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‘Mom-in-chief’ Obama favors low profile

As Michelle Obama prepares to travel to Mexico from April 13-15 on her first solo international trip as first lady, here is a look at what she has been doing at the White House.
/ Source: Reuters

Self-proclaimed "mom in chief" Michelle Obama says her principal responsibility at the White House is to make sure her daughters Malia, 11 and Sasha, 8, are well taken care of and have settled in to their new city and schools.

As Michelle Obama prepares to travel to Mexico from April 13-15 on her first solo international trip as first lady, here is a look at what she has been doing at the White House:

What are her pet causes?Since her husband Barack Obama took office in January 2009, Michelle Obama has had a relatively low profile role as first lady. She has focused on children's health and nutrition, gaining much attention by planting the White House Kitchen Garden — an organic vegetable garden on part of the South Lawn of the White House.

As part of an effort to battle childhood obesity, she also launched the "Let's Move" campaign to get people exercising.

Obama has also focused on supporting military families and encouraging Americans to perform national service.

How has she changed the White House?After the inauguration, Obama said she felt a "responsibility to make it feel like the People's House." As part of an effort to cement that idea, the Obamas decided to surprise visitors on White House tours after the inauguration.

This year on the one-year anniversary of the inauguration, Michelle Obama and family dog Bo did the same thing.

The Obamas have opened up another room — the China Room — to tours, and visitors are also occasionally invited out to the South Lawn to watch the arrival or departure of Marine One, the presidential helicopter. Some visitors are also given tours of the Executive Residence.

On St. Patrick's Day, the fountain in front of the White House is dyed green — a nod to the Obama's hometown of Chicago, which dyes its river green on the Irish holiday.

Obama has invited groups of school children to various events at the White House. Some local high school girls were invited to a formal dinner with her and cooking students were invited to talk to the head chef and first lady as they prepared for the Obama's first state dinner last November.

Obama also holds different themed music events, like bringing in jazz musicians to play with students from a local performing arts high school.

When she moved in, Obama said she planned to make the first family's residence more family friendly, with comfortable couches where the children can hang out or use the cushions to make forts. But she also insisted that her daughters make their own beds, set the table and be treated as normal kids.

How is she different from other recent first ladies?Despite fears by some and hopes from others that the Ivy League lawyer would take on a strong role in the White House, Michelle Obama has had a surprisingly low profile. This sparked a Washington Post columnist recently to dub her "Michelle Milquetoast," calling her low profile and light schedule one of the biggest surprises of the Obama presidency.

Laura Bush, a former teacher and librarian, focused mainly on education and literacy when she was first lady.

In contrast, Hillary Clinton played a major policy role in the government of husband Bill Clinton, who promised voters "two for the price of one" during the campaign. After taking the unusual step of having an office in the West Wing, Hillary Clinton took control of the administration's plans to overhaul the nation's health-care system — a mission that failed.

Barbara Bush, like her daughter-in-law Laura, was more of a traditional first lady, focusing mainly on literacy.

Is the first lady popular at home?Yes. In fact, she's more popular than her husband. During the campaign, critics seized on her comment that "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country" as evidence of a lack of patriotism.

She was also criticized during the campaign for talking about her husband's bad habits, like not picking up his dirty socks, and said he was "stinky" when he woke up.

Michelle Obama’s effortless style

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Michelle Obama’s effortless style

The first lady looks as sophisticated in designer dresses as she does in outfits from J. Crew.

She became only the second first lady (after Clinton) to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. Though she wears designer clothes and has become a fashion trend setter, Obama has worn off-the-rack sweater sets on TV interviews and shorts and casual clothes while on vacation. She also likes to show off her well-toned arms, and is often photographed sleeveless.

Compared to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Obama's poll numbers improved after becoming first lady when she focused on her children and on issues like family, the homeless, military families and fighting childhood obesity.

Her approval ratings sit above 70 percent, while her husband's have dropped to just over 50 percent.

What does the president say about his wife?Barack Obama regularly refers to his wife as "my rock" and said he was lucky his wife never entered politics. In his book "The Audacity of Hope" he wrote "If I ever had to run against her for public office, she would beat me without much difficulty."

Describing his impression of his wife, Obama wrote in the book "Most people who meet my wife quickly conclude that she is remarkable. They are right about this — she is smart, funny and thoroughly charming."

He also recalled during an interview that Michelle was asked what it was like to be a political wife, and she responded that it was hard. "And that's why Barack is such a grateful man," she said.

Her husband agreed. "As usual, my wife is right," he wrote in "The Audacity of Hope."

Obama also calls his wife "the boss" in the family and says their daughters see her that way too.

In speeches with an element of showing how normal their family is, both Obamas mention that they struggled financially with all their loan payments for college and law school and that at times it caused friction in their marriage.