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Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama
Born (1964-01-17) January 17, 1964 (age 60)
Template:City-state
EducationA.B. in sociology (Princeton University) cum laude
JD (Harvard Law School)
Occupation(s)Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals
SpouseBarack Obama (1992–present)
ChildrenMalia and Sasha
Parent(s)Frasier Robinson and Marian Robinson

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17 1964)[1] is an American lawyer and the wife of Illinois senator Barack Obama, who is a candidate for the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for United States President. She was born and raised on the South Side of Template:City-state and then educated at Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She returned to Chicago after completing her formal education to work for the law firm Sidley Austin, on the staff of the Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Hospitals. She is the sister of Craig Robinson.

She met Barack when he came to work for Sidley Austin. The Obamas live on Chicago's South Side in Template:City-state, United States, choosing to remain in Chicago rather than moving to Washington, D.C. She is now perceived as Barack's closest adviser, although early in the race she said, "My job is not a senior adviser."[2][3]

Family and education

Michelle Robinson was born in Template:City-state to Frasier Robinson (who died in 1990),[1] a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store;[4] she grew up in the South Shore community area of Chicago.[4][5] She was raised in a conventional two-parent home where the family convened around the dinner table nightly.[6] She and her brother, Craig (who is 16 months older), skipped the second grade.[4] Michelle graduated from Whitney Young Magnet High School in 1981[7] and went on to major in sociology and minor in African American studies at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with an Artium Baccalaureus in 1985.[4] She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.[8]

File:2174568925 20a4057c6b.jpg
Barack and Michelle Obama

She met Barack Obama when they were the only two African Americans at their law firm and she was assigned to mentor him while he was a summer associate.[9] Their relationship started with a business lunch and then a community organization meeting where he first impressed her.[10] The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do The Right Thing.[11] The couple married in October 1992,[10] and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1999) and Natasha (known as Sasha) (born 2001).[12] Her brother Craig was the 4th leading scorer in Princeton University's men's basketball history, and is now Brown University's men's basketball coach.[13][14]

She once requested that Barack, who was then her fiancé, meet her prospective boss when considering her first career move.[6] Now, she is her husband’s closest adviser.[2][15] Early in the presidential race she did not portray herself as an adviser, however. In fact, she was quoted in interviews saying “My job is not a senior adviser.”[3]

Career

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin where she first met her husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property.[4] Subsequently, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor and Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies.[7]

In 1996, Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center.[16] In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May, 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs.[17]

With the ascent of her husband as a prominent national politician, she has become a part of pop culture. In May 2006, Essence magazine listed her among "25 of the World's Most Inspiring Women."[18] In July 2007, Vanity Fair magazine listed her among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People." In September 2007, 02138 magazine listed her 58th of "The Harvard 100," a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni. Her husband was ranked 4th.[19]

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[20] a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Template:City-state, on May 142007.[21] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[22]

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while he had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, plus investments and royalties from his books.[23]

Political activities

In May 2007, three months after Barack’s declaration of his candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by 80% to support her husband’s presidential campaign.[6] Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and stayed away from home nights only if their daughters could come along.[1] In early February 2008, she attended thirty-three events in eight days.[15] Obama has made at least two campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey.[24][25]

Michelle Obama speaking at a campaign event in Template:City-state, January 62008

In 2007, Obama gave political stump speeches for her husband's presidential campaign at various locations in the United States. Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote about one speech of hers in Iowa, "Michelle was a firebrand, expressing a determined passion for her husband's campaign, talking straight from the heart with eloquence and intelligence."[26] She employs an all-female staff of aides for her political role.[15] He says that she negotiated an agreement in which her husband gave up smoking in exchange for her support as a Presidential aspirant.[27] This is her first election year on the national political scene and even before the field of Democratic candidates was narrowed to two she was considered the least famous of the candidates' spouses.[3] Early in the campaign, she exhibited her sarcasm and told anecdotes about the Obama family life. However, as the press began to emphasize her sarcasm, which did not translate well in the print media, she has toned it down.[27][23] In a press account of her sarcasm, New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd said: “I wince a bit when Michelle Obama chides her husband as a mere mortal — comic routine that rests on the presumption that we see him as a god,. . .But it may not be smart politics to mock him in a way that turns him from the glam J.F.K. into the mundane Gerald Ford, toasting his own English muffins. If all Senator Obama is peddling is the Camelot mystique, why debunk this mystique?”[3][28]

