THE RESISTANCE - The Obama Foundation

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama implored Americans to contribute ideas to the Obama Foundation.

ESSENCE - The Obamas, The White House Years

Just picked up my copy.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 7/29/2016

"Shields and Brooks on which convention was more successful, Clinton's failure to emotionally connect" PBS NewsHour 7/29/2016

Excerpts

SUMMARY:  New York Times columnist David Brooks and syndicated columnist Mark Shields sit down with Judy Woodruff for a look at the conventions and agree the Democrats were more successful — even if Hillary Clinton failed to connect emotionally.  “If we are in some Hobbesian state of nature, in which we want a strongman who has no compassion,” then Trump comes out ahead, says Brooks.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  And with that, we turn to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

So, gentlemen, looking back on those highlights from both Cleveland and Philadelphia, what does it make you think, Mark?

MARK SHIELDS, syndicated columnist:  It makes me think that the Democrats — this was my 24th convention — and I think this was as good a Democratic Convention as I have seen since the 1976 convention, which nominated Jimmy Carter, which was — he left with a 30-point lead over President Ford.

I just thought it was a spectacularly successful convention.  I don't think Hillary Clinton's speech was spectacular, but I don't think she's a spectacular speaker.  But I thought their messages worked.  And certainly the national security and preempting both faith and country and patriotism from the Republicans, which had been the Republican symbols for so long, was effective.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  David?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes.  Well, the Democrats had the better convention by a long way.  It's rare we see the gap so big, frankly.

They controlled the debate.  Donald Trump tried to set up this debate where it was going to be globalists vs. nationalists, and the Republicans were going to be the nationalists.  But, if anything, the Democrats looked more patriotic and more nationalist at the end of these two.

And so that was a big win.  And I agree with Mark.  The whole presentation was just powerful.  It's funny.  Maybe it just because I'm tired, but the further away you get, the less you know about the convention, and it boils down to a core theme, to one thing.

And so for the Republican Convention, I think of Trump's speech and sort of the darkness, the fear of crime, the need for a strong arm really, and so that one core theme.

And then, for the Democratic one, I really think of Trump erratic.  I think that was the big message that came out.  The positive agenda for Hillary was a little less vibrant.

And of those two, I do think that the — right now, at least in my mind, the Democratic theme is eclipsing the Republican one.  So, the Democrats won this volley, I think.
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MARK SHIELDS:  In a strange way — there are a couple thoughts of David that reminded me of this — an awful lot of people don’t ordinarily have day-to-day contact with police officers.

In both Cleveland and Philadelphia, the police were enormously, enormously impressive, I mean, their temperament, to use a word that’s going to be central…

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF:  You don’t mean the police on the stage.  You mean the police in the street.

MARK SHIELDS:  No, I mean the police in the streets.

I mean, I really — the interaction with the police.  They had to be tired.  You know, they had a lot of jerks, including several in the press.  And it was hot.  It was hot.  And they had long hours, and they were just so professional and so cool.
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DAVID BROOKS:  And so — but that doesn't mean we're not — it's settled.  Events are in the saddle here.  If ISIS really begins a sort of continual series of weird, random attacks around the world, then that does underline the theme.

And that goes back to something I have been saying for the last couple of weeks, is, we're not quite sure what ball game we're playing here.  If we're playing the normal political rules, where you want to have people loving each other, compassionate, working together, being generous toward each other, being well-informed about the issues, well, if those are the rules, then the Democrats are doing really well.

But if we're in some sort of Hobbesian state of nature, where you just want a strong man who has no compassion, who you just want a toughness, well, then that — by those rules, Donald Trump is going to do a little better.  So, we will figure out what game we're playing.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Which is what the Democrats were trying to say for three or four days — for four days, Mark, which, is, we don’t need this.  We’re a strong people.  We’re a good people and we don’t need some bully telling us what to do.

MARK SHIELDS:  No, exactly.  And the President did that, I thought.  President Obama did.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Which is what the Democrats were trying to say for three or four days — for four days, Mark, which, is, we don’t need this.  We’re a strong people.  We’re a good people and we don’t need some bully telling us what to do.

MARK SHIELDS:  No, exactly.  And the President did that, I thought.  President Obama did.
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MARK SHIELDS:  Michelle Obama was probably better than Barack Obama, if you think about it.

