To be honest a lot of the news circulating around Michelle Obama is the same it was last week, and the week before.. Michelle is still trying to figure out what type of first-lady she will be. Her new job, which really isn't a job considering she doesn't get paid and isn't appointed or elected, has no job description. But it looks like Michelle is going to jump into the political ring and make sure her voice is heard.
The day before Thanksgiving the Obama family was out in a Chicago neighborhood giving food to the needy. Apparently Michelle was warmly dressed in a beanie, winter jacket and gloves. Not very stylish, but extremely resourceful.
On Thanksgiving Michelle and Barack had several family friends over and did some Christmas shopping.
Future First Lady Moment of the Week:
This time Barack is going big. Apparently Michelle is going to get a £20,000 ring for her support during the election. "The Harmony ring is made of rhodium - the world's most expensive metal --and encrusted with diamonds. It is being hastily made by Italian designer Giovanni Bosco in time for January's inauguration ceremony."
As President-elect Obama confronted such issues as his impending cabinet and economic team, the auto bailout and the complexities of the stimulus package, Michelle Obama confronted an equally difficult challenge this week: picking the right school. The same school that Chelsea Clinton attended, Sidwell Friends School is one of the most prominent schools in Washington. While the choice was met with great suspense, a spokeswoman for Michelle said that the school was the "best fit" for Malia and Sasha.
In other news, the media is beginning to wonder just what kind of a first-lady Michelle Obama will be. Will she be the "mom-in-chief" or the "first lady of style"? Will she bring her intelligence to the fore and influence the President-elect's policies? Time will have to tell.
Future First Lady Moment of the Week: The December 1 cover of Newsweek Magazine is "The Meaning of Michelle." The article describes the confounding questions surrounding Obama. As Allison Samuels writes in the article, ""When her husband raises his hand to take the oath of office, Michelle will become the world's most visible African- American woman. The new First Lady will have the chance to knock down ugly stereotypes about black women and educate the world about American black culture more generally. But perhaps more important -- even apart from what her husband can do -- Michelle has the power to change the way African-Americans see ourselves, our lives and our possibilities."
Be sure to pick up an issue of the magazine next week.
Certainly these next few months will be tricky and eventful for Barack Obama, but the real transition comes from his wife Michelle. She is preparing for this giant step, and has a lot of important decisions to make.
One of which involves parenting: a friend of Michelle has stated that she is "a mom first." The mother of two will try to ease her daughters into the new situation / environment and house. Currently Michelle is "scouting out some schools" in the area.
Second, Michelle must develop an idea for what type of first lady she will be. She has already been compared to Jacqueline Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. Only time will tell what she will do, but one thing is certain; Michelle will continue top be on of Barack's top advisers.
Future First Lady Moment of the Week:
Turns out Paul McCartney has been reading the Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain Update Blog.. If you recall 3 weeks ago on October 19, 2008, I falsely reported Barack Obama's singing anniversary gift.
Sir Paul McCartney is overjoyed with the Obama victory. He is so overjoyed that he wants to serenade the future First Lady. When asked what song he will sing Paul began humming the beginning of a song we all now know..
With the historic election of Senator Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States, we got to see first hand the jubilation, awe, and excitement at the sight of the President-Elect in Grant Park. The same can't be said for the "future" first lady.
The top feature on Yahoo.com today was "All eyes on Michelle's dress," in which a Yahoo blogger deprecated the choice of garb that Obama chose for the momentous occasion. Just as promised, here's our take on Michelle Obama's outfit. Since apparel trumps such other minor issues right now like the global financial crisis, the war, and education, we found that "Michelle's splotchy red and black Narciso Rodriguez frock" was a success and proof of the "excitement" that the campaign had throughout the past two years. It was a true mark of the pioneering campaign.
In other news, outgoing First Lady Laura Bush invited Michelle Obama to visit the White House and "get a feel" for the new environment. Also, I followed a story a couple weeks back on a Michelle Obama bust being shown in a Manhattan gallery. Turns out that "first lady art" is a new trend as a portrait of Obama will go up in New York's New Museum and make its way to Minneapolis in the future.
