Lisa Rogak - 27 Apr

Table of Contents

To David Porter and John Willson

NOW THAT BARACK OBAMA has become the forty-fourth president of the United States, the world is focused not only on what he will accomplish, but also on what kind of First Lady Michelle Obama will be. Throughout the long campaign season, Michelle Robinson Obama garnered a large amount of attention, kudos, and criticism about her words, actions, and even her appearance, but few people know what kind of role shell play once she settles into the White House.

One clue is to examine her words and statements of the past. This volume aims to collect the most memorable of Michelle Obamas words for readers who are eager to learn more about Americas new history-making First Lady. What is certain is that shes an incredibly accomplished woman in her own right, holding down high-powered executive jobs in the Chicago mayors office and at the University of Chicago. She was determined to follow a fast-track powerful career of her own years before she met the man who would become her husband. Some have said that while Barack has greater drive and ambition, Michelle possesses a more brilliant intelligence.

Despite her successes, she still tells anyone who asks that her most important job is mother to the presidential couples two children. My first job is going to continue to be mom-in-chief, making sure that in this transition, the girls are settled and that they know they will continue to be the center of our universe, she said only hours after the election.

Time will tell what role Michelle will play as First Lady. In the meantime, this book will help you to gain a clearer picture of this history-making woman.

MICHELLE LAVAUGHN ROBINSON was born on January 17, 1964, to Fraser Robinson, a city water plant employee, and Marian Shields, a secretary. She grew up in a one-bedroom apartment on Chicagos South Side, sharing a bedroom with her brother Craig, who was sixteen months older. People on the street often commented on the twins.

Michelles paternal great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, was a slave in South Carolina, and her grandfather moved to Chicago during the Great Migration of the early 1900s to escape the blatant racism of the South. Throughout her childhood, Michelle watched as white families left her inner-city neighborhood for a quieter life in the suburbs, known as the white flight of the 1960s and 1970s. Fraser and Marian instead turned their sole focus to helping their kids become well educated.

Michelles natural intelligence was obvious very early. She learned to read by the age of four and skipped the second grade. By the sixth grade, she had enrolled in classes for gifted students, where she learned French and took accelerated courses, and she attended Whitney Young High School, the citys first magnet high school for gifted children. She was on the honor roll during all four years of high school, took advanced-placement classes, was a member of the National Honor Society, and graduated in 1981 as salutatorian of her class. Her future was bright.

After high school, Michelle attended Princeton University, graduating with a degree in sociology and cum laude honors in 1985. She attended Princeton during the height of the national debates over affirmative action. Her honors thesis was Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community. Michelle then went on to attend Harvard Law School and earned her JD in 1988. She was one year ahead of Barack Obama but didnt meet him until a year after she graduated.

After Harvard, Michelle accepted a position at Sidley Austin, a prestigious Chicago law firm. In 1989 she mentored a Harvard law student summer intern named Barack Obama. He asked her out, and she initially declined because she was his supervisor. But he was persistent and she was attracted to him, so she reluctantly gave in. On their first date, they saw the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing, after which he took her to a community organizing meeting. They married on October 18, 1992.

Shortly after the wedding, Michelle left the law firm and became executive director for Public Allies, a nonprofit leadership-training program in Chicago. Barack also worked for a community nonprofit while pursuing his political ambitions on the side. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. That same year, Michelle became the associate dean of student services at the University of Chicago and developed the universitys first community service program. She left to work in city government for a few years, taking a position as staff assistant to Chicago mayor Richard Daley and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development.

Barack and Michelle waited almost seven years before having children. Their first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1999. Natasha (often called Sasha) followed two years later in 2001.

Before the kids arrived, Barack and Michelle agreed that they would aspire to a dinner-together-every-night kind of life for their family. Once his political career took off, however, he spent many nights away from home, and his ideal family life fell by the wayside. This generated a certain amount of resentment for Michelle, who felt that her husband wasnt living up to his end of the bargain, and it created a good deal of friction between them for a couple of years. Michelle wondered what shed gotten herself into. But once she recruited her mother and girlfriends to help out with the kids, the stress on both Barack and Michelle eased considerably, and their marriage settled down.

In Michelles world, discipline reigns when it comes to her husband and her kids. Every day, she fills out to-do lists for Malia and Natasha, making sure to schedule in time for play. Michelle is in bed most nights by 9:30 P.M. and rises each morning at 4:30 A. M. to work out for at least an hour.

To the casual observer, even to many friends, the Obamas marriage is a bit of a mystery. While some say she wears the pants in the familyboth have publicly admitted that he refers to her as The Bossothers say that it is an equal partnership, and that the presidency would not have been within reach if it werent for Michelle.

In 2004, Barack Obamas star began to rise quickly with his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention when he was running for the U.S. Senate. His speech may have introduced him to the nation in one fell swoop, but it was Michelles professional relationships that were vital to helping him win the election. He was supported by influential black business leaders, though overall they were closer to Michelle, because of her previous positions, than they were to him. When Barack won his seat in the U.S. Senate, she didnt pull back on the reins of her own ambitions. The couple decided it was best if he lived in Washington during the week and she remained in Chicago with the kids. After all, she was still dedicated to her own career; in May 2005, she became the Vice President of Community Relations and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Initially, Michelle hated the idea of her husbands running for president. Not only did she not want the intrusiveness into her and her familys life that running for the highest office in the United States would bring, but she privately worried about the chance that some racist madman would tear her family apart with a single bullet. However, once the decision was made, Michelle fell into the task with a great passion, and she was fully committed to helping Barack win the nations highest office.