Her speech is a masterful, masterful speech.  And she delivered it in a persuasively conversational tone.  You can’t say this is a political attack or a political document.  It was just — so, in a strange way, she’s getting compared to — instead of to Donald Trump, she’s being compared to Joe Biden, who gave this emotional valedictory about America and his life, and both Obamas, who were dominant.

MICHELLE OBAMA - Goes Karaoke

First Lady Michelle Obama Carpool Karaoke

AT THE WHITE HOUSE - 106 Year Old Breaks-Out

"Watch a 106-year-old woman bust a move with the president" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  106-year-old Virginia McLaurin has lived through 18 different presidents, though she never thought she’d live to see an African-American in the White House, let alone meet him.  But thanks to an online campaign, McLaurin was able to fulfill her dream and even bust a move with the president and first lady.  The White House commemorated the meeting with a video released on social media.

FIRST LADY - Book on Mechelle Obama's Upbringing

"How Michelle Obama’s upbringing shaped her White House priorities" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In “Michelle Obama:  A Life,” veteran political journalist Peter Slevin tackles a different side of politics by examining how the first lady’s life story influenced her priorities in the White House.  Gwen Ifill sits down with the author to discuss what he discovered.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Now, to the latest addition on the NewsHour Bookshelf.

It’s a new biography of the first lady, “Michelle Obama:  A Life” by Peter Slevin, a veteran political reporter formerly with The Washington Post.

Recently, he sat down with Gwen Ifill at Busboys and Poets, a restaurant and bookstore chain in the Washington, D.C., area.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Peter Slevin, thank you for joining us.

PETER SLEVIN, Author, “Michelle Obama:  A Life”:  It’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks.

GWEN IFILL:  In this book, you say that at one point Michelle Obama described herself as a statistical anomaly.

As you were putting together this history, the story of her life, what did you find out?

PETER SLEVIN:  What I found was that Michelle Obama came from a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago.  She lived in a small apartment.  Her parents had not gone to college.  And the odds were kind of stacked against her.

And then she managed to find her way to a magnet school, to Princeton, to Harvard, and to a position of some influence in the country.

POLITICS - Fight Over the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act

Leave it to Republicans to turn a children's health issue to an argument about money.  More evidence that to Republicans your, and your children's, health is worth little.

Note the law was passed in 2010 and this is 2014, four years is not enough for getting ready to comply?!

"Political fight simmers over school lunch menu changes" PBS NewsHour 5/29/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now to combating obesity and promoting nutrition among American children.

First lady Michelle Obama has made healthy eating, particularly in schools, her top public priority.  But after hearing from some school districts about the complications in implementing the new program, Republicans are now pushing to roll back the regulations.

In recent weeks, the issue of public school lunch standards has turned into a political food fight in Washington.  First lady Michelle Obama has made fighting childhood obesity a priority.  And, on Tuesday, she criticized House Republicans who are trying to scale back nutrition guidelines she championed.

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA:  So, this is unacceptable.  It’s unacceptable to me, not just as First Lady, but as a mother.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The new standards took effect under the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.  They require schools to use more whole grains and fresh fruit in meals.  And they set limits on the amount of fat, sugar and sodium in food items.

MICHELLE OBAMA:  So, the last thing that we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids’ health, especially when we’re finally starting to see some progress on this issue.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  But Republicans, siding with some school nutrition professionals and food companies, argue too many students won’t eat the new lunch offerings, and say schools are having a hard time paying for the standards.  They have proposed a one-year waiver.

MEDIA - Book About Michelle Obama Ancestry

"Book Examines Varied 'Tapestry' of Michelle Obama's American Ancestry" PBS Newshour 8/10/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: When Rachel Swarns began research on First Lady Michelle Obama's American lineage, she discovered remarkable family sagas, including the story of Mrs. Obama's white great-great-great-grandfather. Gwen Ifill talks to New York Times' Rachel Swarns about her new book on the genealogy of Michelle Obama, "American Tapestry."

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Among the four million slaves living in the United States on the eve of the Civil War, there was a 10-year-old girl who, a century-and-a-half later, would turn out to be the third-great-grandmother of Michelle Obama.

Even Mrs. Obama didn't know this family history until New York Times reporter Rachel Swarns unearthed her legacy in 2009. The first lady's ancestry, both black and white, are a complicated heritage shared by many Americans.

"American Tapestry," the story of the black, white, and multiracial ancestors of Michelle Obama, takes us on that journey. Its author, Rachel Swarns, joins me now.