Future First Lady Moment of the Week: Of course, the dominating news of the new first lady was her choice of dress on election night so here's a picture of Michelle Obama last night. Was it too much? You decide.
Michelle Obama spoke in Colorado Springs this past Tuesday urging people to vote early. She then moved on to Las Vegas, New Mexico. In NM Obama tried convincing the people that Barack is the right man for the job because "he gets it." On Wednesday, Michelle moved on to Fayetteville, North Carolina to speak at the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina at the Fuller Recreation Center. This convention will be made up of mainly black associated churches. Late Wednesday night Michelle made an appearance on the "The Daily Show." There she indirectly criticized Sarah Palin saying that her and Barack buy their own cloths and that she shops at J Crew.
Michelle will ridiculously busy this weekend with trips to Rocky Mount (North Carolina, Springfield (Missouri), and Pueblo (Colorado)
Good thing she's keeping busy parenting.
OHHHHH CINDY! After an exciting campaign trip to Jacksonville and other parts of Florida, Cindy just stood around looking pretty.
Must-see Potential First Lady Moment of the Week:
Cindy McCain has revealed a wild-side that previously was only known to Johnny boy. ; )
Apparently not only is she a Nascar fan, but a race car driver. Cindy apparently also is a tech guru and fixed multiple blackberry's during an interview in Florida.
Way to relate to the people Cindy.. (Nevermind, one of my aides just told me most people in America DO in fact spend 200$ for a phone)
Continuing the recent surge to win over swing states, Michelle Obama will be in Colorado springs on Tuesday only two days after Senator Obama visited. Currently, RCP polls have Obama winning by 3.3% in Colorado, and the Obama camp is banking on the state to go blue on Nov. 4. In other news, Michelle encouraged all voters to get to the polls in the weekly Democratic radio address. "We can't look back and think about what might have been," she said. Obama is also slated to make a stop in New Mexico on Tuesday, and speak at a rally in Las Vegas, N.M. (not in swing state Nevada).
Cindy McCain has also continued her spate of visits, this week visiting Jacksonville, Florida. Also in the area was former candidate Rudy Guiliani, who is following Cindy McCain in her visits across Florida. The two were scheduled to go door to door and visit voters in West Palm Beach on Sunday. The McCain camp is trying to focus on must-win states in the week leading up to the election including Iowa. Earlier, the McCains paid a visit to Albuquerque.
Must-see Potential First Lady Moment of the Week: Forget the polls, the election has already been decided by the First Ladies. How? The election year Family Circle cookie recipe contest. The winner of the contest for the past four elections has gone on to be (or continued to be) the First Lady. This year,Cindy McCain's Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies beat out Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies. While McCain has been reeling in the polls lately, he has surged recently and Cindy McCain's victory in the cookie contest may be just the push that the Republicans needed...
Michelle Obama had a touching moment at this Thursday's Rally in Pittsburgh. An 82 year-old man interrupted her speech to announce how happy he was to be able to vote for an African-American for president. This goes against the tide of the "old people might still be racist" idea that has been floating around over the past year or so. After the rally Michelle had dinner with several prominent Steelers figures at Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney's home.
On Tuesday Michelle will be joined by her husband in Miami to hold an free and publicly open rally. Continuing her busy schedule Michelle will also be stopping by in Pensacola, Florida on Tuesday morning. Moving on again, Mrs. Obama will be hitting up Gainesville and then Jacksonville on Wednesday.
*I'd just like to throw this out there.. If I was Michelle and Barack were to lose, boy would I be upset that I did that all that traveling.
Cindy McCain visited Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania and held a fairly quiet rally. She is reported to have given a speech today in Gettysburg.
In other news Cindy, reported an income of over 4.2 million for 2007. Not bad for doing nothing but bug me. This is however, a 2 million dollar drop from 2006. The New York Times unleashed a series off attacks on Mrs. McCain. These attacks range from several "miscarriages"while Johnny Boy was in Washington and prescription drug theft to get her fix. The attacks seem a little bit unfair and the McCain campaign is very very very angry.
