Hot! Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the forty-fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama and the First Lady of the United States. The Obamas have been married since 1992. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of , men's basketball coach at .

Family and Education Career Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley "The moment I met her I knew immediately we would be lucky to have her," said Jarrett, who has since vacationed with the Obamas in Martha's Vineyard. "I was instantly impressed. I think I offered her a job at the end of the first meeting." Before she signed up, Michelle told Jarrett her fiance wanted to meet her "so he could figure out if he was comfortable with her going to work for Mayor Daley. The move was not without its benefits. Michelle Obama 's stint at the mayor's office gave her, and her husband, access to Chicago's political class. Combined with her own Southside roots she went to high school with Santita Jackson , the Rev. Jesse Jackson 's daughter Michelle's job gave her husband entr e into the best political machine in Illinois, augmenting her ties to Jackson's powerful civil rights group, . "Michelle is a tremendous asset," says Habitat Inc. CEO , a close friend of both Obamas and a key campaign adviser. As Daley's deputy chief of staff at the time, Jarrett hired Michelle to help troubleshoot for companies having problems navigating the city's bureaucracy. "Her being from Chicago, from the Southside of Chicago, was an asset to Barack in terms of enhancing his ties to the community." Public Allies Under Michelle s leadership, Chicago pioneered many elements of program model. To identify and develop the next generation of Chicago leaders, she recruited young people from housing projects and youth centers as well colleges and universities. Her emphasis on indigenous leadership and belief that all people have potential to lead became a core value of our leadership philosophy. When she left, Chicago had a cash reserve, a committed board, a talented young staff and a network of diverse, talented young leaders in Chicago who continue to serve the community today. Michelle was also a pioneer in the social entrepreneur movement leaders who create new approaches and organizations to provide new solutions to social problems. At her subsequent jobs at the and , Michelle hired more than a dozen to work with her. In addition, she has continued to advise, coach, donate to and champion . President-elect Obama has also been an active volunteer and supporter. President-elect Obama has trained several classes of Allies in community organizing, spoken at Chicago events and helped Senator Durbin secure an appropriation from the Department of Justice that successfully helped us better recruit and retain young men of color for our Chicago program and learn practices we are applying nationally. Michelle Obama and Paul Schmitz were also original faculty members of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University , led by John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann . John McKnight worked with Barack Obama as an organizer and wrote his Harvard Law School recommendation (see , page 360). The Institute has a strategic alliance with consulting group, , through which we provide training and consulting services on how to better identify and mobilize local community assets and participation to strengthen communities. Sidley & Austin LLP TreeHouse Foods, Inc. University of Chicago 2008 Presidential Election Political Activism While in the White House Anti-Obesity Movement The First Lady launched the Let's Move campaign at the White House where she was joined by members of the President's cabinet, including Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, HHS Secretary Sebelius, Education Secretary Duncan, HUD Secretary Donovan, Labor Secretary Solis and Interior Secretary Salazar, Surgeon General American Academy of Pediatrics ; Chip Johnson of Hernando, Mississippi; and local students, including a student from DC's Bancroft elementary school, and members of the 2009 National Championship Pee-Wee football team, the Watkins Hornets. Let's Move is comprehensive, collaborative and community-oriented and will include strategies to address the various factors that lead to childhood obesity. It will foster collaboration among the leaders in government, medicine and science, business, education, athletics, community organizations and more. And it will take into account how life is really lived in communities across the country - encouraging, supporting and pursuing solutions that are tailored to children and families facing a wide range of challenges and life circumstances. The well-intended program to feed poor kids has morphed into an untouchable universal entitlement with a powerful school-lunch lobbying coalition of Department of Agriculture bureaucrats, food-service industry executives and union bosses. Enter the SEIU . Headed by the White House's most frequent visitor, Andy Stern , the powerful labor organization representing government and private service employees has an insatiable appetite for power and growth. Working alongside the first lady, the SEIU unveiled a major ad campaign this week demanding reauthorizing and funding increases in the Child Nutrition Act . What's in it for Big Labor? SEIU Executive Vice President Mitch Ackerman explains: "A more robust expansion of school lunch, breakfast, summer feeding, child care and WIC (the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition program) is critical to reducing hunger, ending childhood obesity and (SET ITAL) providing fair wages and healthcare for front line food service workers (END ITAL)(emphasis added)." There are 400,000 workers who prepare and serve lunch to American schoolchildren. SEIU represents tens of thousands of those workers and is trying to unionize many more. "More robust expansion" of the federal school-lunch law means a mandate for higher wages, increased benefits and government-guaranteed health insurance coverage (the more luxurious the better now that SEIU has negotiated its Cadillac Tax exemption from the Democrats' health care takeover bill). Education "I am a product of your work," Obama said. