President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dancing their way at one of the 10 official inaugural balls

Jodi Kantor
New York Times

Another Washington dusk, another motorcade, another intimate evening played out in public view. On Oct. 3, just a day after their failed Olympics bid in Copenhagen, Barack and Michelle Obama slipped into a Georgetown restaurant for one of their now-familiar date nights: this time, to toast their 17th wedding anniversary. As with their previous outings, even the dark photographs taken by passers-by and posted on the Web looked glamorous: the president tieless, in a suit; the first lady in a backless sheath.

The Obama date-night tradition stretches back to the days when the president spent half his time in Springfield, Ill., reuniting at week’s close with his wife, who kept a regular Friday manicure and hair appointment for the occasion. But five days before he ventured out for his anniversary dinner, the president lamented what has happened to his nights out with his wife.

“I would say the one time during our stay here in the White House so far that has. . . .” He paused so long in choosing his words that Michelle Obama, sitting alongside him, prompted him. “Has what?”

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(Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz/Released by White House Photo Office)

The official first family portrait was unveiled Thursday on the White House Flickr page. The photo was snapped by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz on September 1, 2009 in the Green Room of the White House.

The Obamas enjoy their new family dog, Bo, at the White House.

Michelle Obama
For U.S. News & World Report

This is a busy time of year in the Obama household. Like so many parents all across this country, I watch with a mixture of pride and anxiety as my daughters stuff their backpacks, kiss me goodbye, and move ahead in another school year without so much as a backwards glance.

My girls are now making new friends, tackling challenging new subjects, and moving closer to becoming the strong, confident women I know they can be. But when I see them come home, bursting with excitement about something they have learned or someone they have met, I can't help but think that some of the most influential people in my daughters' lives won't be the ones they socialize with on the playground or read about in the pages of a book—they will be the people who stand up every day in front of their classrooms.

We all remember the impact a special teacher had on us—a teacher who refused to let us fall through the cracks; who pushed us and believed in us when we doubted ourselves; who sparked in us a lifelong curiosity and passion for learning. Decades later, we remember the way they made us feel and the things they inspired us to do—how they challenged us and changed our lives. So it's not surprising that studies show that the single most important factor affecting students' achievement is the caliber of their teachers. And when we think about the qualities that make an outstanding teacher—boundless energy and endless patience; vision and a sense of purpose; the creativity to help us see the world in a different way; commitment to helping us discover and fulfill our potential—we realize: These are also the qualities of a great leader.

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A New York Times article reported last week that Michelle Obama's great-great-great grandmother was a slave.

Tony Burroughs
CNN

Last week a New York Times article reported that Michelle Obama's great-great-great grandparents were a white man and a slave whom he impregnated. This story highlights the growing importance of genealogy in America.

Some of the comments posted online were from people skeptical that the full story of Michelle Obama's ancestry will ever be known.

One said, "The concept that records simply don't exist beyond the mid-1800s for so much of her family is so telling about the legacy of slavery we'll never shed."

Another said, "Where in Africa did Michelle Obama's ancestors come from? What was their tribe? When were they enslaved, and what were their experiences as individuals? What happened to these human beings after they were brought in chains to America? These things will very likely never be known."

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Michelle Obama's speech in Copenhagen focused on her roots in Chicago and her father's battle with MS.

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

After flying through the night for seven hours aboard Air Force One, nobody would blame President Obama for being at least slightly groggy when he arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a quick four hours to make the final pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.

Maybe that explains why the president seemed to snag the silver medal while first lady Michelle Obama, who's been in Copenhagen a couple of days, clearly took the gold with an emotional speech focused on her family's roots in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and her late father's battle with multiple sclerosis.

"Sports were a gift I shared with my dad, especially the Olympic Games," Obama said in her portion of the U.S. delegation's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee. "Some of my best memories are sitting on my dad's lap, cheering on Olga and Nadia, Carl Lewis and others for their brilliance and perfection.

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Jessica Ravitz
CNN

From hot dogs in the American heartland to the sexy samba on South American beaches, from traditional Kabuki theater amid high-tech modernity to European culture and sophistication, four international cities hope to showcase what they have to offer the world on the Olympic stage.

The countdown clocks are ticking for Chicago, Illinois; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Tokyo, Japan; and Madrid, Spain. The International Olympic Committee, now gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, will vote Friday to determine the winning host city for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Go here to see an interactive of profiles of all of the cities making a bid.

