“Gosh. If I had some gift, I’d be Beyoncé, I’d be some great singer,” said arguably the most popular, accomplished and beautiful woman in the world. “The power of music, being able to play an instrument…It looks like musicians just have the most fun.”

The love-fest between the First Ladies of the Obama and Carter families have long openly expressed their love and admiration for each other. From Beyoncé’s teary rendition of “At Last” in 2009 at President Obama’s Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, to the “Video Phone” singer’s open letter to the FLOTUS on Twitter (see below), to which Mrs. Obama responded, “@Beyonce Thank you for the beautiful letter and for being a role model who kids everywhere can look up to. –mo,” they have proven to be stead-fast in their appreciation of each other.

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The First Lady, in addition to revealing that she’d be the bootylicious diva in a heartbeat, discusses her book, “American Grown,” about the White House Kitchen Garden, reports the Daily Mail. She also shares the First Couple’s evening ritual:

”We live above the store, which means 6.30pm is dinner. The first half hour, we’re talking to the girls, then we shoo them off to go walk Bo and catch a little check-in without the kids.

‘We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I’m usually in bed before anybody. He’ll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss and we’ll talk. He’s like, “Ready to be tucked?” I’m like, “Yes I am.”‘

It doesn’t get any cuter than that.

The People issue hits newsstands on Friday.

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I read the headline with curiosity, as Klein explains that Michelle was going to leave Barack, after he’d been badly defeated in his run for the Illinois state senate against Bobby Rush.  The family was broke, and Michelle allegedly felt that Barack was being unrealistic in his political aspirations.  The Obamas themselves have admitted to running into “rough patches” during their marriage, but I’m sure most of us get the “made-for-TV” version of their marital challenges.

There is an old saying that “we must spend a few years living like no one else will in order to spend the rest of our lives living like no one else can.”  In no place does this message resonate more than it does in the marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama.  Even if every detail of Klein’s remarks are not entirely true, there are some things we can learn.  Here is a short list:

1) Marriage is not a fairy tale:  Most people who stay together for decades don’t march through years of marriage with comfort and flying colors.  Instead, they have to fight, grind, and remain focused on their objective.  We often hear about people ending their relationships because they “just weren’t happy anymore,” or “I fell out of love with my partner,” as if marriage is like a piece of gum that you replace when the sugar runs out. If you think of love as a perpetual source of instant gratification, then it’s probably best that you never get married.

2) If you aren’t ready for the volatility, then don’t get on the ride: For every woman who fantasizes about being married to the next Barack Obama, the truth is that most people don’t have what it takes.  High rewards require high risk and the ability to stomach significant disappointments.  Those who think that marriage should be comfortable and stable all the time should never consider marrying a man with Barack Obama-like ambitions (or you could also line up with all the women who start chasing the man once he becomes successful).  Obama is a man willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve his dream, and most women would not be able to live with that kind of risk.

3) Never give up on yourself:  Most successful people become highly familiar with failure during their climb to the top.  Part of the reason that Barack has been so successful in politics and life is that he learned the value of remaining persistent when things aren’t going his way.    Your entire life can change in an instant, and the only people who get to experience the sunrise after the rain are the ones who decided to hang in there.

4) Things are almost never what they seem to be:  Anyone who truly believed that the Obama marriage was as perfect as it appears to be is flat-out delusional. Living your life based on a fantasy is a one-way ticket to disappointment. Don’t believe everything you read and realize that celebrities have problems, just like the rest of us. A strong relationship is possible for anyone, but it’s silly to think that it’s going to happen without a great deal of really hard work and commitment.  So, if none of your relationships are lasting longer than a few months, the truth is that you’re probably not built to be an Obama.

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Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the forthcoming book, “The RAPP Sheet: Rising Above Psychological Poison.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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The two female powerhouses have allegedly had some ugly confrontations before and after Barack Obama was elected president.  Reportedly, Mrs. Obama has accused Oprah of using the White House to her own advantage in order to hike up her TV ratings. Both women are also being accused of raking each other over the coals to close associates.

But wait, it supposedly gets nastier!

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Mrs. Obama’s response to the middle-schooler’s question about her possibly following Hillary Clinton‘s path was as follows:

“Absolutely not. No,” she said to laughter. “I think one of the things you learn about yourself as you get older are what are your strengths and what are your interests. And for me it’s other stuff that is not being the president.  So I probably won’t run.”

Interestingly enough, if Michelle Obama did have the desire to run for the office of the presidency, she might actually have a shot.   President Obama’s popularity has taken a drubbing while the First Lady gets high marks from the country’s constituents, according to the latest Marist Poll.  Almost two-thirds of registered voters nationwide have a positive impression of Michelle Obama.  A total of 65 percent have a favorable view of Mrs. Obama while less than one in four members of the electorate — 23 percent — has an unfavorable impression of her; another 12 percent are unsure.

Mrs. Obama also expressed confidence during the Q&A session that her husband will win the re-election and said that she will remain in her position for another four years.

What do you think?

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Subtly deflecting from the racial tension that has polarized the nation, Mrs. Obama shifts the case back to its heart: Two people lost their son in a tragic act of violence.

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My heart goes out to the parents, because we all as parents understand the tragedy of that kind of loss, and I think that’s really the thing that most people connect to,” Obama said. “And it’s important for us not to lose sight of the fact that this is a family that’s grieving and there’s been a tremendous loss. And we all have to rally around that piece of it.”

The First Lady also made it clear that the “race” conversation can not end with Trayvon Martin:

Talking is good. Conversations have to be forever. You know, they can’t come in spits and starts when there’s an incident. I think we all need, as a country, to continue to talk about these issues, to understand our communities and the challenges that we face, which are different and unique depending upon where you live,” Obama said.

It’s all about, you know, continuing to get to know ourselves in a very diverse and complicated country that is America. It is a wonderful place to live. But because it is so diverse, our challenges are complex. So there isn’t, you know, a one-shot solution to this. It is complicated. It takes time. It takes openness. It takes compassion. It takes patience. And it takes a lot of work. So we should all be ready to roll up our sleeves and keep doing that work.”

President Barack Obama weighed in on the case last month  — after weeks of his loud silence was felt in the Black community — and he voiced similar sentiments:

If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Obama said.”I think [Trayvon's parents] are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

Obviously, this is a tragedy,” he continued. “I can only imagine what these parents are going through, and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together — federal, state and local — to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened.”

Click here for the full transcript of First Lady Michelle Obama’s interview on NPR.

