First Lady Michelle Obama Visits Mumbai University

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First Lady Michelle Obama plays with underprivileged children during her visit to the Mumbai University on November 6, 2010 in Mumbai, India.

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Students from the Make A Difference (MAD) program show First Lady Michelle Obama's signature on their hands. The First Lady visited the center for underprivileged children at the University of Mumbai. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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President Obama Meets With Students From the Documentary, “Waiting for Superman“

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Watch a behind-the-scenes video with President Obama and students from the film Waiting for Superman. Yesterday, the children, their families and others that worked on the movie met with President Obama in the Oval Office and watched him depart in helicopter Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House.

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Lets Move with Dominique Dawes – June South Lawn Series

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Former Olympic Gymnast & Gold Medalist Dominique Dawes, Co-Chair of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, is joined by kids from all over Washington D.C. on the South Lawn of the White House. The group participated in a variety of sports and games with Dominique and learned about healthy lifestyle choices.

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First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Presidential Directive on Military Families

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First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks to the National Military Family Association Military Child Summit at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. May 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

First Lady Michelle Obama today announced that President Obama has directed the National Security Staff to lead a new 90-day review to develop a coordinated Federal government-wide approach to supporting and engaging military families.  Building on work and expertise by the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, the review will involve nearly twenty federal agencies as well as the White House Domestic Policy and National Economic Councils and the Offices of the Vice President, the First Lady, and Dr. Biden.

Specifically, the review will:

• Set strategic military family priorities for the next ten years and identify key military family concerns and challenges;
• Review a cross section of public and private programs to identify the most promising ideas and programs that positively support military families;
• Develop options for departments to integrate military family matters into their strategic and budgetary priorities;
• Examine opportunities for Federal policies and programs to stimulate new and support existing state and local efforts achieving military family readiness goals and meeting military family priorities;
• Identify opportunities to leverage the skills and experience of military family members in national and community life; and
• Strengthen existing feedback mechanisms for military families to voice their concerns and views on the effectiveness and future direction of relevant Federal programs and policies.

The review builds on the Obama administration’s efforts to forge an enduring national commitment to support and engage military families.  These combined national efforts will help ensure that:

• The United States military continues to recruit and retain the highest-caliber volunteers contributing to the Nation’s security;
• Service members can have strong family lives while maintaining the highest state of readiness and focus on their military responsibilities;
• Civilian family members can fulfill their own potential while supporting service members; and
• The general population better understands military families and seeks more opportunities to support military families.

“With just one percent of our population—our troops—doing 100 percent of the fighting our military families are being tested like never before,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.  “This government wide review will bring together the resources of the federal government, identify new opportunities across the public and private sectors, and lay the foundation for a coordinated approach to supporting and engaging military families for years to come.”

The First Lady made the announcement during an address to the National Military Family Association’s summit – When Parents Deploy:  Understanding the Experiences of Military Children and Spouses.  Mrs. Obama addressed the state of America’s military families today, outlined a vision of the nation supporting them over the long-term, and how, as a country, all segments of society can work together to turn that vision into a reality.  The First Lady, along with Dr. Jill Biden, uses their platform to support military families by:

• Championing a national call to action that both addresses the unique challenges facing military families and recognizes and taps their skills, strength and commitment to service;
• Building stronger civilian-military community ties; and
• Engaging and highlighting the service and sacrifice of military families to ensure their voices are heard inside the administration.

First Lady Michelle Obama talks with National Military Family Association Board Chair Mary Scott after speaking at the National Military Family Association Military Child Summit at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., May 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Remarks by the First Lady at National Military Family Association Summit

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First Lady Michelle Obama Celebrates Take Your Child to Work Day

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First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to children in the East Room of the White House April 22, 2010 in Washington, DC. Mrs. Obama addressed and answered questions from children of Executive Office employees at the White House's annual Take Your Child to Work Day. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images North America)

CBSNews~First Lady Michelle Obama this morning held a question-and-answer session with about 100 children of White House staffers in the East Room of the White House. The occasion? Take Your Child to Work Day.

“What’s important to know is that your parents got here because they worked hard,” the first lady said. “They worked hard when they were your age. And I tell my kids this all the time: If you want to work in a place like the White House, no matter what you do, now is the time that you have to start thinking about working hard in school.”

One child asked Mrs. Obama “what will happen if something bad happened to a country.”

“Well, first of all I’d wake my husband up if it were at night,” she responded, prompting laughter. “And I’d tell him, hey, buddy, you’re the president, get down to the Oval Office and call some leaders.”

Asked about the much-obsessed over first dog, Bo, the first lady called him “crazy.”

“He loves to chew on people’s feet,” she said.

Another student asked what Mrs. Obama likes to do in her free time. She said that she doesn’t have much free time, and that she is spending a lot of time taking care of the puppy and going to her kids’ games.

She does, however, occasionally “sneak out” for a little fun, she said.

“Every now and then I have this thing that I like to do with some of my staff members, and we sneak out, without telling anybody, and we go and test out all the fun places to eat in D.C. — like I went to Five Guys and nobody knew it,” she said, prompting laughs from the children. “It was good.”