The Obamas hope an appearance in Copenhagen will boost their chances of bringing the Olympics to Chicago.

Ed Henry
CNN

As First Lady Michelle Obama and talk show host Oprah Winfrey wrapped up a day of furious behind-the-scenes lobbying of International Olympic Committee members here, two sources close to the process tell CNN that the battle between Chicago and Rio is privately heating up over who will host the 2016 Summer Games.

Madrid and Tokyo are also in the running, but the sources close the process said that Chicago and Rio have emerged as the clear front-runners and are in a neck-and-neck battle ahead of President Obama's arrival early Friday for a presentation to the IOC's 105 members who will be voting later in the day.

After a flurry of private conversations among IOC officials here, one of the sources close to the process said bluntly it's "close as hell" between Chicago and Rio as both Obama and Brazilian President Lula da Silva plan to make personal appeals to the voters on behalf of their cities on Friday morning.

In a sign of just how ferocious the lobbying is, King Juan Carlos of Spain and new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama are also making personal pitches to the IOC members.

Despite widespread speculation that Obama is only flying all the way to Copenhagen for a four-hour lobbying mission because the White House has gotten a private heads-up that Chicago will win and he should come to claim victory, the sources close to the process insisted that the voting has not been pre-cooked so Obama is swooping in at some political risk because it is unclear that the U.S. bid will be successful.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who is already here in Copenhagen, has been privately giving the White House positive progress reports about what he's hearing from IOC members suggesting the U.S. bid is in good shape, according to the sources close to the process. But the sources cautioned that Obama and top aides are only cautiously optimistic and want to wait until the actual voting before they contemplate any celebrations.

First lady's attitude about the effort to secure Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics: 'Take no prisoners.'

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

First Lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to "take no prisoners" as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid, comparing the intense lobbying effort to the 2008 presidential campaign.

"It's a battle - we're going to win - take no prisoners," Mrs. Obama said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the State Dining Room.
Mrs. Obama noted that in the campaign a lot of voters made their decision in the final days, and members of the International Olympic Committee may do the same.

"And our view is, we're not taking a chance," she said. "We're just not going to assume that the bids - that the decisions are made, and so that no matter what the outcome is, we'll feel as a country, as a team, that we've done everything that we can to bring it home."

Along those lines the White House confirmed that on Thursday night President Obama will fly to Copenhagen, where the International Olympic Committee will be reviewing bids from several countries on Friday, the first time that an American president will personally lobby the IOC in this manner for a U.S. victory. Mrs. Obama arrives on Wednesday with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and other top aides.

"What a dynamic duo they will be," said Jarrett. "I think it will be high impact, I think their presentation will be both very personal, given that they know and love Chicago so well."

Mrs. Obama added that she and Vice President Joe Biden have also been lobbying IOC members by telephone in recent days in order to try and land the Olympics for her home city, and she plans a packed schedule once she lands in Denmark. "I think I'm talking to everybody," she said of the dozens of IOC members who will decide the victor.

Mrs. Obama will also make a formal presentation to the IOC, before the President makes his own pitch on Friday. "We're each going to do our own proposal," said Mrs. Obama. "I think we have as good a chance as any country."

She joked, however, that there are limits to how far they will work together. "We're not going to do a joint poem together," Mrs. Obama said with a laugh.
But she also revealed a story that suggests she's taking the lobbying very seriously by noting that at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh she sat next to the First Lady of Brazil, one of the nations submitting a rival bid.

"I adore her but I said, 'You know, I'm going to hug you now and then I'm going after you in Copenhagen,'" Mrs. Obama recalled with a laugh. "And she said, 'You too.' So gloves are off."

First lady Michelle Obama listens to remarks during a health care forum at the White House on Friday.

Ed Hornick
CNN

She stood by her husband throughout the contentious 2008 presidential campaign and during heated health care reform debates during his presidency.

Now, as the reform debate is reaching a fever pitch, first lady Michelle Obama is weighing in on the issue by focusing on how health care can affect families.

"What she's doing is putting a personal and human face on the issue ... there's nothing more crucial," said Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn. "Everybody gets sick, and everybody has someone in the family that gets sick."

"I think if you can humanize it and personalize it, it suddenly brings it home to people - especially those who are screaming and yelling about the government taking over," Quinn said.

On Friday, the first lady, a former hospital administrator, spoke about the issue to a crowd at the White House, highlighting her own family's experience with health care.