Must-See Potential First Lady Moment of the Week:
According to press reports, our romantic Barack Obama sang this song to Michelle on their anniversary. Below are the lyrics to the song the lucky lady heard.
------------------------
Michelle, first lady. These are words that go together well, My Michelle.
Michelle, première dame. Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble, Très bien ensemble.
We’re winning, we’re winning, we’re winning. That's all I want to say. Until I find a way I will say the only words I know that John doesn't understand.
Michelle, première dame. Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble, Très bien ensemble.
The White House, the White House, the White House. I need to make you see, Oh, what it means to me. Until I do I'm hoping you will Know what I mean.
THE WHITE HOUSE..
We’re winning, we’re winning, we’re winning. I think you know by now I'll get the votes somehow. Until I do I'm telling you John doesn't understand.
Michelle, première dame. Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble, Très bien ensemble.
I will say the only words I know that You'll understand, my first lady...
After attending the debate in Long Island, Michelle Obama will travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday and participate in the "change we need" rally. Surprisingly, Obama also spent time today in Indiana, not a swing state but a crucial state nonetheless, and addressed a crowd of more than 2,000 in Fort Wayne. At the rally, Obama referenced the hardships of working class Americans, the forgotten "American Dream" and the tumult of the economy. Needless to say, Obama has been relentless over the past month on the campaign trail.
Needless to say the McCain camp is outraged at the article and mentioned that the McCains went through the same process as everyone else to get coverage at their Arizona ranch. In recent visits, Cindy McCain visited the Montgomery County Community College Tuesday morning in Pennsylvania for a Women's Town Hall Meeting. The big rally this week for Cindy McCain is in the swing state of Virginia where she will join Sen. McCain for a rally in Prince William, VA on Saturday.
Must-See Potential First Lady Moment of the Week: They say that art is the most representative form of the human being and the sculpture of Michelle Obama still hanging in Manhattan's Kesting Gallery, offers what gallery director Kesting says is a look into the "fundamentally proud(ness) of our country's diversity." There have been a few protests over the piece, citing claims of racism but the sculpture will remain in gallery space until the election. No official word yet on the rumors of a Bristol Palin portrait bust mentioned in the article.
Hundreds of military families attended Michelle Obama's in Jacksonville, North Carolina. At this rally Michelle explained that her husband understands the situations military families deal with and that he is the best choice in that regard. She then moved on to New Hampshire, a swing state that her husband lost to Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Interestingly enough, at the moment Obama is leading McCain in the NH polls. In an outdoor rally Mrs. Obama promoted her husbands calm and intelligent demeanor during the debate, saying that he would bring this attitude and behavior into the White House. Apparently her next stop will be in Minnesota, the details of the campaign stop have not been released. Minnesota is considered by both campaign groups as a battle ground state and McCain will be visiting this Friday.
Without actually doing much this week Cindy McCain has made some very big noise. On Tuesday while visiting a Hospital at Vanderbilt (Tennessee), Cindy claimed that "presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has 'waged the dirtiest campaign in American history.' Thats quite a statement coming from John McCain's wife.. Today Mrs. McCain was in Pennsylvania and once again attacked Obama. This time her attack, which was not entirely accurate, was in regards to her son's military service and Obama not wanting to fund the troops. Cindy challanged Barack to change shoes with her for a day and see what it feels like as a Navy mom.
Though I find it hard to imagine Barack trying on these bad boys.
She goes by the name of Gahl Hodges Burt. Apparently she was Nancy Reagon's so called party planner and is also known as the most chic woman in Washington (I'm sure thats tough.. I mean Hillary is pretttttty cute) This discovery kind of contradicts Palin's claims of a regular "hockey mom" from a middle class family. Rumor has it her sons actually play cricket. -------------------------- We are still waiting for our friends at the FOX "News" Network on Michelle's response to the Baby Breath Roses. Stay tuned, its gonna be a biggie. Maybe a deciding factor in Election 2008.
