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Michelle Obama

Published: 12/17/10

Michelle Obama, Sasha, Malia, Bo to Hawaii; Not Taking the Jumbo Jet

First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia and family dog Bo will fly to Hawaii on Saturday for a winter vacation, Politics Daily has learned, while President Obama remains in Washington to deal with Congress. In a pre-emptive move -- remembering the stinging criticism of her lavish vacation to Spain last summer -- the East Wing volunteered that Mrs. Obama will be flying to Hawaii in a military version of a business airplane -- not the jumbo jet that flew her to the Mediterranean coast in August. The first family originally had been scheduled to head to Hawaii on Saturday; the ...

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Published: 12/13/10

Obamas Pledge School Meals Will Be More Nutritious

By Dana Chivvis - AOL News

(Dec. 13) -- It takes a mere 6 cents per meal to increase the number of fruits and vegetables on the lunch menus of the nation's public schools, according to advocates of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law today at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington, D.C. The legislation will provide that extra money -- amounting to a pledge of $4.5 billion over 10 years -- among other provisions, such as an extension of national nutritional standards to school foods sold outside cafeterias in places like vending machines and school ...

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Published: 12/13/10

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act: 5 Questions Answered About the New Law

By J. Richard - AOL News

(Dec. 13) -- President Barack Obama worked a little more bipartisan magic today by signing his nutrition bill into law, and that should help him when it comes to getting a good night's rest. Speaking from Harriet Tubman Middle School with first lady Michelle Obama by his side, the president joked that he would be "sleeping on the couch" if he couldn't pass the bill, called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, ABC News reported. Michelle Obama has made children's health and nutrition a priority as first lady. "At a very basic level, this act is about doing what's right for our ...

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Published: 12/9/10

Obama and Family Light National Christmas Tree

WASHINGTON (Dec. 9) -- Christmas has arrived in Washington. After a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, President Barack Obama and his family ushered in the holiday season on Thursday by lighting the National Christmas Tree - a nearly 42-foot Colorado blue spruce growing on the Ellipse, a grassy area just south of the White House. Obama was joined by his wife, Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha, and Marian Robinson, his mother-in-law. "This is a very proud holiday tradition. Snow or shine, in good times or in periods of hardship, folks like you have gathered with presidents to light our national ...

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Published: 12/2/10

White House Holiday: 20 or so Parties, 19 Trees, and a 'Simple Gifts' Theme

By Lynn Sweet - Politics Daily

The White House round of holiday parties kicks off this week. President Obama and First Lady Michelle hosted a Hanukkah party on Thursday night and the volunteers who helped decorate the White House for Christmas -- there are 19 trees -- were feted on Wednesday. "And I have to say the house looks more beautiful than it did last year. It is really something special," Mrs. Obama said at a Wednesday morning preview where the main audience was the children of military families. An estimated 100,000 folks are expected to tour the decorated rooms during the holiday season. Some 12,000 will ...

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Published: 11/28/10

Eugene Robinson on Blacks in the Obama Era: A Splintering Community

By Eleanor Clift - Politics Daily

Amid the holiday plenty, and with a black president in the White House as a powerful symbol of the gains that have been made, it's easy to avert our eyes from those who have been left behind. When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, people expressed shock at the poverty they saw, and there was a serious discussion for maybe two weeks, then we moved on. It's not only whites who are uncaring; black Americans are turning away, too. A Pew survey found that nearly 4 in 10 black Americans no longer think of themselves as a single race. Puzzled by the attitude revealed in the poll and frustrated ...

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Published: 11/26/10

On Bleak Election Night, Michelle Obama Tells President: 'Let's Get to Work'

By Tom Diemer - Politics Daily

Michelle Obama, the president's "chief adviser," went to sleep on election night before the disappointing midterm returns proved that her husband's party had taken a "shellacking," as he later put it. And the president took yet another blow Friday -- this one from a wayward elbow in a basketball game. In the first couple's interview with Barbara Walters of ABC, recorded early in the week and airing Friday night, the president said, "Now, keep in mind that Election Night, I think she [Michelle] went to sleep. She goes to sleep early." Yeah but, the first lady had a slightly different take. "I ...

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Published: 11/25/10

In Address, Obama Asks Americans to Help Others

By Joseph Schuman - AOL News

(Nov. 25) -- President Barack Obama today called on Americans to commemorate Thanksgiving by helping others, in a traditionally festive holiday address from the White House that was tempered by the state of war and economic hardship afflicting the country. Obama began the day by calling 10 members of the U.S. armed forces -- two each the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy -- who are deployed in support of American operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He thanked them for their sacrifice and wished them and their families a happy Thanksgiving, before settling in for what the ...

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Published: 11/22/10

Michelle Obama Hires Californian as New Chief of Communications

By Lynn Sweet - Politics Daily

Kristina Schake, a co-founder and board member of the group that filed the successful federal challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, will be first lady Michelle Obama's new communications director, the White House announced Monday. Schake, 40, a strategist for California first lady Maria Shriver, fills a spot that has been vacant since the end of August, when Mrs. Obama's first communications chief, Camille Johnston, left for a corporate position. Schake is a co-founder of Griffin|Schake, a Los Angeles public affairs and strategic communications firm. Schake has worked in California ...

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Published: 11/10/10

'And Then President Bush Said . . .' Dubious 'Quotes' Attributed to Dubya

By Carl M. Cannon - Politics Daily

When he was president, Gerald Ford and his aides marveled at an "Oval Office Effect" that would make even seasoned political insiders quite passive when they called on the president. Intending to give Ford candid -- or even unwelcome -- advice, they would instead discuss their golf games and families. This effect wasn't limited to Ford -- or to allies of presidents. In their book "Tell Newt to Shut Up!," authors David Maraniss and Michael Weisskopf relate Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich's cringe-worthy confession to White House chief of staff Leon Panetta regarding President Clinton: "I ...

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