Michelle Obama

The new garden book " American Grown " seems little different from all the other veggie-centric titles that crowd the shelves of horticultural titles these days. The glossy pages track a newbie gardener's efforts to grow her own food in the city and, true to form, the cover shows the author-gardener beaming radiantly and holding a basket heavy with produce. But there, the similarity ends. The gardener is Michelle Obama, the home is the White House and the vegetable garden on the South...

WASHINGTON — When leaders of the nation's biggest economies gathered at the presidential retreat of Camp David last year, European elections had rattled the continent with a rejection of austerity measures. President Barack Obama was himself seeking re-election. The sense of urgency was palpable as Obama made an emphatic pitch for Europe's powers to focus more on economic growth. These days, as Obama prepares for another summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations next week, the...

The Obama administration launched a national initiative Tuesday to highlight and support service members and their families, joining with top corporations and nonprofit groups to bolster their health-care, employment and educational opportunities. The public efforts will be led by first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, who will start a tour of military bases and communities Wednesday. In the East Room, packed with Cabinet members, congressional leaders, military brass and...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama honored the WNBA champion Indiana Fever on Friday, calling the players role models for young athletes — even those on his daughter Sasha's basketball team. The team captured its first title last October, defeating the Minnesota Lynx 87-78 and bringing home Indiana's first basketball title since 1973. Obama said the Fever's season was an inspiration for basketball fans everywhere, including his daughter, whose team he sometimes coaches. He pointed out that the...

When her father's second term as president is up, Malia Obama will be 18 years old and entering into adulthood. She and her younger sister, Sasha, will have spent their formative years in the White House, a place that their parents have attempted to shape into something resembling a normal home. Over the past four years, Barack and Michelle Obama — though jetting around the country and world — have put an emphasis on being home for family dinner at 6:30 p.m. most days.

When Michelle Obama slipped recently and described herself as a "busy single mother," I — and thousands of other women — nodded in knowing agreement. When you have a husband who travels extensively and who, even when home, works extremely long days, it is very easy to feel as if you are a single mother. My husband traveled to cover the Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City and in 2004 in Athens. Each time, for the three weeks he was away, I felt very much like a single mother.

Dolley made her mark as the quintessential hostess. Eleanor broke new ground by tackling liberal causes. Lady Bird, we learned, was a quiet but effective counselor to her husband. And what of Michelle — what will be her legacy? Unlike the dozens of first ladies whose names and stories have been forgotten through the ages (ever had a dinner conversation about Anna Harrison or Jane Pierce?) the nation's first African American first lady will surely be remembered in history books...

Obama family trip to Africa First lady Michelle Obama is traveling June 21-25 in South Africa and Botswana with her daughters, Malia and Sasha, her mother, Marian Robinson, and her niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson. To see reporter Krissah Thompson's live blog of the trip, go to http://wapo.st/flotusinafrica . Some details of the trip: June 21 : Meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma's wife Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma in Pretoria; visit to the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the...

If second-term presidents feel liberated by reelection to pursue bolder agendas, first ladies often become more comfortable to be their own person. Witness Laura Bush , who in her husband's second term discovered that she, too, had a voice and a bully pulpit. Seemingly overnight, she transformed herself from librarian to liberator, becoming a voice for oppressed women — from advocating for Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi , the democratic leader then under house arrest, to spearheading a women's health movement across the Middle East.

Michelle Obama experienced a rare face-to-face encounter with a protester late Tuesday — approaching the activist and threatening to leave a fundraiser if the person did not stop interrupting her speech. Obama was addressing a Democratic Party fundraiser in a private home in the Kalorama neighborhood of Northwest Washington when Ellen Sturtz, 56, a lesbian activist, interrupted her remarks to demand that President Obama sign an anti-discrimination executive order. The first lady showed her displeasure — pausing to...

WASHINGTON — That annual summer ritual of forced harmony known as the White House congressional picnic? Not going to happen. The White House Office of Legislative Affairs has notified members of the House and Senate that the event, typically held in June, might be rescheduled for September. Postponing the popular picnic comes as President Barack Obama has been wining, dining and hobnobbing with select groups of congressional Republicans and Democrats. White House officials say the...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is wishing for a "speedy recovery" for ailing former South African President Nelson Mandela. The 94-year-old Mandela is currently in a Johannesburg hospital, receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection. White House spokesman Jay Carney says Obama, the first lady and everyone at the White House are concerned about Mandela's health. Carney says they all wish Mandela a "speedy recovery. " Obama and first lady Michelle...

REX, Ga. — Police in Georgia are investigating after a monument dedicated to one of first lady Michelle Obama's relatives was knocked over in suburban Atlanta. Clayton County Commissioner Sonna Singleton tells WSB-TV (http://bit.ly/190XEEv ) that a stone monument to Michelle Obama's great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields, was pushed over and will need to be inspected for cracks. The report was aired Monday. Officials say Shields was born into slavery in the...

First lady Michelle Obama implored a ballroom full of Democrats in Northern Virginia on Thursday to give their time and money to Terry McAuliffe, boosting the coffers of his gubernatorial campaign . With five months to go before he faces Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) on the November ballot, McAuliffe enlisted Obama to help at an evening fundraiser at the Sheraton Premiere hotel in Tysons Corner. With turnout uncertain in Virginia's off-year election, McAuliffe is seeking to...

WASHINGTON — While President Barack Obama is meeting up with China's president in California this weekend, some Chinese are disappointed that first lady Michelle Obama won't be on the trip. The first lady's office would only say she was staying in Washington to be with family. Monday is younger daughter Sasha Obama's 12th birthday, and Mrs. Obama early on declared herself "mom in chief" and always has said her girls come first. Friday and Saturday's summit between...

I haven't a clue what President Obama wore to the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, but The Post saw fit to inform me that Michelle Obama attended "dressed in a dark purple suit, white pearls and purple pumps," ironically adding that the roles of past first ladies have been shaped "not just through their personalities and fashion choices, but through the causes they support" [ "A Signature With the First Lady's Hand in It," Style, Jan....