Colorado, North Carolina, Florida and Michigan are among the states Michelle Obama has paid visit to recently. The potential First Lady was campaigning today in Saginaw and Clinton Township (no relation to Bill and Hillary Clinton) emphasizing the need to vote come November. This marks the second time in five days that Michelle Obama has spent time in Michigan. Interestingly, Michelle now has company on the campaign trail as the Obama camp recently enlisted Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z for benefit concerts.
On Tuesday, Cindy McCain was in Des Moines Iowa, visiting with her husband who participated in an economics roundtable. While Iowa is still up in the air as a key battleground state, former McCain adviser Mike Murphy called the visit "a waste of time." In other news, the Phoenix mansion that Cindy McCain grew up in is up for auction. The McCains sold the home for 3.2 million dollars in 2006 and the current owners are now putting the 13 bedrooms and 14 and a-half bath home up for sale again. Those interested should note the recently added wine-tasting room and home theater, no word yet on minumum bid.
Though the fund raiser had been called off earlier this week, Cindy McCain did in fact visit a fund raising event in Seattle's Eastern Suburbs earlier today. Turns out, it was a simple miscommunication/confusion among McCain's aides. Husband John McCain, had originally expressed his desire to suspend the campaign in order to concentrate on the current economic crisis. On the bright side, Cindy's visit was successful and did raise an undisclosed amount of money. Unfortunately, the McCain's are being blasted from all sides. Their honesty was called into question after it was revealed that they own 13 cars, only one of which happens to be an American model. This may not strike you as significant, until a certain John McCain quote is brought into play. "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud." It's difficult to imagine that Mr. McCain misspoke, after all but one of the cars are registered under Cindy's name. Funny how that works.
Michelle Obama earned some major mileage this week.
The potential first-lady made three stops in Wisconsin including West Allis, Madison and Wausau. During her campaign stop in Madison, Mrs. Obama focused on the women and young. Today Michelle was back in North Carolina. Once again she was joined by former Hillary Clinton supporter Maya Angelou. Angelou introduced Mrs. Obama to the loud and excited crowd in Greensboro.
Michelle's next campaign stop will be on Saturday in Tallahassee, Florida. There she will be joined by Jill Biden, wife of vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden. This will be Michelle's first time back to Florida since this past July where she meet officials of the Adult Literacy League. The focus of the trip will be to encourage younger voters and to display the importance of registering to vote.
Must-see Potential First Lady Moment of the Week:
Dr. David Sire, an expert cosmetic doctor recently is one of many who believes Cindy McCain has received cosmetic treatments of some sort recently. However Dr. Sire recommends that Cindy go a little further in her "touching up."
Both potential First Ladies are keeping busy at fundraisers, events and public appearances on the campaign trail.
Yesterday, Michelle Obama was in Durham, North Carolina where she coordinated a fundraising event and spoke on a whole slew of topics including Hillary, Iraq and that persistent keyword, change. Among those in attendance were famed author Maya Angelou and the Mayor of Durham Bill Bell.
Hitting the trail again, Obama will travel to Madison, Wisconsin on Monday to speak at another rally. While in Wisconsin, she will also discuss economics at a roundtable discussion in Wausau, WI. This will be her first visit back to Wisconsin since the February Democratic primary.
Meanwhile, Cindy McCain has been quite active on the campaign trail herself. This coming week, she will replace VP candidate Sarah Palin and be the key attendee at a Seattle fundraiser on Wednesday. Dinner with the potential First Lady will cost $1000 per plate.
Must-see Potential First Lady Moment of the Week: Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain's recent sparring over abortion. Appearing with Jill Biden, Michelle Obama remarked that the issue shouldn't be ignored.
Prior to that, Cindy McCain said on Good Morning America that "there are people without jobs, that are hurting, whose businesses who have collapsed and that "this is not the major issue on people's minds right now."