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In the sit-down appearance on Wednesday night’s The Colbert Report, Obama revealed that the initiative, which helps men and women in the armed services find employment and reenter civilian society, has reached its one-year anniversary.

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She also mentioned that the project, whose website is joiningforces.gov, has made an impact but that work still needs to be done to further get the number of unemployed veterans down to zero.

Obama explained:

“These people are bringing in skills that actually improve the bottom line of companies. Because these are some of the most highly trained, highly skilled, disciplined people that we have in our society, the best this country has to offer.”

Meanwhile Colbert tempered his usual snarkiness with a more respectful interview approach. Recalling that the last time he interviewed Obama in 2008 was before she moved into the White House, Colbert took some credit for her success saying “that’s the Colbert bump.” He also dubbed himself “First Gentleman of Colbert Nation.

He also quipped that veterans would make great co-workers because they could put any petty office drama in much-need perspective.

Obama replied:

“It’s hard to be a whiner around a veteran.”

In the second part of the interview, Colbert asked Obama why she even decided to focus her work as a First Lady on helping military families in the first place. She explained:

“When I was campaigning I got to meet these military families. I was travelling around talking to mostly spouses and I was awed by their sacrifice. These folks are moving more than any average American does. They’re expected sometimes, their children are changing schools nine, ten times in the entire educational career. The thing that struck me is that they do it with grace, without complaint. I was inspired. I said on the campaign trail that if I had the opportunity to serve in this role, that I would try to be their voice and tell their stories.”

Colbert also touched on Obama’s appearance on iCarly and concluded by asking if her she was endorsing Barack Obama.

To that, the First Lady only had one response:

“I am endorsing Barack Obama. I think he’ll be a great president. He’s my man!”

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Brett Johnson is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based writer and the founder of the music and culture blog VeryArtistical.com.

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She also announced plans to mark the Joining Forces campaign’s first anniversary with a two-day, four-state swing next week that will include stops in election battleground states Pennsylvania and Florida and a chat with comedian Stephen Colbert on his show “The Colbert Report.”

The Joining Forces organization said it has lined up commitments for more than 15,000 jobs in the coming years. Most will come from telemarketing and customer support companies and will enable the spouses and veterans to work from home.

Mrs. Obama noted these jobs are especially helpful to military families because they move so often across state lines – about 10 times more often than the typical U.S. family.

“We’re trying to meet these spouses where they are,” she said in a conference call with reporters. “This will make such a huge difference. … When the next set of orders comes in for these families and they have to move across the country, they’ll be able to move these jobs with them.”

Ahead of the Joining Forces anniversary, the first lady visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to distribute Easter treats from the White House pastry shop to military families staying there.

Mrs. Obama was joined by family dog Bo, briefly wearing bunny ears, as she greeted the families and children who were decorating Easter cards with stickers, cotton balls and crayons. She introduced the Portuguese water dog as “my only son.”

The first lady carried a basket full of Easter cookies- decorated with pastel colors and images of Bo and hatching eggs.

Mrs. Obama also brought tickets for the families to attend the White House Egg Roll on Monday.

“Come ready to play,” she told the kids about the annual event held on the South Lawn.

Next week, after a White House celebration, she and Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife and her partner in Joining Forces, will make stops at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to meet with nursing industry leaders; New York for Mrs. Obama’s Colbert taping; Shreveport, La., to mark the 50,000th veteran or service spouse hired under the campaign; and the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville, Fla.

So far, Mrs. Obama told reporters, the jobs component of Joining Forces has exceeded expectations. “The country is stepping up in ways both large and small,” she said.

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Listen to her interview here:

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Gingrich on Tuesday called De Niro’s comment “inexcusable” and demanded an apology from President Barack Obama.

“I think that Robert De Niro’s wrong,” Gingrich said at a campaign stop in Shreveport, La. “The country is ready for a new first lady, and he doesn’t have to describe it in racial terms.”

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Gingrich said the president should be held accountable “when someone at his event says something as utterly and totally unacceptable as Robert De Niro said last night. And I call on the president to apologize for him.”

Obama didn’t apologize, but his campaign didn’t stand by the actor’s sense of humor, either.

“We believe the joke was inappropriate,” said Mrs. Obama’s campaign press secretary, Olivia Alair. She declined further comment.

De Niro and his wife, Grace Hightower, were the hosts of the New York fundraiser Monday night. The tough-talking star of “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Casino,” and “Meet the Parents” opened the evening’s remarks by listing the wives of Republicans running for president.

“Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney,” he said. “Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”

The crowd of big-dollar donors waiting to hear from the nation’s first black first lady roared in approval, and De Niro finished: “Too soon, right?”

Publicist Stan Rosenfield said De Niro wouldn’t respond to the criticism. “It was obvious satire,” Rosenfield said in an email.

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But the first lady told David Letterman on Monday the woman only wanted help with a package she couldn’t reach.

During Obama’s visit to CBS’ “Late Show,” Letterman held up a picture of her after she put on sunglasses and a baseball cap to try to visit a Washington-area store last September.

Obama said the woman apparently was oblivious of the fact she had asked a favor of the first lady and said “you didn’t have to make it look so easy” after the detergent was retrieved.

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“That was my interaction,” Obama said. “It felt so good.”

The first lady talked about how she learned from her parents the notion of unconditional love, that the most important thing for children to know is that their parents adore them. She said she and the president try to instill that stability in their own two daughters, and almost became emotional talking about her father.

“Don’t make me cry,” she said. “This isn’t `Oprah.’ It’s supposed to be `Letterman.’”

The “Late Show with David Letterman” airs weeknights at 11:35 Eastern time.

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It has become somewhat of a tradition for first ladies to lead the U.S. delegation. Laura Bush headed the delegation to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, and Hillary Rodham Clinton headed up the delegation at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Mrs. Obama on Tuesday will host a mini-Olympic competition with physical activities for D.C.-area children at American University. The competition is part of her Let’s Move! initiative promoting fitness and healthy eating.

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She will be joined by Britain’s first lady, Samantha Cameron, who is accompanying her husband, British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a two-day visit to the U.S.

Olympians and Paralympians expected to attend the event include: Kortney Clemons, Dominique Dawes, April Holmes, Lisa Leslie, Lori Ann Lindsey, Dan O’Brien, Becky Sauerbrunn and David Wagner.

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[Songza Playlist=what-it-feels-like-to-be-black-NewsOne]

The first lady will appear on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on March 19. Mrs. Obama will discuss her Joining Forces initiative, which supports military families, and her plans for the program’s one-year anniversary.

