Michelle Obama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Calbear22 (talk | contribs) at 07:24, 14 February 2008 (minor fixes, remove extra space, added another citation, specified recently). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama (center)
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, 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 for a series of professional engagements with the law firm Sidley Austin, on the staff of the Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley, and for both the University of Chicago as well as the University of Chicago Hospitals. As a working mother, she has thus far raised her two daughters on Chicago's South Side in Template:City-state, United States.

Family and education

Michelle Robinson was born in Template:City-state to Frasier Robinson (who died in 1990),[1] a city pump operator and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Robinson, a secretary at Spiegel's catalog store;[2] she grew up in the South Shore community area of Chicago.[2][3] Unlike Barack, she was raised in a conventional home where the family convened around the dinner table nightly.[4] She and her brother, Craig (who is 16 months older), skipped the second grade.[2] Michelle, who is 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall,[5] graduated from Whitney Young High School in 1981[6] 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.[2] She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.[7]

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.[5] The couple married in October 1992,[8] and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1999) and Natasha (known as Sasha) (born 2001).[9] 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.[10][11]

In their relationship, they have always respected each other's advice.[12] She requested that Barack, who was then her fiancé, meet her prospective boss when considering her first career move.[4] Now, she is her husband’s closest advisor.[13][12] Early in the presidential race she did not portray herself as an advisor, however. In fact, she was quoted in interviews saying “My job is not a senior adviser.”[14]

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 and was assigned as Barack Obama's summer advisor.[2] 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.[6]

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.[15] 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.[16]

After her husband's second book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, the couple bought a home in the part of the Kenwood community area that is considered part of Hyde Park.[12] A later transaction to expand their property has become controversial. In June 2005 the Obamas and the wife of Antoin Rezko closed on adjacent properties in Kenwood. The Obamas paid $1.65 million for a brick Georgian revival mansion and the Rezkos paid $625,000 for the adjacent undeveloped lot. In January 2006, Obama paid the Rezkos $104,500 for a strip of their parcel to increase the size of the their sideyard. The transaction occurred at a time when Rezko was under investigation. Rezko and Barack Obama had been friends since 1990 and Rezko had raised over $60,000 for Obama during his political career to that point. Obama paid Rezko more than the appraised value for the parcel.[17] Rezko has since been indicted on corruption charges by a federal grand jury.[18]

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."[19] 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.[20]

She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),[21] 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.[22] She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.[23]

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle was the breadwinner with a salary of $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 was $991,296 including $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, investments and royalties from his books.[24]

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

Political activities

In May 2007, which was three months after Barack’s declaration of his candidacy, she reduced her professional responsibilities by 80% to support her husband’s presidential campaign.[4] Early in the campaign, she had limited involvement in which she only traveled to political events two days a week and only stayed away nights if her daughters could come along.[1] In early February 2008, she attended thirty-three events in eight days.[12]

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."[25] She employs an all-female staff of aides for her political role.[12] She negotiated an agreement in which her husband gave up smoking in exchange for her support as a Presidential aspirant.[26]

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.[14] Early in the 2008 presidential 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 had to tone it down.[26][24] In the most famous of these press accounts 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?”[14][27]

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 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)
  3. ^ William Finnegan (2004-05-31). "The Candidate: How the Son of a Kenyan Economist Became an Illinois Everyman". Retrieved 2008-01-22.
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ a b 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)
  6. ^ a b Cassandra West, Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn't Mind, Chicago Tribune, September 1, 2004
  7. ^ Sarah Brown, Obama '85 Masters Balancing Act, Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ Ground Support[1], Newsweek, January 29, 2007
  10. ^ Eric Tucker, Family Ties: Brown coach, Barack Obama, Associated Press, March 1, 2007
  11. ^ CV Connell, [2]
  12. ^ a b c d e 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)
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ a b c 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)
  15. ^ University of Chicago Chronicle Obama named first Associate Dean of Student Services
  16. ^ University of Chicago Medical Center: Michelle Obama appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals
  17. ^ McKinney, Dave and Chris Fusco (2006-11-05). "Obama on Rezko deal: It was a mistake". Chicago Sun-Times. Digital Chicago, Inc. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Ross, Brian and Schwartz, Rhonda (2008-01-10). "The Rezko Connection: Obama's Achilles Heel?". ABCNews Internet Ventures. Retrieved 2008-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ 25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women, Essence, May 2006
  20. ^ The Harvard 100, 02138, September 2007
  21. ^ [3], TreeHouse Foods Directors
  22. ^ Michelle Obama Quits Board of Wal-Mart Supplier, "Chicago Sun-Times", May 22, 2007
  23. ^ [4], Chicago Council on Global Affairs Board of Directors
  24. ^ 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)
  25. ^ Michelle gets stronger all the time :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Jennifer Hunter
  26. ^ 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)
  27. ^ 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)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michelle_Obama&oldid=191372252"