Remarks by The First Lady at Take Your Child to Work Day Event

Bo, the Obama family dog, paws First Lady Michelle Obama's leg as she answers questions from children of White House staff members during a Take Your Child To Work Day event in the East Room of the White House, April 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

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First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden: Month of the Military Child

Supporting military families is a top Obama Administration priority. April is Month of the Military Child and gives the nation the opportunity to recognize the character, strength and sacrifices of America’s military children as well as the role they play in the armed forces community. Today, there are 1.7 million American children and youth under 18-years-old with a parent serving in the military and approximately 900,000 children and youth with one or both parents deployed multiple times. Learn more about the Month of the Military Child here.

Watch the video of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden talk about the important role military children play in the armed forces community:

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President Obama Calls for New Steps to Prepare Children for College and Careers

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President Obama outlines new steps to better prepare Americas children for college and the workplace at a meeting with the National Governors Association . The President is calling for a redesigned Elementary and Secondary Education Act that includes a comprehensive, new vision to help states successfully transition to and implement college- and career-ready standards by improving teacher preparation and development, upgrading classroom instruction, and supporting high-quality assessments.
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First Lady Michelle Obama Hosts the White House Governors Ball Talent Preview

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U.S. First lady Michelle Obama poses for a group photo with music students from Myrtilla Miner elementary school at the White House in Washington February 21, 2010.

Today the First Lady gave a group of Washington, DC music students a special preview of the 2010 Governors’ Ball performance. Grammy Award Winning artist, Harry Connick Jr. spend time talking to students and closed out the event with a song, joined by a few residents from the New Orleans Musicians’ Village. The Musician’s Village was conceived by New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to rebuild homes for many of New Orleans cherished but displaced artists, those who have defined the city’s culture and created the sounds that have shaped the musical vernacular of the world.

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The Chicago Tribune Names First Lady Michelle Obama One of the 2010 Good Eating Award Winners

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Children from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C. help First Lady Michelle Obama plant the White House Vegetable Garden, April 9, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

Chicago Tribune~There’s a 1,100-square-foot organic vegetable, fruit and herb garden on the South Lawn of the White House. That patch of earth planted in March — the first time vegetables have been grown at the White House since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency in the ’40s — has yielded 700-plus pounds of lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, collards and more for meals at the White House and a nearby homeless shelter.

That garden, first lady Michelle Obama told reporters, is “one of the greatest things that I’ve done in my life.” It also signaled the first lady’s efforts to improve America’s eating habits, tackle childhood obesity and encourage fitness. She began by bringing those efforts to her new home, where chef-working mom Cristeta Comerford runs the White House kitchen, by adding chef Sam Kass (whose track record includes work at Avec) to mentor her local-sustainable efforts.

Other first ladies have urged healthy eating at the White House ( Hillary Clinton pushed for a low-fat menu, while Laura Bush encouraged organic foods). But Michelle Obama has, in her first year, moved food and nutrition issues front and center. Her efforts dovetail with our appetite for the food-tube (she kicked off this year with an appearance on “Iron Chef America“) and America’s awareness that what you eat plays a major role in your health.

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First Lady Michelle Obama To Governors: ‘Let’s Act‘ On Obesity

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First Lady Michelle Obama applauds the spouses of the nation's governors as she begins her address on childhood obesity at the at the start of the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in Washington Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

(AP)~~First lady Michelle Obama appealed to governors on Saturday for help in reducing child obesity and said they had a moral and financial imperative to act.

She praised states for their steps already and assured state leaders that the federal government had no interest in taking over their efforts.

“Let’s stop wringing our hands and talking about it and citing statistics,” she told governors at their winter meeting. “Let’s act. Let’s move. Let’s give our kids the future they deserve.”

The first lady found a high-powered audience to make the case for her new campaign on obesity. One in three American children is overweight or obese, a condition that raises their risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other illnesses.

Obama sought support from leaders of both parties and made sure to respect the influence of the states.

“The way I see this, there is nothing Democratic or Republican, there is nothing liberal or conservative about wanting our kids to lead active, healthy lives,” she said. “There’s no place for politics when it comes to fighting childhood obesity. And I know all of you agree.”

The first lady’s campaign has four parts: helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthy food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.

In talking to the governors, she emphasized the importance of empowering parents who feel helpless because they don’t feel they have the time, money or information to provide healthy meals or safe places to exercise.

First Lady Michelle Obama is greeted by West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III, as she is introduced to speak at the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in Washington Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Mindful that the governors face economic crises in their states, Obama said the obesity solutions need not be expensive. She encouraged them to take steps such as providing access at school ball fields to the community at nights, or requiring the construction of sidewalks when new roads are being built.

“Comprehensive and coordinated doesn’t mean centralized,” she added. “I’ve spoken to so many experts on this issue and not a single one of them has said that the solution is for the federal government to tell people what to do. That doesn’t work.”

The governors are trying to find political solutions to soaring health care costs as President Barack Obama seeks to do the same. Michelle Obama said the money crunch cannot be solved without addressing child obesity.

“If we think our health care costs are high now, just wait until 10 years from now and think about the many billions we’re going to be spending then,” she said. “Think about how high those premiums are going to be when our kids are old enough to have families of their own and businesses of their own.”

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