CBS, which airs Letterman’s show, says this will be Mrs. Obama’s first appearance on the program. But she has made other stops on the late-night talk show circuit to promote her initiatives and stump for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. Her recent appearances include “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and Jimmy Fallon’s “Late Night” program. Both shows are on NBC.

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Between games, The First Lady spoke to the crowd about how basketball can help enhance healthy living. The Daily Reporter has more:

Obama walked to midcourt and addressed the crowd about her national anti-obesity campaign. She touted basketball as a way to keep active.

“We need them to be the next generation to handle challenges,” she said.

She promised she wouldn’t talk long because “we’re going to be moving around.”

“There’s no better way than basketball to illustrate the point (of staying healthy.) We are a basketball family and my husband is a crazy fanatic about basketball,” she said.

The CIAA is made up of mostly historically black colleges and universities (HBCU‘s). For more on this story, go to the Daily Reporter.

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First lady Michelle Obama and Pentagon officials planned to announce the effort Thursday during a visit to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, where the military has been experimenting with the idea through a pilot program designed to improve the quality and variety of foods served on base.

It’s not just about giving members of the armed services a more svelte profile.

“The Department of Defense considers obesity not only a national problem, but a national security issue,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “About a quarter of entry-level candidates are too overweight to actually either enter the military or sustain themselves through the first enlistment.”

The Pentagon spends an estimated $4.5 billion a year on food services, and $1.1 billion a year on medical care related to excess weight and obesity.

Check out the rest of the story at theGrio.

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Mrs. Obama and Fallon did pushups and twirled hula hoops. They competed at dodge ball and tug-of-war. And the first lady triumphed over the comedian in a climactic potato sack race.

After a defeated Fallon said, “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost,” the first lady replied, “It matters.”

The segment was taped last month and aired early Wednesday on NBC’s “Late Night” program.

Mrs. Obama has been making the talk-show rounds to celebrate the second anniversary of her campaign against childhood obesity. In the past few weeks she has appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Rachael Ray.”

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But never has a First Lady been so disrespected, ridiculed, demeaned or vilified in the manner that Michelle Obama has. With such high approval ratings (at times even higher than her husband), there’s a clear explanation for the continual attacks against Mrs. Obama – her race – and come to think of it, his race.

During the Presidential campaign of ’08, many Black women like myself were beyond excited to see a strong Black woman as the next potential First Lady. An educated, extremely intelligent female who dedicated much of her efforts towards working in the community and uplifting others, Michelle Obama represented what many of us either strive to be, or already regard ourselves as. And the fact that President Obama, a biracial man, married an independently minded and strong-willed woman like Michelle, only solidified our appreciation and support for this couple. It’s exactly that admiration and love for Michelle Obama that conservatives and those with an ax to grind hate so much. And they’ve proved over and over again that they will try to do anything to tarnish her image.

When Barack Obama was on the campaign trail, the verbal assaults against Michelle already began. First, they attempted to turn her comments about being proud of her country into a negative, as if she was somehow unpatriotic her entire life. During the rest of the that period and throughout Barack Obama’s Presidency, the right continued throwing insults against Michelle for everything from the clothes she wears to her fight against obesity, to supposed lavish vacations. Following in conservative footsteps, now everyone appears to think it’s appropriate to make outrageous claims against the First Lady. The latest example: British publications printing stories of Michelle spending $50,000 on undergarments.

The fact that White House press secretary Jay Carney had to take time on Monday to denounce the  underwear rumor is proof that the allegations against the First Lady are out of control. And now that we’re in an election year, things are likely to get worse. Because Michelle Obama represents so much of what we love, they will do everything they can to smear her image and that of the President. It’s our duty to make sure that they don’t succeed. Make no mistake: smearing them is an attempt to diminish our own self-esteem.

I asked my mother the other day if she’s ever seen any First Lady repeatedly insulted like Michelle Obama has been. The answer, not surprisingly, was a definite “NO.” Throughout it all, Mrs. Obama has taken the barrage of attacks with grace and dignity, while disproving everything with her actions – just like a strong Black woman would. And I should know, a strong Black woman is me; she is you and we cannot allow her to be slandered.

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President Barack Obama showed the world that he is musically inclined, when he coyly sang a few lines from Al Green’s romantic ballad “Let’s Stay Together” at a campaign event in January.  “That was completely spontaneous,” Mrs. Obama told Jay Leno during the interview.   “I didn’t even hear about it until it got on YouTube, but he does have a beautiful voice, and he sings to me all the time.”

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1382432

The First Lady, who admits she can’t sing, was caught on video last May busting a few moves at a middle school dance party.  She demonstrated without a bit of shyness that she can do the Dougie, Running Man and Cha-Cha with the best of them.

“Let’s Stay Together” is apparently one of Obama’s favorite songs according to the First Lady.  She also admitted that the president seems to prefer the classic slow jams. “I knew when people said he sang, I thought I’ll bet he sang Al Green,” Mrs. Obama said. “He sings a lot of Al Green, Marvin Gay, a little Stevie. He likes the classics.”

On the flip side, while Mrs. Obama doesn’t mind having her husband serenade her, the children feel differently.  Malia and Sasha aren’t big fans of their dad’s crooning and are big believers in the adage “silence is golden.”  “Anything we do is highly embarrassing. They just want us to be very quiet, very quiet,” Mrs. Obama said.

As for the Mitt Romney‘s rendition of “America the Beautiful,”  the First Lady tactfully said, “It’s beautiful! It is America’s song, and it’s a song that’s meant to be sung by every American.”

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And he’s right, Limbaugh added, they do that well.  Mom and Dad and the two kids.  It’s a good-looking family.

Limbaugh then went in on the First Family, stating that Mrs. Obama needs to get rid of her nutritional standards to combat childhood obesity.

That’s not the kind of teamwork, you see, that the people of this country want.  They don’t want their government telling them what they cannot eat.  They don’t want the government telling them what they must eat.  Even little leftist robot kids don’t.

Then in a really insulting remark, Limbaugh went back to the hypocritical Republican position that poor people simply need to learn family values:

You know, the best thing Michelle Obama could do — and I’m not joking here — the best thing Michelle Obama could do for people in poverty is to simply highlight the solid nuclear family that she has with her husband, Barack, and the two kids.

