in December to see Obama pick up the Nobel Peace Prize. The same group was also at the Nov. 24 State Dinner.

2. Mrs. Obama, Jarrett, Sher and Moelis all worked for Mayor Daley in Chicago's City Hall.

3. Moelis' husband is Robert Rivkin, a lawyer who is general counsel to the Transportation Department, working for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

4. Anita Blanchard, Associate Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology at the University of Chicago, delivered Malia, 11 and Sasha, 8.

(White House photo) Michelle Obama staff celebrates her Sunday 46th birthday on Friday.

WASHINGTON-- First Lady Michelle Obama urged people to contribute to the Haiti relief efforts in the wake of the horrific earthquake during a Thursday visit to the Labor Department.

Said Mrs. Obama, I do want to take a moment just to express my profound heartbreak and our nation's deepest support for the people of Haiti in the wake of this just devastating disaster that they have suffered.

The destruction and the suffering that we see, the images that are coming out of that country are just overwhelming, and it is important for the people of Haiti to know that we are keeping the victims of this tragedy and their loved ones in our thoughts and our prayers. And that also includes prayers going out to all of the Haitian Americans who have families and friends there, and they're worried about them back home. It's difficult to get word. People don't know where folks are. This is a tough time for Haitian American citizens here, as well. And we also want to send our thoughts and prayers out to the American citizens who are working and living in Haiti, as well.

Right now my husband and the administration are focused on moving as many resources as possible into Haiti as quickly as possible so that we can save as many lives as we can. And later today I'll be taping a public service announcement for the Red Cross, which is providing on-the-ground support -- food, water, medicine -- that's desperately needed right now, particularly in this short period of 48, 72 hours after the disaster.

So for those Americans who are watching this, who are listening, who want to help -- and everyone's help and resources and energy at this time are critically important -- you can go to the White House Web site at www.whitehouse.gov to see what you can do to support our friends in Haiti in this time of urgent need.

And as you know, it's not just in the weeks and months ahead. This is going to be something that we're going to have to put our attention to for many years to come. So again, our thoughts and prayers go out to the country of Haiti.<

First Lady Michelle Obama ticks off some of her first year statistics in a session Wednesday with seven reporters: 200 events and visits to 14 states, eight foreign countries, and six military bases. Read my overview of the hour roundtable I was at here.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama, in a session with seven reporters on Wednesday, reflecting on her first year and looking ahead to 2010, was asked near the end of the hour, "just what do you make of Sarah Palin?"

Replied Mrs. Obama, "You know, I don't know her. And what I've learned in this arena is that unless I've had a chance to have a conversation with somebody and get to know them, I have no idea who she is. I didn't read her book. I've met her once. So, you know, I don't know who she is, and I wouldn't even begin to comment on somebody that I haven't had a reaction -- an interaction with."

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama is taping a public service announcement to urge the nation to assist victims of the earthquake in Haiti. She is expected to commented on the tragedy while at the Department of Labor on Thursday.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the country of Haiti," she said. She urged people who wanted to make donations to check out options at www.whitehouse.gov.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama does not want Chicago to take it personally that she has only been home once in the last year since her husband was sworn in as president last Jan. 22.

"Just tell Chicago, 'nothing personal.' It's kids," said Mrs. Obama, who turns 46 on Sunday.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama downplayed having three people crashing the Obamas first state dinner on Nov. 24, on Wednesday calling the security breaches at the event for the Prime Minister of India "a footnote to what the State Dinner actually was."

"The State Dinner was an outstanding success; it's just the follow up after it.

"I look at the reporting on the State Dinner and go, 'is that all that happened, really' because I sat in a phenomenal dinner where the Prime Minister and his wife were--felt so connected to the United States and they were so proud to be there and the evening so wonderful and just so well orchestrated that to me, the other stuff that everybody is talking about is a footnote to what the State Dinner actually was," Mrs. Obama said.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama in 2010 will become the lead Obama White House spokesman in an administration-wide battle against childhood obesity, taking on her first substantial role in advancing an Obama initiative.

In a Wednesday session with reporters at the White House, Mrs. Obama said dealing with childhood obesity will be a "major" project for her this year, and did not rule out testifying before Congress, if need be.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday that embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) "had no need to apologize to me" because of racial remarks he made about President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.

"Harry Reid had no need to apologize to me, because I know Harry Reid. And I measure people more so on what they do rather than the things that they say," Mrs. Obama said during a round table session with reporters.

"I think each and every one of us around the table has probably said something in their lifetime that they regret or did not accurately reflect what they actually meant at the time and was taken out of context," she said.

Photo gallery here of President Obama and First Lady Michelle at Tuesday funeral for mother of Vice President Biden.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle hosted their first White House dinner of 2010 on Monday night, inviting the nations' top military commanders and spouses over, as well as six soldiers wounded in combant---one from each service branch.

One of Mrs. Obama's agenda items is helping military families. The White House said the dinner would give the First Couple "the opportunity to hear directly from our commanders, troops in the field and their spouses about the challenges that our military and military families face on a day-to-day basis."

There was no entertainment except for a military band. The entrée was a chicken dish with winter vegetables; also a soup and cherry cobbler.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Underwood and Tyra Banks are featured in a new ad campaign by PETA, the animal rights group. PETA used Mrs. Obama's image without White House permission; PETA's president said they don't need it. Mrs. Obama, does not wear fur; PETA said the ad was intended as a compliment. To read my column on this, click here.

WASHINGTON--How did a third person crash the Obama White House Nov. 24 state dinner for the Prime Minister of India? Read my report here to find out--and why the Secret Service decided to go public with its discovery of the third intruder. The State Department goofed on this one.

WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama and Executive White House Chef Cristeta Comerford are featured in a Sunday special episode of Iron Chef of America, in a Food Network show taped last October. Comerford is teamed with Bobby Flay; they are matched against chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali. It's on 8 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. Chicago time.