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Michelle Obama's new summer 'do is drawing comparisons to a certain former First Lady's bob.

Mark Silva
Salon de Swamp

Now, this may be no pillbox hat.

But it's a bob.

And if the fashion trend-setting "Jackie O" - then "Jackie K" - could get a hat thing going with women in her time with a little haberdashing help from Oleg Cassini, perhaps the fashion-conscious "Michelle O" can get a bob thing going, too.

The first lady made a debut with her newly trimmed and arranged locks at the evening performance of country western singers staged at the White House last night.

The East Room fete, another in a series of the first lady's efforts at bringing arts to the White House, featured Charley Pride, Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss and Union Station seated on little "bar-stool mountains" on a low-stage..

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This is a former slave house on Friendfield Plantation, where Michelle Obama's family has roots.

Joe Johns | BIO and Justine Redman
AC360°

In many places across the South you can walk in the footsteps of slaves, and if you understand the history, it is not a happy journey. The same is true at Friendfield Plantation outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

It's not exactly "Gone With the Wind," but what makes this overgrown 3,300 acres of marsh and pine trees stand out is this: The family of first lady Michelle Obama believes her great-great grandfather was held as a slave here and labored in the mosquito-infested rice fields.

It makes Friendfield Plantation a symbol of something more than servitude. It's the symbol of something that's never happened before: One important segment of an American family's journey from the humiliation of slavery to the very top of the nation's ruling class.

CNN recently was the first television network allowed to visit the plantation and shoot video. It's not a museum. It's just private land, still with shadows of its past.

Friendfield's most distinctive historical feature, perhaps, is the dirt road known as Slave Street.

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Editor's Note: An article in Thursday's New York Times details recent findings about Michelle Obama's genealogical roots.  Genealogist Tony Burroughs previously wrote this post for us about the challenges associated with tracing our roots and how professionals are working to better understand our collective histories.

Burroughs Family Photo, Chattanooga, Tennessee 1889. Pictured standing, left to right: Morris Burroughs; Malachias Williams; UNK; Samuel P. Johnson. Seated in the front row are: Robert Elliott Burroughs (baby); Mary Jane Lillie Williams Burroughs; & Martha Williams.

Tony Burroughs
Professional Genealogist and Author

Many African Americans have longed to know their African roots, especially because our language and heritage have been destroyed by colonizers.

Historians have long documented that large numbers of Blacks were brought from different areas in Africa to what is now the United States. But in genealogy research, researchers have to prove the identity of specific individuals, and then document and prove relationships of them to their ancestors.

Genealogical proof is similar to that required in a probate court where relatives of the deceased have to be identified in order to distribute assets of the deceased. But the Board for Certification of Genealogists actually has a higher standard of proof for genealogy than a probate court.

There are several challenges to connect one’s ancestral genealogy back to Africa. Here’s why:

Identifying slave owners
One of the most difficult challenges in African American genealogy is to positively identify the last slave owner. This is essential for researching the slavery period. Unfortunately most researchers assume they are looking for an owner with the same surname as their ancestor. That led me astray for 20 years. It was only after I realized the name was probably different that I finally located the right person.

Tracing slaves with only a first name
So much of genealogy is contingent upon knowing an ancestor ’s first and last names. This is why women are often so challenging to research because they replace their maiden name with their married name. With African Americans, the vast majority of enslaved people are only listed in owner’s records with a first name. It is difficult enough trying to prove someone is your ancestor, and not just someone with the same name. There were many people with the same first and last names, even in small communities. So the challenge of identifying individuals with only first names is monumental.

Scarcity of slave records
There are probably tens of thousands of slave records. However, finding the ones for your individual ancestor often depends on luck. The odds are better if your ancestor lived on a plantation. But what most people don’t realize is that only 50 percent of enslaved people lived on plantations. The other 50 percent worked in mines, factories, offices or small family farms.

Most slave ship records don’t include names
Europeans came from Europe to America and are listed by names on ship passenger lists, records at Ellis Island, and records where they boarded vessels in Europe. Very few such records exist for Africans, who were treated as cargo during the Middle Passage. There are names of Africans listed on some of the vessels captured during the illegal slave trade after 1807, but good luck transforming an African name to an American name.

It’s not all about sources
Part of the challenge of African American genealogy is methodology – how do you research African American genealogy? The process is sometimes similar to standard American genealogy, but many times it differs. Ancestors must be placed into historical context and myths have to be destroyed to achieve genealogical success.