It’s easy to see why Limbaugh wouldn’t be happy about Michelle Obama’s nutritional standards: She and her family are healthy, and Rush Limbaugh is not.  The poor man has fought with obesity, drug addiction, and nearly every other symbol of a gluttonous, self-absorbed life.  His position on disciplined family values is heavily contradicted by the way he’s lived his own life — but that’s essentially what makes him a good Republican.

Limbaugh is correct that the Obamas have the kind of family that even most Republicans can’t criticize.  They are not defying the norms of the Black family; they are reflecting them.  Millions of Black families across America consist of good, normal people who want to do what’s best for their children.  Limbaugh’s code language involving the use of words like “poor,” “urban,” and “unprivileged,” are nothing more than modern day manifestations of the same old self-righteous racism that has held our country back for the last 400 years.

Limbaugh may want to take time to reflect on his own values.  If every poor family in America decided to take on the ethical disposition of Rush Limbaugh, then God help us all.  The man almost went to prison for his drug addiction for goodness sake, and it’s amazing that so many Republicans are listening to him.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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Pizza won’t disappear from lunch lines, but will be made with healthier ingredients.

Mrs. Obama, also joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, said youngsters will learn better if they don’t have growling stomachs at school.

“We have a right to expect the food (our kids) get at school is the same kind of food we want to serve at our own kitchen tables,” she said.

After the announcement, the three went through the line with students and ate turkey tacos with brown rice, black bean and corn salad and fruit — all Ray’s recipes — with children in the Parklawn Elementary lunchroom.

The new rules aren’t as aggressive as the Obama administration had hoped. Congress last year blocked the Agriculture Department from making some of the desired changes, including limiting french fries and pizzas.

A bill passed in November would require the department to allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. The initial draft of the department’s guidelines, released a year ago, would have prevented that. Congress also blocked the department from limiting servings of potatoes to two servings a week. The final rules have incorporated those directions from Congress.

Among those who had sought the changes were potato growers and food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools. Conservatives in Congress called the guidelines an overreach and said the government shouldn’t tell children what to eat. School districts also objected to some of the requirements, saying they go too far and would cost too much.

The new guidelines apply to lunches subsidized by the federal government. A child nutrition bill signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 will help school districts pay for some of the increased costs. Some of the changes will take place as soon as this September; others will be phased in over time.

The guidelines will limit the total number of calories in an individual meal and require that milk be low in fat. Flavored milks will have to be nonfat.

While many schools are improving meals already, others still serve children meals high in fat, salt and calories. The guidelines are designed to combat childhood obesity and are based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Vilsack said food companies are reformulating many of the foods they sell to schools in anticipation of the changes.

“The food industry is already responding,” he said. “This is a movement that has started, it’s gaining momentum.”

The subsidized meals that would fall under the guidelines are served as free and low-cost meals to low-income children and long have been subject to government nutrition standards. The 2010 law will extend, for the first time, nutrition standards to other foods sold in schools that aren’t subsidized by the federal government. That includes “a la carte” foods on the lunch line and snacks in vending machines.

Those standards, while expected to be similar, will be written separately and have not yet been proposed by the department.

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On an episode of her “Both Sides Now With Huffington and Matalin” radio program, multimillionaire Arianna Huffington decided to take the First Lady to task for not being Black enough. Of course, she didn’t say, “Black enough,” she just said that Michelle Obama should be more like former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and visit “South Central.”

Huffington, whom I agree with on most matters, stated that the First Lady should avoid lavish fundr-aisers in swanky L.A. neighborhoods and focus more on demonstrating her compassion for people’s suffering:

“I’d love [Michelle] to be more [like] Eleanor Roosevelt right now, because the country needs an Eleanor Roosevelt who’s going to go around and at the same time that she’s doing fund-raisers in Beverly Hills and Bel Air … she should go to South Central [Los Angeles], I mean, if I were Michelle Obama right now, I would not go anywhere for a fund-raiser without going and seeing the places where there is pain, where there is struggle, where there is homelessness, where there is unemployment, because we need to bring that conversation to the center of the debate and there’s nothing like a first lady or … a candidate to take us there.”

Dear Arianna:

You can take your elitist criticism of Michelle Obama and shove it into a tall pile of money.

First of all, that area hasn’t been called “South Central” since 2003; it is now South Los Angeles. If that wasn’t the first clue that you have no idea what you’re talking about, what exactly would you have her do in “South Central” — get shot nine times like 50 Cent so she can have some street cred?

I agree that when the Obamas come to Los Angeles (besides wreaking havoc on the 405 freeway), the president is either speaking at a university, meeting with the Latino community or hob-nobbing in Hollywood. There definitely needs to be more of a focus on providing comprehensive outreach to the poor among us, but suggesting that the First Lady of the United States stroll through an urban war zone just so she can prove how “down” she is with the plight of suffering, unemployed, Black and Brown people, is about as insulting as Rick Santorum saying that it’s “remarkable” that Obama is pro-choice, considering that he’s Black.

Now that I’ve entertained your stereo-typical insinuations about “South Central,” let’s talk about reality. When was the last time you visited South Los Angeles, Ms. Huffington? Are you relying on clips of “Boyz in the Hood” and “Menace II Society” for your information, or have you driven through Compton and Inglewood and seen the neighborhoods for yourself?

Do you even know the ethnic make-up of South Central or are you still operating under the presumption that it’s over-run with poor,”suffering” African Americans? You do realize that it’s nearly half Belizean, Hispanic, and Latino, right? You do realize that there are thriving African businesses in Leimert Park, right? You wouldn’t just be throwing out the the most destitute, “ghetto,” Black place you could think of for our first Black First Lady to visit, would you? You didn’t open your mouth before familiarizing yourself with the affluent African-American neighborhoods of Baldwin Hills and Ladera Heights, did you?

I know you meant well, Ms. Huffington … or did you?

Because on second thought, it seems that you’re perpetuating the myth that the First Lady is an “uppity” Black woman who wouldn’t understand poverty if it smacked her in the face with a food stamp. With your statement, you join the exclusive club of people who brush over her hard-knock life, where her only riches were found in her family. You negate her work to eradicate obesity among children, specifically African-American children — obesity often being a symptom of poverty. You dismiss her efforts to attract grocery stores that sell fresh food to impoverished neighborhoods; you discount her push to provide tax-breaks to breastfeeding mothers — which, surprisingly [please, note sarcasm] is an issue facing many women in poverty who can’t afford to stay home to nurse their children.

