A new book says Michelle Obama advised Barack Obama to use “Yes, we can!” as a campaign slogan, even though the president apparently hated his chief advisor David Alexrod’s catchphrase. According to Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage, by Christopher Anderson, the president dissed the now-famous slogan, calling it “childish” and “corny,” and insisted, “I don’t like it.” Barack then ordered his staff to think up a better slogan, but Michelle assured her hubby, “It will work. Trust me.” Smart lady! Anderson also says that Michelle put the kibosh picking on Hillary Clinton as a vice presidential candidate and urged her husband to pick Joe Biden as a running mate instead. “Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House? Could you live with that?”, she allegedly told Barack. (Guess he couldn’t.) We always knew Michelle was one of the president’s greatest assets!  [Times of London]

Get First Lady Michelle Obama on your side (or in one of your dresses), and your business is guaranteed to boom. That’s what happened to some of MObama’s favorite labels, like Thakoon. So, is it just us, or does Thakoon’s spring 2010 presentation look like it’s playing pretty hard to attract Michelle and all her fashion fans? (Not that we would blame him! Or J.Crew, or Jason Wu, or ... )

One half of the collection took things to a wilder side with mish-mashing prints and loose-fitting resort wear for the jet-set crowd. Yet, the rest of the pieces seemed to directly channel the First Lady’s preferences for floral prints, simple lines of boat necks and long-sleeved shifts, and draped cocktail dresses meant for showing off those famous arms. Think some of these designs have already made their way into Michelle’s closet? [Telegraph.co.uk]

Woman’s got guns. And by guns, I mean a not-too-Madonna-esque but still muscle-y set of arms. I want them. Badly. Luckily, someone hunted down her trainer to get the how-to.
(Now, I’m not promising you results, just an exercise routine—we all don’t have a White House chef and organic garden at our disposal.) According to her trainer, Cornell McClellan: “At the end of a routine of cardiovascular workouts and weight training, Mrs. Obama finishes with the “arm-shaping super set” of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls to tone her biceps.” Say what? Basically, it’s one set of tricep pushdowns using a straight bar attached to the high pulley of a cable station and then, without resting, follow that up with a set of hammer curls using dumbbells. Then, you immediately repeat the entire process until two or three sets of both exercises have been completed. And, if you’re in need of a little video help on all those moves (like me, I’m weight-training challenged), the Women’s Health magazine ladyfolk demonstrate exactly how to get Mrs. Obama’s guns, after the jump.

Stop the presses! Michelle Obama wore SHORTS! In public! As we said before, it is absurd the media thinks that the First Lady showing her legs above the knees is news. And now Time is jumping on the scrutinizing-the-famous-woman’s-body bandwagon, too, saying “[Michelle] just didn’t look particularly good in shorts. Her arms are much admired. Her legs are just, you know, legs.” [Time]

 

Forbes’ annual “Powerful Women” issue hits newsstands tomorrow, but their 2009 list of the 100 most powerful women in the world has left us scratching our heads. The magazine insists the list is based on power, not popularity. They go by press mentions and the size of the country, business or organization the woman runs. But that doesn’t explain why German Chancellor Angela Merkel is at number one for the fourth year in a row. I’ll admit, she has been in the news a lot lately. But only because she’s up for re-election and campaign posters showing her in a low-cut top have generated mucho controversy. After the jump, see the other unlikely gals in the top ten.

Oh holy hell. First Lady Michelle Obama has caught some flack for daring to wear shorts while on vacation with her family at the Grand Canyon in 100+ degree heat. (Emphasis all mine because I cannot fathom the absurdity.) This morning on “The Today Show,” The Washington Post‘s Robin Givhan and Mary Tomer, author of the upcoming book Mrs. O: The Face Of Fashion Democracy, discussed the brouhaha over Mrs. O wearing above-the-knee (GASP!) shorts. Apparently, some see this as her, I dunno, giving the middle finger to propriety and tradition since the look is so casual. The whole thing made me mega-stabby, especially since Lauer can’t help but acknowledge how ridiculous it is that they are even discussing the topic. If Obama had been wearing, say, a khaki skirt, would people have cared to comment? If the shorts had been below the knee, would that have been OK, or would the chatter then be about her looking frumpy? Also, isn’t there, like, a health-care debate going on?

Sure, she knows a thing or two about high-end designers (Jason Wu, anyone?), but that doesn’t mean First Lady Michelle Obama doesn’t wear less pricey ones. Her love of The Gap and J.Crew is well-documented and she recently wore both at the cover shoot for a new magazine, Children’s Health. The makeup artist on set, Susan Heydt, revealed that MObama wore a blue Gap cardigan over a J.Crew skirt. But with as much love as she shows them, when are these designers going to return the favor with a Michelle Obama-inspired collection?

During his concert in Philly on Saturday, Elton John dedicated a song to Reese Witherspoon, who was there with her BF, Jake Gyllenhal. Before he started playing “Tiny Dancer,” Elton said, “Reese, this one’s for you.” We think it was pretty random of the singer to shout out Reese, but musicians are always busting out weird dedications. After the jump, check out a few more. [NY Daily News]

Leave it to America’s favorite trendsetter, Michelle Obama, to remind us about versatility and resourcefulness. This week, the First Lady showed up to a White House event looking like she had lopped off her hair. Turns out, she didn’t cut an inch, but fooled everyone with a fake bob style. A wonderful way to mix things up for long-locked ladies, or to test-drive a short haircut, the ‘do is easy to achieve, and even looks good when it’s not perfect and a bit messy. Here’s how to do it.

