Michelle Obama

The historic action that four North Carolina college students took that led to desegregation at lunch counters more than half a century ago shows what young people can do to change their world for the better, first lady Michelle Obama said during a commencement speech Saturday. Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd of about 15,000, including more than 1,200 graduates of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the state university system's historically black schools.

Who would Michelle Obama be if she could be anyone? Beyonce. "It looks like musicians just have the most fun," Mrs. Obama explains in an interview with People magazine. She admitted, though, that there's one thing she's lacking — being musically gifted. The first lady also dished about a bedtime ritual with her husband, the president: He tucks her in at night. "I'm usually in bed before anybody," the first lady said. "He'll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss, and we'll talk.

Michelle: A Biography By Liza Mundy Simon & Schuster, 224 pp., $25 Demonized by right-wing conservatives as a kind of anti-American, perennially outraged radical activist in the mode of Angela Davis, Michelle Obama appears to be a woman of deep passion and intellect who loves her country enough to believe it can live up to its own stated ideals. Liza Mundy, who covers politics for The Washington Post , describes in her timely and informative biography a complicated, often-ambivalent, and always independent woman who is quite different from her husband.

At the tender age of 11, Cecilia Moseley already appears versed in the virtues of fitness. But she was left star-struck Sunday after first lady Michelle Obama and an audience of global leaders reinforced the message in person. The sixth-grader beamed after chatting about exercise with Obama at south Chicago's Gary Comer Youth Center, where the first lady led a handful of dignitaries or significant others of European leaders here for the NATO summit on a tour. The youth center is just minutes from her childhood stomping grounds.

Michelle Obama told a group of Democratic supporters at a fund-raiser in Boston tonight that "we stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country," praising her husband's record during his first three years in office and urging them to get involved in his reelection campaign. "Barack had the backs of American workers. He put his faith in the American people," she said of President Obama's auto industry bailout. She also touted his record on job creation, his Supreme Court picks, and the federal health care reform law he championed.

Michelle Obama is returning to the late-night stage. The first lady will appear on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on March 19. Mrs. Obama will discuss her Joining Forces initiative, which supports military families, and her plans for the program's one-year anniversary. CBS, which airs Letterman's show, says this will be Mrs. Obama's first appearance on the program. But she has made other stops on the late-night talk show circuit to promote her initiatives and stump for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama challenged George Washington University graduates at their commencement yesterday to keep giving through community service work and to keep engaging with the world. The president’s wife spoke to some 5,000 graduates and their families at the ceremony on the National Mall. She agreed to be their speaker after students, faculty, and staff met her challenge to complete 100,000 hours of community service. “I have one more request to make of you, one more challenge,’’ Obama said during her speech.

At the tender age of 11, Cecilia Moseley already appears versed in the virtues of fitness. But she was left star-struck Sunday after first lady Michelle Obama and an audience of global leaders reinforced the message in person. The sixth-grader beamed after chatting about exercise with Obama at south Chicago's Gary Comer Youth Center, where the first lady led a handful of dignitaries or significant others of European leaders here for the NATO summit on a tour. The youth center is just minutes from her childhood stomping grounds.

Sen. Patrick Leahy says first lady Michelle Obama will be thanking Vermont troops and their families when she visits the state at the end of the month. Leahy says the presidential spouse will meet with Vermont military families and announce her new military family program called Joining Force when she’s in Vermont on June 30. The Vermont Democratic Party says the first lady will be attending a fundraiser at the Sheraton Hotel in South Burlington for the president’s 2012 reelection campaign.

First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha are visiting Las Vegas after stopping in South Dakota on a family trip. A spokeswoman for McCarran International Airport confirmed that the first lady was expected to arrive in Las Vegas Wednesday night. The visit wasn't expected to affect flight operations. White House officials say the Obamas are on a private family trip to the West. The Obamas visited Mount Rushmore on Wednesday before heading to Las Vegas.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama hold assets worth between nearly $2.6 million and nearly $8.3 million, according to financial disclosure reports released Tuesday by the White House. The documents show the couple's assets for last year. The first family's assets were valued between $1.8 million and nearly $12 million in 2010. Obama released the annual report in the middle of a presidential campaign that has brought attention to the wealth of his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney.

WASHINGTON - President Obama honored the nation's top police officers Saturday, paying tribute to their sacrifices and "quiet courage" in the line of duty. The president, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, praised the winners of a national police association award at a White House ceremony honoring 34 officers who showed valor in an assortment of tense standoffs, shootings, and rescues. "They are representative of the sacrifices and that quiet courage that exists among law enforcement officers all across the country and their families,"...

The historic action that four North Carolina college students took that led to desegregation at lunch counters more than half a century ago shows what young people can do to change their world for the better, first lady Michelle Obama said during a commencement speech Saturday. Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd of about 15,000, including more than 1,200 graduates of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, one of the state university system's historically black schools.

First lady Michelle Obama is honoring military mothers and wives for being "outstanding role models" for their children, communities and country. The first lady and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, hosted an afternoon tea at the White House on Thursday to recognize the mothers. The tea celebrated both Military Spouse Appreciation Day and Mother's Day. Youngsters wearing their spring best— from girls in bright, flowered sundresses to boys in pastel dress shirts and suits— slipped into the State Dining Room for a few minutes to make...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending months of equivocation, President Barack Obama declared his support for gay marriage on Wednesday, an announcement fraught with history that also injects a potentially polarizing issue into the 2012 race for the White House. ‘‘I have hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient," Obama said in an interview with ABC at the White House. He added that, ‘‘I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word ‘marriage' was something that invokes very powerful traditions,...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Plunging into his campaign for a new term, President Barack Obama tore into Mitt Romney on Saturday as eager to ‘‘rubber stamp" a conservative Republican congressional agenda to cut taxes for the rich, reduce spending on education and Medicare and enhance power that big banks and insurers hold over consumers. Romney and his ‘‘friends in Congress think the same bad ideas will lead to a different result, or they're just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time you tried it their way," the president told thousands of cheering partisans at what aides...

It will be Michelle Obama and Jill Biden instructing NASCAR's best to start their engines as the racing season comes to a close in Florida. The first lady and the vice president's wife will visit Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20 as it hosts the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale, the Ford 400. The two women will serve as grand marshals for the event, leading the pre-race ceremony and offering the famous instructions: "Gentlemen, start...

First lady Michelle Obama says she thought for sure her cover was blown during an undercover visit to Target last year when a woman approached her in the detergent aisle. But the first lady told David Letterman on Monday the woman only wanted help with a package she couldn't reach. During Obama's visit to CBS' "Late Show," Letterman held up a picture of her after she put on sunglasses and a baseball cap to try to visit a Washington-area store last September. Obama said the woman apparently was oblivious of the fact she had asked a favor of the first lady and said "you...

Plunging into his campaign for a new term, President Barack Obama tore into Mitt Romney on Saturday as a willing and eager "rubber stamp" for conservative Republicans in Congress and an agenda to cut taxes for the rich, reduce spending on education and Medicare and enhance power that big banks and insurers hold over consumers. Romney and his "friends in Congress think the same bad ideas will lead to a different result or they're just hoping you won't remember what happened the last time you tried it their way," the president told an audience estimated at over 10,000 partisans at what aides...