But I guess those initiatives aren’t “Black enough” for you?  You’d rather passively endorse the Marie Antoinette drawing, Hawaii vacation-envying crowd who would prefer that a Harvard-educated attorney and Mother of two “visit” the hoods of “South Central” to prove how much she cares about Black unemployed people. That would be the equivalent of critics telling you that if you really care about your native Greece, then when you dined there with the Greek prime minister George Papandreou, you should have stopped in the hood — if you really care.

See how insulting and narrow-minded that is?

As the mastermind behind the merger of Huffington Post and AOL Black Voices and a keynote speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists, Ms. Huffington, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourselves with the many voices in the African-American community — and they aren’t just poor and suffering in South Central; nor, do many of us prefer a symbolic, executive drive through the hood to the necessary work that the First Lady is actually doing in those communities.

Michelle Obama is more than doing her part. If you must criticize anyone, then reserve that for the Commander-in-Chief, who is so afraid that conservatives will catch him uttering the word “poverty,” that he wouldn’t order “Colors“ on Netflix.

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1)  She’s just as smart as her husband: Barack Obama went to an Ivy League school, and so did Michelle.  Barack is a highly trained attorney, and so is Michelle.   In fact, Michelle actually mentored Barack when he first got his job at Sidley Austin, a fancy law firm in Chicago.  I’m sure she can go toe-to-toe with him in any debate.

2) It’s about time we let a woman lead our country. Given that women are now the majority of the American workforce, it is about time for us to let a woman run the country.  Who knows?  Maybe choosing the best person for the job without discriminating based on gender will actually make us better off in the end.

3) She has guts. Michelle has stated that there is nothing shameful about being a strong black woman.  She doesn’t feel the need to make others unnecessarily comfortable or to give in to the irrationality of racism.  Quite frankly, there are times when the president folded in situations where I truly believe Michelle would have stood strong.  She’s not in Washington to make friends, and sometimes, that can be a good thing.

4)  She would choose better advisers. Every time I see a silly decision being made by the Obama Administration or hear that they’ve chosen yet again to ignore the growing Black unemployment problem, someone tells me, “It’s not President Obama, it’s the people around him.”  I don’t disagree:  Obama’s cabinet is whiter than an episode of the TV show “Happy Days.” Reports that Michelle Obama has had friction with the president’s cabinet are not surprising, since she appears to be the one willing to tell them the ugly truth about their choices.

5) She’s not afraid to be Black. Throughout her life, Michelle has written about diversity issues and fought for them. Her graduation thesis at Princeton was titled, “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community.” She has protested against the Harvard Law School’s atrocious record of not hiring African-American professors and seems genuinely concerned about the Black men and women who can’t find jobs.  In fact, Michelle is likely the one who remembers that during the last two months when the country celebrated improvements in the unemployment rate, Black unemployment actually got worse — I’m not sure if the rest of the Obama Administration got the memo.

While no one can prove that Michelle is more qualified than Barack, the fact that being Black and female amounts to automatic disqualification from the presidency reminds us that we are a long way from fulfilling the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Still, I’m going to go out and find me a “Michelle Obama for President” T-shirt.  Somehow I’m sure I won’t be the only one wearing it.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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1) She is a great Mother. It is evident that Mrs. Obama is a hands-on Mom to daughters Malia and Sasha.  Responsible parenting is her credo, and despite a grueling schedule, the mom-in-chief is a devoted nurturer who is intent on keeping her children grounded.

2) She is a dedicated wife. Mrs. Obama has been very vocal about the fact that she thinks her husband, Barack, is a wonderful partner, husband, and father, “We’re each other’s best friends and closest advisors,” she said during an interview with Babble.com.

The First Lady seems to be her husband’s biggest supporter and often speaks out about what she thinks he brings to this country.  The Obamas are openly affectionate toward each other and present a powerful example of what a modern-day partnership between equals looks like.

3) She loves and respects animals. After being contacted by the New York Post on whether or not she wears fur, Press Secretary Semonti Mustaphi responded:

Mrs. Obama does not wear fur.

So in PETA’s eyes, she looks pretty darn fabulous.

4) She champions healthy eating for children. Mrs. Obama launched the “Let’s Move!” healthful eating campaign to help fight childhood obesity.  At its core, the initiative has four pillars:

• increased awareness about nutrition
• more physical activity
• easier access to healthier foods
• personal responsibility

The campaign is not a war on fast foods, but about getting the nation’s kids on a fast track to good health, which leads to increased self-esteem.

5) She is a fashion icon. Mrs. Obama is a mix-and-match master, and while she loves designer duds, she isn’t afraid to pair them with budget-friendly finds from stores like the Gap or J. Crew.

6) She is very intelligent. A product of Chicago public schools, Mrs. Obama studied Sociology and African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband.  She is only one of three first ladies to have received a Master’s degree (the other two are Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton).

7) She admits to food vices. While Mrs. Obama has admitted that she loves hot wings, French fries, and bacon, she eats them in moderation and presents realistic ways of managing unhealthy food, making her all the more lovable!

8) She can dance! As part of her “Let’s Move!” campaign in a a D.C. public school last May, Mrs. Obama demonstrated that she can do the Dougie and the Running Man.

9) She smells good. The First Lady is smitten with Creed’s Love in White, which is a crisp mix of orange blossom and citrus notes.

10) She has fabulous arms. We all have arm envy of Mrs. Obama’s first guns, nicknamed “Thunder and Lightening.”  Her arms are buff and she’s not afraid to show ‘em!

11) She hates pantyhose. And so do 99.99 percent of women! Mrs. Obama finds the restrictive,  male-invented legwear “painful!”

12) She works out like a fiend. Mrs. Obama loves to exercise, and it shows.  The First Lady keeps her hot bod fit by changing up her exercise routine, hitting the treadmill, lifting weights, jumping rope, kickboxing, and taking pilates. One of her favorite artists to sweat to is Beyonce.

13) She is a good daughter. When the Obamas moved into the White House, the First Lady’s mom, Marian Robinson, was in tow.  Mrs. Robinson has been described as the bedrock of the Obama family. After he was elected president,  Obama said on “60 Minutes,” “She’s just been an unbelievable support for all of us during this process.” The love among mother, daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids is oh-so-evident.

14)  She supports military families. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched a national initiative to support and honor America’s service members and their families. “Joining Forces” was created to address the unique challenges and needs of military families. The initiative focuses on key priority areas (employment, education, and wellness), while working to raise awareness about the lives of military families.

14) She is not an ice princess. Mrs. Obama actually shows emotion and isn’t afraid to laugh, cry, dance, or sing in public.