When I discovered my enslaved ancestor did not use the same surname of his last slave owner, I discovered I was not alone. I learned this was actually more common. To solve the problem, I came up with new techniques to researching African American genealogy.

Despite the challenges, the future holds promise
There are some historical and genealogical sources of African origins. Currently, the best source of African origins are for African Americans with roots in Colonial Louisiana. Retired Rutgers University history professor Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall identified records for 100,000 enslaved peoples in Louisiana, many of which indicate their native African country and tribe, and 10,000 list their African name along side their American slave name. These are now digitized and on the web. However, genealogists have to advance their genealogy research to the colonial period to take advantage of these records, and hope their ancestors didn’t migrate to New Orleans from the Chesapeake region.

Some slave owners took note of a slave’s ethnicity or country of origin when listing him or her in a runaway slave notice. Thousands of newspapers are currently being digitized. Additionally, ten million handwritten pages of Spanish records are being digitized, some of which are 500 years old and contain information on slaves from Africa.

And lastly, new records are continually being discovered, catalogued, transcribed, and digitized. In spite of what some have said, the paper trail never ends. Many are unaware of the vast amount of records that exist, and the scarcity of those that are digitized or even catalogued. One institution alone, the National Archives, has only 125,000 scanned images on their website out of 4 billion documents in their collection. That's one page for every 34,000 documents. It lets you know what you are missing if you limit your search to the internet alone.

The National Archives has another 85 million electronic records from databases on their website, but these are out of 10 billion electronic records, and none of these are scanned images or photographs. Private companies are now digitizing records from the National Archives. So genealogists will be able to do things in the future they can’t do now.

Even if you don’t get your family tree back to Africa, the genealogical journey is fun, exciting, filled with information, and richly rewarding.

Through my own research I’ve met dozens of new relatives and scanned thousands of photos and documents of ancestors I’d never seen. I learned of an ancestor who was president of a county bar association, one who attended Spelman College in 1885, four years after the school was founded. I learned about a Pullman Porter who organized porters 24 years before A. Philip Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. There was also a relative who was one of the few Blacks to fight with Commodore Oliver Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie. Several more fought in the Civil War, as well as some who were cooks, farmers, barbers, and bank robbers.

All have made me who I am. I stand on their shoulders and I am forever indebted to their hard work and sacrifice.

Editor's Note: Tony Burroughs taught genealogy at Chicago State University for 15 years and is the author "Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree" (Simon & Schuster). He was a guest expert in the television documentaries Remembering Roots; (BBC); The Real Family of Jesus (The Discovery Channel); African American Lives; Oprah’s Roots and Ancestors (all PBS). Find more about his work here.Edit

Sasha Obama wandered into her parent's bed early Tuesday morning to have a chat with her parents.

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

An unexpected visitor rushed into the bedroom of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, but the Secret Service wasn't worried about a security breach.

The visitor was 8-year-old Sasha Malia, who's touring Russia along with her older sister Malia. The younger girl could not contain her excitement about Dad's fifth foreign trip in office so she decided to wake her parents to tell them about it, the President cheerfully recounted in a CNN interview.

"Sasha this morning around 4am just wandered into our bed and plopped down and started chatting," Obama said in the interview a few hours later. "That was sort of a highlight, although I'm a little groggy now as a consequence."

Both Obama daughters are along for the ride this time around because school is out of session back in the Washington, D.C., area so they can travel overseas on weekdays without missing classes. On an earlier Presidential visit to France, Sasha and Malia showed up in Paris on a weekend after school was done for the week.

Asked if having his daughters joining his wife on a high-profile helps take the edge off the tough diplomatic negotiations, Obama told CNN it's fantastic to have his girls "being able to see the world and then report back to us on what they are seeing" on the trip, which included the daughters getting to check out the Kremlin.

"You know it makes a huge difference," said the President. "The girls are just a joy. And then Michelle just, she's always - she's a star at home and abroad."

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear more on Michelle Obama on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Nancy Gibbs and Michael Scherer
Time

It was just two days after the Inauguration when an e-mail went around to Michelle Obama's staff, instructing everyone to be in the East Room of the White House at 3 that afternoon. The First Lady's advisers arrived to find the room filled with ushers and plumbers, electricians and maids and kitchen crew gathered in a huge circle, and Michelle in a T shirt and ponytail, very casual and very much in charge.