Asked in February 2008 whether she would support Hillary Clinton if she got the nomination, Michelle said "I'd have to think about that. I'd have to think about policies, her approach, her tone." When questioned about this by the interviewer, however, she stated "You know, everyone in this party is going to work hard for whoever the nominee is."[29]

Despite her criticisms of Clinton during the 2008 campaign, when asked in 2004 which political spouse she admired, Obama cited Hillary Clinton, stating, "She is smart and gracious and everything she appears to be in public-someone who's managed to raise what appears to be a solid, grounded child." [30]

On February 18, 2008, Obama commented that "People in this country are ready for change, and hungry for a different kind of politics and let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." Several commentators criticized her for these remarks [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] and the campaign soon issued a statement that "anyone who heard her remarks... would understand that she was commenting on our politics," not on America itself. [36]

References

  1. ^ a b c White, Deborah. "Michelle Obama, Married to Barack Obama, Democratic 2008 Candidate". U.S. liberal politics. About.com. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  2. ^ a b Robin Roberts (2007-05-22). "Michelle Obama: 'I've Got a Loud Mouth'". ABCNews Internet Ventures. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Zakin, Carly (2007-07-30). "Michelle Obama plays unique role in campaign". MSNBC. Microsoft. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e Rosalind Rossi (2007-01-20). "The woman behind Obama". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ William Finnegan (2004-05-31). "The Candidate: How the Son of a Kenyan Economist Became an Illinois Everyman". Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  6. ^ a b c Bennetts, Lisa (2007-12-27). "First Lady in Waiting". Vanity Fair. CondéNet. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Cassandra West, Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn't Mind, Chicago Tribune, September 1, 2004
  8. ^ Sarah Brown, Obama '85 Masters Balancing Act, Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005
  9. ^ Kornblut, Anne E. (2007-05-11). "Michelle Obama's Career Timeout". Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b Fornek, Scott (October 3 2007). "Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Biography for Michelle Obama". IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  12. ^ Ground Support[1], Newsweek, January 29, 2007
  13. ^ Eric Tucker, Family Ties: Brown coach, Barack Obama, Associated Press, March 1, 2007
  14. ^ CV Connell, [2]
  15. ^ a b c Langley, Monica (2008-02-11). "Michelle Obama Solidifies Her Role". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ University of Chicago Chronicle Obama named first Associate Dean of Student Services
  17. ^ University of Chicago Medical Center: Michelle Obama appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals
  18. ^ 25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women, Essence, May 2006
  19. ^ The Harvard 100, 02138, September 2007
  20. ^ [3], TreeHouse Foods Directors
  21. ^ Michelle Obama Quits Board of Wal-Mart Supplier, "Chicago Sun-Times", May 22, 2007
  22. ^ [4], Chicago Council on Global Affairs Board of Directors
  23. ^ a b Keen, Judy (2007-05-12). "Michelle Obama: Campaigning her way". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ Marinucci, Carla; Wildermuth, John; Chronicle Political Writers (2008-02-07). "Millions of cell calls for Clinton Big effort to contact list of likely backers gave her the state". The San Francisco Chronicle. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-02-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Kornblut, Anne E. & Murray, Shailagh (2007-12-09). "Oprah Winfrey, 'out of my pew,' rallies supporters of Sen. Obama Chelsea Clinton joins her mother in Iowa campaign". The San Francisco Chronicle. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-02-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Jennifer Hunter (2007-08-21). "Michelle gets stronger all the time". CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
  27. ^ a b "Michelle Obama on Campaign, Family". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Dowd, Maureen (2007-04-25). "She's Not Buttering Him Up". New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Alex Koppelman (2008-02-04). "War Room: If Clinton gets the nomination, would Michelle Obama support her?". Salon.com. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
  30. ^ Karen Springen (October 2004). "First Lady in waiting". Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 2008-02-17. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ NBC (2008-02-19). "Candidates' Wives Trade Remarks About Love Of Country". nbc4.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  32. ^ Jake Tapper (2008-02-18). "Michelle Obama: "For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I'm Really Proud of My Country"". ABCnews.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  33. ^ CNN (2008-02-19). "Obama, McCain extend winning streaks". CNN.com. Retrieved 2008-02-19. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  34. ^ CNN (2008-02-19). "Prouder Than Thou". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-02-19. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  35. ^ http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/02/19/scarborough-wont-smile-mikas-michelle-obama-defense%7C title= "Scarborough Won't Smile at Mika's Michelle Obama Defense" | publisher=newsbusters.org | date=2008-02-19 | accessdate=2008-02-19}}
  36. ^ ""Obama's Chief Strategist David Axelrod on Michelle Obama's Remarks"". thepage.time.com. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
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