15) She is beautiful. Named as one of People Magazines “World’s Most Beautiful People 2009,” Mrs. Obama has both outer and inner beauty.  The First Lady credits her father and brother for giving her high self-esteem, making her the confident woman she is today.

16) She is a good cook. When Mrs. Obama has time to get down in the kitchen, she admits that she can “burn a pot.”  Mrs. Obama’s shrimp linguine is one of her husband’s fave dishes.

17) She loves to shop at Target. Even though being a First Lady makes things difficult, Mrs. Obama loves shopping at Target.  It’s nice to know that Mrs. Obama, like the rest of us, wants to “expect more and pay less.”

18) She has nice hair. No clips, weaves or wigs, the First Lady’s do is always polished, always stylish and is all truly hers.

19) She is a good sister. Mrs. Obama and her brother Craig, who is 16 months older, were often mistaken for twins growing up.  The pair are so close that the First Lady even followed her brother to Princeton University.  She often refers to her brother as her best friend.

20) She loves healthy food. Mrs. Obama has supported the organic food movement, instructing the White House kitchens to prepare organic food for guests and her family.  In 2009, Michelle worked with 23 fifth graders from a local school in Washington, D.C., to plant a 1,100-square-foot garden of fresh vegetables and install bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House.

21) She is a role model. Always poised and well-spoken, Mrs. Obama exudes a confidence and grace that is exemplary for young girls everywhere.

22) She is a friend in our heads. Mrs. Obama is like a sisterfriend: She seems like the kind of friend who could bring you out of your deepest funk with her indefatigable smile and words of wisdom.

23) She supports the arts. The First Lady has often said that it is through music, literature, art, drama, and dance that we tell the story of our past and we express our hopes for the future.

24) She loves to read. Whenever Mrs. Obama picks up a book, it generates tons of buzz.  She loves reading books to not only her own children but has to countless students as well.

25) She has a nickname. The Robinson family call her “Miche,” and her husband refers to her as “my rock.”

26) She is outspoken. In addition to some of the memorable things she said on the campaign trail, she told her teachers when she got to Princeton that they weren’t teaching French correctly.

27) She has a favorite TV show. Mrs. Obama likes to kick back by watching reruns of 1960′s comedy “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” (And so do I!)

28) She knows what it’s like to lose a loved one. Mrs. Obama’s dad died from complications of  multiple sclerosis when she was in her 20s.

29) She likes all kinds of music. The First Lady’s personal playlist includes cuts like “No Diggety,” by BlackStreet; “Poison,” by Bel Biv DeVoe; and songs by Guns N’ Roses and rapper Eminem.

30) She loves Sudoku. The psychological appeal of the puzzle game has gained popularity over the years.

31) She keeps it real. The First Lady has shared some personal stuff with the public about her hubby, like his smelly socks and how he forgets to put the butter away.

32) She can think on her feet. During the election campaign, the First Lady wrote her own speeches and spoke without using notes.

33) She calls it as she sees it. When Mrs. Obama first met her husband, she thought he had a big nose.

34) She keeps connected to her husband. Mrs. Obama and the President are in constant communication even when he’s away.  To keep in touch, they use a webcam.

35) She puts her husband to work.  Mrs. Obama can still make her husband do the dishes whenever she cooks.

36) She has a familiar lineage. Jim Robinson, the First Lady’s great-great grandfather, was a slave in South Carolina before the Civil War.

37) She is anti-smoking. President Obama was a smoker, and after years of pressure from the First Lady, he finally quit the habit nearly a year ago.  The President had been a smoker for 30 years.

38) She is a mover and shaker. Before she became the First Lady, Mrs. Obama was on the board of six major organizations, including the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and Tree House Foods. She was also vice president of Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

39) She is an ambassador of goodwill. Last year, Mrs. Obama made official trips to Africa, India, Latin America, and the U.K., showing her talent as a goodwill ambassador and spokesperson for the less fortunate.

40) She is popular. More popular than her husband, Mrs. Obama’s approval ratings hover near 70 percent while President Obama’s ratings are less than 40 percent.

41) She is a feminist. Mrs. Obama seems to embody the notion at the center of feminism: women can be both intelligent and powerful.

42) She is into Twitter. Since joining Twitter on January 12, the First Lady has occasionally tweeted as herself with posts signed “mo.”

42) She loves jumping double Dutch.  We all watched Mrs. Obama on the news last September jumping  double Dutch with D.C.-area kids on the White House south lawn.  She said it made her happy.

First Lady Michelle Obama Worldwide Day of Play Spot from Jessica Wilson on Vimeo.
43) She likes dark chocolate. What are her favorite sinful treats?  The Seattle-based Fran’s Chocolates is her weakness.

44) She is a good baker. The First Lady runs the White house like a home and still finds the time to bake.  Mrs. Obama loves her Apple Cobbler recipe.

45) She is a cool Mom who lets 13-year-old Malia use makeup. Before she allowed her oldest daughter to apply makeup, Mrs. Obama talked through the grown-up move with her.

46) She has zero-tolerance for bullying. The First Lady works to dispel the myth that bullying is a normal rite of passage for kids.

47) She loves America. Mrs. Obama loves the United States and the opportunities it has given her, such as living the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech.
48) She loves her job as First Lady. Mrs. Obama loves her job, loves people and likes having a positive impact on America.  She is eagerly awaiting a possible second term in the White House and feels there is still much work to do:

We’ve really just begun to lay the foundation,” Mrs. Obama told ABC News.

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A screaming, raucous auditorium filled with elementary and middle school students greeted Obama and the cast of the Nickelodeon TV show “iCarly” at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County.

The appearance promoted an upcoming episode featuring Obama in which she thanks military families for their sacrifices. On the show, star Miranda Cosgrove plays the daughter of an Air Force colonel deployed overseas.

A staple of the show is a segment of random dancing, which Obama performed both in the episode that premieres Monday and on stage Friday.

Obama’s dance moves drew plaudits from the “iCarly” cast.

“I think she showed everybody up in the dance department,” said Jennette McCurdy, who plays Samantha on the show.

The onstage dance session Friday lasted only a minute or so, far less than the extended dance session Obama did last year when visiting Deal Middle School in the District, when she joined students doing “the Dougie” and “The Running Man” in a clip that has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube.

Her acting skills also drew praise. The cast was impressed with Obama’s ability to deliver her lines in the compressed time they had to shoot the scenes.

“She has good comic timing in real life, too,” Cosgrove said.

