First Family Readies for Leap to DC

Obamas polish image through careful offering to celebrity mags

(NEWSER) - As the nation gets to know the first family, it may seem as if we're watching "a reality show set on the glorified soundstage at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.," the Los Angeles Times reports, but what we're seeing is in fact a meticulously crafted image. Information about the Obamas is being strictly managed to bolster the president's popularity and keep the paparazzi at bay. Photos, interviews, and glimpses of White House life are systematically parceled out to celebrity news outlets, who in turn agree to not publish any unauthorized snaps. More»

Michelle Obama Says It's All In The Family

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama's journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House has been avidly documented, but Carol Felsenthal of Chicago magazine highlights the consistency of her role, driven by a burning desire to do good, but also to achieve security for her family. She resisted her husband's political ambitions for years, Felsenathal notes, but when he set his sights on the Oval Office, "she realized that she needed to get on board," a close friend says. More»

If predecessors are any sign, Malia and Sasha are in for 'a helluva good time'

(NEWSER) - If Malia Obama sneaks a boy into the White House, it won’t be an action without precedent. The generations of girls who occupied what Margaret Truman billed “the Great White Jail” form a sort of underground society, Lauren Collins writes in the New Yorker. The Johnson sisters, for example, planted notes to welcome the Nixon ladies to the home where they surreptitiously entertained dates. More»

Michelle's mom to help provide stability for her uprooted grandkids

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama's mother has agreed to make the move from Chicago to the capital to help America's next first family look after the kids, the Washington Post reports. No word yet on whether Marian Robinson will live in the White House, but it will be the first time in living memory three generations of a presidential family have moved to the capital. More»

(NEWSER) - President-elect Barack Obama addressed the country and the world for the first time tonight, vowing to unite a nation beset by trouble at home and abroad, the Chicago Tribune reports. "Change has come to America," Obama told a crowd of tens of thousands at Chicago's Grant Park and millions more watching around the world. "Our stories are singular, but our destinies are shared." More»