Fashionable first ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy have both been spotted at events wearing outfits they -- gasp! -- wore at public appearances in months past. Most people, including Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan and Barney's creative director Simon Doonan say repeating of outfits is a nice reminder that Michelle and Carla aren't starlets, and, as Givhan wrote, "the only people who don't re-wear their clothes are those who don't have to pay for them." So, now that we've been given the go-ahead to wear the same outfit more than once (um, thanks for that!), how often can we wear our favorite red silk dress?

• If you’re a dude who’s determined to sport a man thong, I guess I can’t stop you. But please, please go through this checklist before you leave your house. [AOL]—Better yet, stay at home.
• Rumer Willis will make an appearance on “90210,” and AnnaLynne McCord is reportedly begging scriptwriters to create a same-sex love scene between Willis and her character, adding that “a little lip on lip action can’t hurt.” [Starpulse]—Ooh la la.
• The latest fashion trend? Wearing roadkill. A new collection of rat-infested bowties and headbands has been unleashed, thanks to designer Reid Peppard. [Refinery 29] —Rats just don’t belong on your body. End of story.

In the popularity contest that is D.C. politics, Barack Obama bested John McCain back in November. But recent polls have shown that if Barack were stacked up against his wife, Michelle, in a Great Big High School Cafeteria, he’d be sweating it out at the dork table.

In a recent Harris poll, 68 percent of Americans said they view the First Lady favorably, while a different Harris poll also recent showed Barack’s favorability rating is 54 percent.

That means Michelle’s got, like, almost three out of the four Plastics from “Mean Girls” behind her. And of course Michelle is more popular—her husband is the one regulating your cigarettes. But with great power comes great responsibility! She can’t pass legislation, but she can turn our attention to worthy causes while we drool over her J.Crew.

Here’s our spank bank wish list of how Michelle can use her Cool Kid Status for good, not evil…

This week the White House released its “Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff,” which includes the salary of every White House employee. And if I’ve learned anything from looking over the report it’s that we should forget about Barack, because Michelle has one expensive entourage. She has a $90,000 Chief of Staff, with a $40,000 assistant, an $84,000 Press Secretary with a $52,500 assistant, a $45,000 Correspondence Director with a $36,000 assistant, a $70,000 Director of Policy and Project, and four employees with salaries ranging from $50-75K who take care of her scheduling, travels, trips and events. As if these eleven, well-paid employees couldn’t get the job done, the first lady has yet another $60,000 special assistant––Sheesh. Also, can I get a job? [WhiteHouse.gov]

The war on Michelle Obama continues. This time it’s not her looks that her critics are attacking, but her sobriety. According to The National Enquirer, “Michelle Obama – cracking under the pressure of being First Lady – is drinking way more than she should, friends fear.” Oh really? The tabloid lists “close sources,” “friends,” and “insiders” who have lined up to tattle on Michelle’s excessive drinking habits which include: “overindulging during (her) date night” with the President in New York City on May 30th; knocking down “a glass or two of champagne” on a private jet and downing “two martinis during dinner at the Greenwich Village restaurant Blue Hill.

”  That doesn’t exactly qualify for a membership at Alcoholics Anonymous, otherwise we’d be seeing her there, but the National Enquirer must have different standards. [via I Hate The Media]

The Thakoon dress Michelle Obama wore on the final night of last year’s Democratic National Convention is on sale on Gilt Groupe today for $498 and, surprisingly, wasn’t the first item by the designer to sell out (it was still available at 12:45). Were customers afraid to buy it for fear that when they wear it everyone will recognize it as Michelle Obama’s dress? [Gilt Groupe]

It’s June now. The election was eight months ago. It’s kind of a random time for Robin Givhan at The Washington Post to pen a heady thinkpiece about What Michelle Obama, As A Black Woman, Means.

But whatever. I feel like I’m back at the Gender Studies department again!

Givhan, herself a black woman, has written a thoughtful analysis of the precedent Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” set for Michelle Obama, who was and continues to be the foremost black woman in a starring role on a major mainstream TV show. 

America’s never had a black president or a black First Lady. But Givhan asks us not to forget about the boob tube, either: the last time Clair Huxtable was on TV was an astonishing 17 years ago.

Single women can learn a lot about dating from Michelle Obama, but one guy advises black women to take a different route than Michelle did, before another man passes them by. Most of his advice is logical. Some of it, I have to admit, I’m not ready to hear and probably never will be.

Michelle Obama is catching it from all sides. First legendary supermodel Iman says Michelle is “no great beauty,” then comedian Jay Mohr compared her to a linebacker, and now a South Carolina politician is calling her a “gorilla.” After a news report that a gorilla escaped from Columbia Zoo in South Carolina, state activist Rusty DePass posted this snarky comment on Facebook: “I’m sure its just one of Michelle’s ancestors—probably harmless.” Of course, once the media caught on to this, DePass followed up with a statement which sounds almost as insulting as his first one.   “The comment was hers. Not mine,” he said in reference to Michelle’s earlier statement that we are all descendants of apes. [Huffington Post]