Obama said she watches the show with her daughters, and wanted to appear because it dovetails with her campaign to support and recognize military families. Last year, Obama went to northern Virginia to deliver the commencement address at the high school on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Hayfield, few miles south of the Pentagon, was chosen in part because it is home to large numbers of military children.

During a question-and-answer session with students, Obama drew a handful of playful boos when she was asked about school lunches and talked about legislation she and her husband supported to add more vegetables to the school lunch program.

Taking note of the reaction, she said, “But this is for you all. … It’s hard to do what you do if you’re not healthy.”

She concluded with a simple admonition: “Eat your vegetables.”

She also handled other student questions:

- Asked what super power she wished she could have, she said, “You know what? I’ve always wanted to fly. When I was young, I used to always have dreams about flying.”

-Her favorite room in the White House? The Yellow Oval Room, which opens up to the Truman balcony. “It’s one of the few places the president can walk outside and be by himself,” she said.

-Her favorite TV shows? Besides “iCarly,” Mrs. Obama said, “we watch all kinds of things. We try not to have too much TV time during the week, though.”

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Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she hasn’t read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor’s new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama’s top advisers.

“I never read these books,” she told CBS’s Gayle King in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “So I’ve just gotten in the habit of not reading other people’s impressions of people.”

In the book, Mrs. Obama is said to have occasionally bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life in the White House.

In the interview, Mrs. Obama said, “I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one.”

“Now there are challenges,” she added. “If there’s any anxiety that I feel, it’s because I want to make sure that my girls (Malia and Sasha) come out of this on the other end whole.”

The Kantor book portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs. The book, titled “The Obamas,” describes Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, while labeling her an “unrecognized force” in pursuing the president’s goals. Neither the president nor his wife agreed to be interviewed for the book.

“I do care deeply about my husband,” Mrs. Obama said in the CBS appearance. “I am one of his biggest allies. I am one of his biggest confidants.” But she sought to put aside “this notion that I sit in meetings.”

“I guess it’s just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here,” she said. “That’s been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I’m some kind of angry black woman.”

“There will always be people who don’t like me,” Mrs. Obama added, and said she could live with that.

Mrs. Obama said that she’s “just trying to be me, and I just hope that over time, that people get to know me.”

Asked specifically about an assertion of dissension between herself and Emanuel, now the mayor of Chicago, the first lady said she has “never had a cross word” with him. The same, she said, applies to Gibbs, whom she described as “a good friend, and remains so.”

“I’m sure we could go day to day and find things people wished they didn’t say to each other,” Mrs., Obama said. “And that’s why I don’t read these books. … It’s a game, in so many ways, that doesn’t fit. Who can write about what I feel? What third person can tell me what I feel?”

Mrs. Obama said that when questions or conflicts arise involving her and the White House staff, her East Wing staff resolves the issue with her husband’s staff in the West Wing.

“If there’s communication that needs to happen, it’s between staffs,” she said. “I don’t have conversations with my husband’s staff.”

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New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, in a book to be published Tuesday, portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book, “The Obamas,” Friday evening and The New York Times posted a 3,300-word adaption on its website that appeared to capture its most revealing accounts. The book is based on interviews with 30 current and former aides, though President Barack Obama and the first lady declined to be interviewed for the book.

The book portrays Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House but all the while an “unrecognized force” in pursuing the president’s goals.

She is seen publicly as the friendly and popular face of the softer side of the White House, the one reading to school kids or promoting exercise as a means to reduce child obesity.

According to Kantor, early in 2010 as the president’s health care agenda seemed in danger of collapsing, Mrs. Obama let it be known she was annoyed by how the White House was handling the strategy. After media reports indicated Emanuel was unhappy pursuing the health care overhaul, Emanuel offered to resign, Kantor wrote. The president declined the offer.

By that spring, however, Kantor writes that Mrs. Obama “made it clear that she thought her husband needed a new team, according to her aides.”

Among the book’s most provocative anecdotes, Kantor recounts a scene in which Gibbs, frustrated after tamping down a potential public relations crisis involving the first lady, exploded when presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett told him the first lady had concerns about the White House response to the flap. The initial commotion had been over an alleged remark by Michelle Obama to French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy that living in the White House was “hell.”

Gibbs cursed the first lady, who was absent. Kantor writes that Gibbs later said his anger was misplaced and that he blamed Jarrett for creating the confrontation. Kantor writes that Jarrett appeared to have been too quick with her criticism of Gibbs and that two aides to the first lady later said Jarrett had misspoken.

The White House had a cold reaction to the book, calling it an “over-dramatization of old news” and emphasizing that the first couple did not speak to the author, who last interviewed them for a magazine piece in 2009.

“The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author’s own thoughts,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. “These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated.”

The book, in an array of reconstructed anecdotes, depicts a first couple often wishing they could escape the confining White House life more freely; a president who at times gets deeply frustrated by how the press covers him; and a former chief of staff, Emanuel, who let loose with profane outbursts on staff members. All of those themes have been presented in some form in other publications.

One incident recalled that Jarrett used a phone aboard Air Force One to call a New York Times reporter. The New York Times was pursuing a story about how Obama’s West Wing was essentially a big boys’ club, and Jarrett was calling to argue that the premise of a male-dominated operation was overblown. The book says even though Jarrett was the one making the call, it was Obama himself who was managing the response to The New York Times’ story even before it came out by “personally dictating talking points to the aides who would speak to the writer.”

In another, the book describes how Obama, after winning a U.S. Senate seat and writing a best-selling book, “The Audacity of Hope,” sought self-protection and privacy as he came to terms with his new fame. Some staffers came up with a word to describe times when the senator couldn’t connect with people: “Barackward,” a combination of “Barack” and “awkward.”

But despite the White House pushback to the book, Kantor also includes many positive portrayals of both Obamas as committed parents and a down to earth power couple who have not lost their perspective.

Other revelations in the book:

- Mrs. Obama initially chafed at life in the White House and for a short period before the inauguration had even mulled staying in Chicago in 2009 at least until the two Obama daughters completed their school session.

- During the struggle to pass health care reform, Obama was committed to tackling the massive problem of rising health care costs despite the political costs. “Michelle and I are perfectly comfortable if we’re only here one term if we feel like we really accomplished something,” the book quotes the president as telling aides.

- Despite her reticence in 2010 to campaign during the midterm elections, the book says Mrs. Obama now has no qualms about 2012. “Michelle had been playing it safe, storing up political capital, and now she wanted to spend it all on her husband’s re-election campaign.”