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the public schools that nurtured me and helped me along. And I am committed, as well as my husband, to ensuring that more kids like us and kids around this country, regardless of their race, their income, their status, their the property values in their neighborhoods, get access to an outstanding education." Food Activism The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens. Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!" Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine. There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots. The first lady had encouraged , the group that runs popular farmers markets in Dupont Circle and elsewhere, to set up near the White House, and she helped get the approvals to shut down Vermont Avenue during rush hour on Thursdays. But the result was quite the opposite of a quaint farmers market. Considering all the logistics, each tomato she purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons. Military Families The problem is in how the campaign is attempting to bring military spouses to the discussions with Michelle. They are asking members of Blue Stars for Obama to go out and seek other military spouses, who are not signed on to Blue Stars for Obama , in order to drum up large crowds for the events. Some BSFOs are known to be contacting other military wives, urging them to take part in a political event; the rough equivalent of undue command pressure unacceptable behavior considering that spouses of junior officers or enlisted personnel can sometimes be intimidated by a request or admonition from the wife of a senior officer or enlisted military member. After all, the senior officers and enlisted write or have input on the fitness reports for those under their purview ( I can t cross the chief officer s or master sergeant s wife; her husband holds my husband s career in his hands ). Since the military member cannot take part in publicly supporting a particular candidate, it has always been understood among military wives that it is also inappropriate for a military member s spouse to use her position in the military community to solicit others toward her personal political views via access she has gained to e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other networking avenues available to her within the military context. Princeton Activism Her commitment to serving her community was nurtured at Princeton as she served on the Fields Center , was established in 1971 to provide a social, cultural and political environment that was responsive to issues of ethnic and racial diversity. Thesis Quotes Affiliations Americorps The inspector general (IG) of the Corporation for National and Community Service is being removed by President Barack Obama , a week after the IG questioned the eligibility of the largest and most expensive Americorps program, and while the IG was contesting the propriety of a settlement made with a mayor for alleged misuse of Americorps funds. Funding for the largest Americorps program the , run by the is in abeyance pending resolution of widespread problems identified in a recent audit. Although Walpin recommended that funding be curtailed and that previous funds (perhaps as much as $75 million) be repaid to the corporation, the corporation has said it will take no action on that matter. Walpin concluded that nothing was being gained by the grants to CUNY and that the money was simply being used to subsidize an existing and funded program. First LadyMichelle Obamas chief of staff, Jackie Norris , is being sent to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in what is both a White House shake-up and an indication of the first lady s sway over the corporation that oversees Americorps , Learn & Serve America and the Senior Corps . Observers believe Norris, whom Obama came to know early in the Iowa caucus campaign, was forced out of the White House so that long-time Obama friend could take over. But those same observers see her appointment as senior adviser to the corporation as an overall win for CNCS, believing that Norris still will have a straight line to the White House. CNCS remains without a CEO after the withdrawal last month of Nike vice president Maria Eitel , even before her nomination went to the Senate. Although the corporation s CEO must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate,Michelle Obamareportedly has taken the lead in selecting the nominee. Chicago Council on Global Affairs The Chicago Council on Global Affairs , founded in 1922 as , is a leading independent, nonpartisan organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue and public learning. The Chicago Council brings the world to Chicago by hosting public programs and private events featuring world leaders and experts with diverse views on a wide range of global topics. Through task forces, conferences, studies and leadership dialogue, the Council brings Chicago s ideas and opinions to the world. Community Renewal Society IVI-IPO Jeremiah Wright Marilyn KatzMichelle Obamabiographer Liza Mundy Katz as saying the moment Jarrett introducedMichelle Obamato her friends, Michelle was recognized as brilliant and beautiful, and immediately accepted into a very sophisticated social circle. Mundy writes Michelle and Barack enjoyed a range of relations with people who shared their lifestyle, as well as their progressive views and political involvement. These are folks, says Marilyn Katz , a member of their social circle, who talk to their friends a number of times a day. Katz repaid her friend by becoming for Obama 08. Radical Harvard Mentor, Charles Ogletree