If anyone is a media darling, it’s Michelle Obama. Less than 7 years into her husband’s presidency, Obama has boasted roughly 50 more media appearances [1] than Laura Bush did in 8 years.
The First Lady receives compliments on everything from her dancing [2] to her workout regime [3] to her graduation speeches [4]. Yet, Mrs. Obama is probably best known for her campaign against childhood obesity. One of her programs, the annual “Healthy Lunchtime Challenge,” encourages grade-school children to submit a healthy recipe to the competition. This year, 54 winners chosen from over 1,000 entrants were invited to the White House for a kids’ “State Dinner.”
ABC’s Good Morning America could not resist covering this very important July 10 event [5]. Instead of going himself, correspondent Michael Strahan commissioned his ten-year-old twins Isabella and Sophia to go in his stead.
“OK girls, now I’m sending you out on a big assignment. You’re going to get to interview first lady Michelle Obama,” Strahan enthused. “Is that exciting?”
“Yeah!” the twins echoed.
When they arrived, Sophia and Isabella met with the first lady and asked her about the kids’ dinner. Obama responded, “We started the Kids' State Dinner a few years ago, because we thought, ‘Wouldn't it be fun to reward kids who were eating healthy and teaching other kids to eat healthy?’ We had a team of people who tasted every single recipe. And they picked one representative from every state in the United States of America.”
It was all very cute and sweet. However, as MSNBC host Alex Wagner queried [6] after Michelle Obama presented the 2013 Academy Award for Best Picture: “Could Laura Bush have done it? No…I don’t think she would have been greeted with the same amount of warmth.” Sad, but true.