"This is my team that came with me from Chicago," Michelle said, pointing to her communications staff and policy people. "This is my team who works here already," she went on, indicating the ring of veterans around the room. Many of the household staff had served for decades; some had postponed retirement because they wanted to serve an African-American President. And so the two groups formed concentric rings and spent the next hour or so making sure that everyone had a chance to meet everyone else. I want you to know that you won't be judged based on whether they know your name, Michelle had warned her advisers. You'll be judged based on whether you know theirs.

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Tom Foreman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent

The French have a remarkable talent for irritating Americans with their fancy wines, fluffy poodles, and snotty attitudes about cycling. But when it comes to picking First Ladies, you’ve got to hand it to them. And that’s saying something considering the extraordinary popularity of our own Première Femme, Michelle Obama.

Seriously, have you been keeping up with the adventures of French President Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni? Anyone who follows international news knew that we were in for a treat the moment she alighted on his arm, and she has met every expectation: From crooning songs about drug abuse, to being locked in a legal battle with a company that was selling shopping bags bearing her nude image.

Most recently, the former supermodel (an appellation with which, alas, I too am tagged) has once again stormed the headlines by lighting into the Pope, saying his views on contraception are hurting the fight against AIDS in Africa. Like President Obama’s Notre Dame speech here, the kerfuffle certainly does not involve all the Catholics in her country, but still at the original Notre Dame…mon Dieu!

Maybe the uproar would be less uproarious if it were not for another recent story swirling around her, namely a Paris burglary that netted one lucky thief hundreds of photographs of a Bruni taken during her years with a former lover; photographs described as “highly intimate.” Phrases like that need no translation.

And during a recent interview, she scandalized the country by referring to her husband with a French term of affection that means “my little cauliflower.” Mind you, I’m not sure why this would be scandalous, especially in France, where topless beaches are as common as McDonalds here. Apparently for the French, vegetables are embarrassing but melons are fine. Or something like that.

For all our feigned frustration, I think many of us, along with our French cousins, secretly adore each other and all for the same reason: We each think the other country is at least mildly crazy. Can you imagine the uproar here if the nation suddenly found out that a First Lady had been photographed extensively au naturel? We’ve been carrying on for weeks about Michelle Obama wearing sleeveless dresses for crying out loud. Bare arms? Zut!

Still, the very real influence of these two ladies on their cultures and frankly, on the world’s, should not be underestimated. Much has been written about the new age of the earth’s leaders, but don’t think it is just the elected ones who are changing politics as we know it. Between Michelle’s growing legions of fans and Carla’s candor, the Golden Age of First Spouses may also be coming on strong.

Creative students at University of California, Merced lobbied the White House and pushed hard to get Michelle Obama to speak at their graduation.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell
The Nation

With Mother's Day approaching I want to think about Michelle Obama's assertion that her primary role as First Lady is "Mom-in-Chief."

Many progressive feminists were distressed with Michelle's assertion of motherhood as her primary role. They hoped she would seek a more aggressive policy agenda. After all Michelle Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She spent her career as an effective advocate for urban communities in their fraught relationship with powerful institutions. She is smart, capable, and independent. She maintained her own career and ambitions throughout Barack's early political career and even during his election to the U.S. Senate.

Truth is, some of us who were in the orbit of the Obamas ten years ago believed Michelle, not Barack, was the real star of the couple. So while I don't think anyone expected her to commute to a 9-to-5 job in D.C; many hoped that she would take on an independent political role in the Obama administration.

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Program Note: Tune in tonight to see the Time 100/Anderson Cooper 360° Special: The World's Most Influential People at 11 p.m. ET.

Oprah Winfrey
For Time

Michelle Obama doesn't just inspire us. She affirms us with her intelligence, authenticity, depth and compassion. We see the best of ourselves in her and marvel that no matter what she's doing, she brings 100% of herself to the experience.

I first met Michelle almost five years ago, shortly after Senator Barack Obama's riveting 2004 DNC speech. Long before there was serious talk of a campaign for the presidency, I remember going to the Obamas' house for dinner. I figured there would be takeout since I knew that, like me, Michelle had worked all day. But no, there she was in the kitchen, calm and organized, preparing linguine with shrimp and vegetables.

The woman I witnessed five years ago, with her graciousness, care and attention to detail, is the same woman I visited in the White House in February. Her very presence makes you feel welcome. Her political power is secondary to her heart power, and I salute her for that. I trust her. I know that whatever she gives her attention to, the truth will always be present. She doesn't make false moves.

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