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The email featured a photo of Michelle Obama juxtaposed with an image of the cartoon character “The Grinch” with the subject line reading “Twins separated at birth?” Written in the email was: “I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs. YoMama a wonderful, long Hawaii Christmas vacation — at our expense, of course”

O’Neal forwarded the email to several of his Republican colleagues in the Kansas House, adding his own words, “Sorry, just had to forward the latest holiday message! I’ve had worse hair days but this is pretty funny.”

The Huffington Post reports:

He said Thursday he was sorry to those he offended, adding that he missed the text in the body of the email. He said, however, that the picture “made me laugh.” Earlier his communications director defended him, saying that political cartoons are a “part of American culture.”

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“I’ve been doing the show for a long time and I usually don’t get nervous, but having the first lady on the set, I was really nervous,” laughed Cosgrove, 18, in an interview Wednesday.

Nickelodeon and the White House want to show support for U.S. military families with a cameo by the first lady on the show.

On “iCarly,” Cosgrove plays Carly Shay, the daughter of an Air Force colonel who is serving overseas.

In an episode titled, “iMeet the First Lady,” Carly gets upset when her father’s return from active duty is canceled because he is deployed again. Her friends decide to surprise her with a live feed to her father during an iCarly webcast. After Mrs. Obama sees the webcast, she praises Carly for being such a supportive daughter to a father who is serving his country.

Cosgrove said that despite being nervous about meeting Mrs. Obama, she found her quite approachable, calling the first lady a “nice, pretty normal person” who even danced with the cast during a regular segment called “Random Dancing.”

“It was probably the most fun thing we did. We all just got to let loose and have a good time,” Cosgrove said.

To promote the show, cast members will appear at four screening events for military families. The screenings will be held in Miramar, Calif., on Jan. 9; Groton, Conn., on Jan. 11; Fort Dix, N.J., on Jan. 12; and Alexandria, Va., on Jan. 13.

Cosgrove said the goal is to “let (military) kids know how important their parents are.”

The episode of “iCarly” featuring the first lady will air Jan. 16 on Nickelodeon at 7:30 p.m. EST.

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Sensenbrenner was heard talking on his cellphone at Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C., bragging about what he said at a church auction after someone praised the First Lady.

MediaBistro reports:

Our source, a Democratic operative who heard the whole thing, said he was “very loud.” Sensenbrenner was overheard saying that after buying all their “crap” (his word) a woman approached him and praised first lady Michelle Obama. He told the woman that Michelle should practice what she preaches — “she lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself.”

Read More at MediaBistro.

1. MOOD MUSIC

She partnered with Beyonce and Swizz Beatz to change the lyrics to “Get Me Bodied” for a remix dubbed “Move Your Body.” Bey shot a video for the new song in a middle school cafeteria. In it she teaches youth a workout that combines hip hop, Latin, dancehall, and aerobics. Mrs. O distributed the video to junior high schools around the nation. [hellobeautiful.com]

2. #TWITTER

She and the USDA launched the #MyPlate Twitter and Flickr campaign to coincide with the new federal icon of a plate that shows how our new daily food pyramid should be properly proportioned at each meal (half the plate should be fruits and vegetables). Social networkers were prompted to upload real-life pictures of their plates. [usda.gov]

3. NATIVE TRADITIONS

She invited American Indian children to the White House kitchen garden to use traditional planting techniques to plant the “three sisters” crops: squash, corn, and beans. She plans to release a book next year, “American Grown: How the White House Kitchen Garden Inspires Families, Schools and Communities.” [newsone.com]

4. PLAYING WITH PROFESSIONALS

She visited the U.S. Open and played doubles with Serena Williams (her served clocked in a 55mph), she played soccer with the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team in a clinic for youth soccer clubs that she invited to the White House, she co-hosted a clinic with the MLB players, took Olympians to an elementary school, and partnered with the NFL PLAY 60 effort.

5. ON THE BOOKS

She urged Congress to pass the Heathy, Hunger-Free Kids Act to ensure that schools meet more rigorous nutrition guidelines; and to increase the amount of money schools are reimbursed for meals and the number of low-income students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. The Act was signed by her husband in December 2010. [theroot.com]

6. DOWN THE AISLE

She spoke to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, asking food executives to be more mindful of what they market. While there has been progress, she said, “more than 70 percent of foods marketed to kids were still among the least healthy, with less than 1 percent being among the most healthy.” In May 2011, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a coalition of food manufacturers including Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo, promised to eliminate 1 trillion calories from their products by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by the end of 2015. [obamafoodorama.blogspot.com]

7. MENU CHANGE

She spoke to the National Restaurant Association, challenging restaurant owners to exercise portion control and offer healthier menus including making fries a request and fruits and veggies a first option. In July, McDonalds announced adding apples to Happy Meals and in September, Darden Restaurants Inc. (which is the largest full service restaurant company, owning and operating 1,900 restaurants in 49 states including Olive Gardens) promised to reduce calorie and sodium counts by 10 percent by 2016 and by 20 percent by 2021. [theatlantic.com]

8. GET COOKING

She launched “Let’s Cook,” a video series posted on the “Let’s Move” website featuring some of the country’s top chefs demonstrating how to prepare simple, affordable, nutritious family meals from an array of cuisines including North African, Caribbean, and South American. She also deployed professional chefs in a national adopt-a-school program to work closely with school administrators and families to help instill healthy eating practices. [mnn.com]

9. DOING THE DOUGIE

Though she’s been working on raising major money to eliminate food deserts, she also advocates for simple things like “turning on the radio and dancing with your children in the middle of your living room for hours,” she told the NAACP at the National Convention in July 2010. She was seen learning how to dougie with a group of Washington, DC middle schoolers in May of this year. [hellobeautiful.com]

10. BABY BLOOMERS

She developed a Child Care component of the campaign to advocate for really young youngin’s (1 in 5 are overweight by the age of 6), recommending parents provide 1-2 hours of physical activity, no screen time (TV, computer, or mobile devices) for children under 2 years-old, fruits or veggies and water with every meal, and breastfeeding (“babies that are breastfed are less likely to be obese as children”). [newsone.com]

The first lady announced in an email Monday that her October bid to break the record for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period succeeded. Mrs. Obama says 300,265 people participated, shattering the old record.

In order to achieve her goal, Mrs. Obama led about 400 elementary and middle-school students from Washington in jumping jacks on the South Lawn of the White House. Other jumping jacks events were held around the world on Oct. 11.

The effort was organized by National Geographic Kids magazine in support of the first lady’s Let’s Move! initiative to promote physical fitness and healthy eating for children.

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