Why does Michelle Obama always go sleeveless?

Michelle Obama attended the President's address to Congress wearing a sleeveless Narciso Rodriguez dress, one that showcased her much-discussed "well-toned" arms. But, the thing was, it was cold in D.C. that night! Oh My Gerd! And she didn't have any sleeves! Was she or wasn't she cold? Is our first lady obsessed with showing off her arms? Just what kind of message does Mrs. Obama's bare arms send to the nation? These are the kinds of questions heating up the blogosphere today. And, sweet lord, they are stupid.

Over on the New York Times' Caucus blog, a writer wonders if Obama's arms are "a reminder of everything about her we can’t see....In two years, she has shown us a great deal of herself, more than most of us would share, and yet right now, we actually don’t know that much about her...In a few years, will she still look as confident as she did last night, or will she reach for cover? And is she comfortable as she looks in those skimpy tops, or is she actually freezing?"

We bet Michelle Obama chooses sleeveless outfits because they look good on her and make her feel confident. It's the same way some of us turn to A-line skirts or wrap-dresses or bell-sleeves. We all want to feel the most comfortable and attractive in our clothes that we possibly can, and, hey, if this is the first lady's thing, so be it. It's not like she's sporting major cleavage or wearing inappropriate mini-skirts, or worse, dressing in head-to-toe orange pantsuits (sorry, Hillary). Also, the last time MO wore a cardigan over a dress that was not supposed to be worn with a cardigan, the world went crazy with style hatred.

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Images: by GETTY IMAGES, www.fanpix.net

Michelle Obama's Sexy Arms and the Fitness secrets

We admired her muscular arms from the campaign trail to her inaugural ball dance and as she's made healthy eating her mission since moving into the White House. We've made our guesses about how she got those guns.

But now Michelle Obama's personal trainer is revealing exactly how she got the bis and tris that have gotten her so much attention.

Cornell McClellan, the Chicagoan who has been Mrs. Obama's trainer for 12 years, says that an "arm-training superset" of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls are the secret to her toned and defined arms.

McClellan reports that intense cardio and weight lifting routines are a part of the first ladys' typical workout. While that might be enough for most people, Michelle Obama wraps up with sets of the arm exercises.

Pushdowns and hammer curls might sound like complicated weight-lifting moves, but are actually basic ways to sculpt tricep and bicep muscles.

The arm-sculpting secrets were shared as a part of an upcoming issue of Women's Health magazine that highlights the Obama family's commitment to health. The president is featured on the cover of Men's Health magazine and says he is committed to working out six days a week. His regimen includes two days of cardio and four days of strength training, with two workouts focusing on upper body and two workouts focusing on lower body. He says that although he is in good health and could cut back his exercise a bit, he relies on it to "clear my head and relieve me of stress."

I imagine that Michelle Obama, who also has a lot on her plate as she's undertaken making meals healthier in her own home and in schools, would also agree that exercise helps ease the stress of White House working, living, and activities.

Regardless of why Michelle Obama works out, her arms are proof that all that exercise is worth it. Her trainer confirms, "She's truly committed herself to the importance of health and fitness."

We all know personal trainers don't readily dole out those kinds of endorsements. I say, good for our first lady. And good for you if you are ready to give arm-training supersets a try yourself.

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Michelle Obama

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the forty-fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

Michelle Robinson was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After completing her formal education, she returned to Chicago and accepted a position with the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center. Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband's presidential bid and delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She is the mother of two daughters, Malia and Sasha, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men's basketball coach at Oregon State University.


HER CAREER

Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband. At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property. Subsequently, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago Office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization that still stood a dozen years after she left. In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University's Community Service Center. In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband's election; she subsequently took a leave of absence from her job.

According to the couple’s 2006 income tax return, Michelle's salary was $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, while her husband had a salary of $157,082 from the United States Senate. The total Obama income, however, was $991,296 which included $51,200 she earned as a member of the board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, and investments and royalties from his books. She served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS),a major Wal-Mart supplier with whom she cut ties immediately after her husband made comments critical of Wal-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The Lovely First Couple



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Malia and Sasha Obama

The First Family during the White House Easter Egg Roll

Malia Obama and Sasha Obama

Barack and Michelle Obama have two daughters: Malia Ann (pronounced /məˈliːə/), born in 1998, and Natasha (known as Sasha /ˈsɑːʃə/), born in 2001. Sasha is the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy, Jr arrived as an infant in 1961.Sasha is also the first White House resident born in the 21st century.

Before his inauguration, President Obama published an open letter to his daughters in Parade magazine, describing what he wants for them and every child in America: "to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world."

While living in Chicago, they kept busy schedules, as the Associated Press reports: "soccer, dance and drama for Malia, gymnastics and tap for Sasha, piano and tennis for both."

In July 2008, the family gave an interview to the television series Access Hollywood; Obama later said they regretted allowing the children to be included.

The Obamas in the Oval Office of the White House

The Obamas walking their dog, Bo.

Malia, Michelle and Sasha on stage at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

Malia and Sasha attend the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, the same school as attended by Chelsea Clinton, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Archibald Roosevelt, and currently the grandchildren of Vice President Joe Biden. The Obama girls began classes there on January 5, 2009.While in Chicago, both attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory School.

In his victory speech on the night of his election, President Obama repeated his promise to Sasha and Malia to get a puppy to take with them to the White House.However the selection of a dog was slow because Malia is allergic to animal dander;the president subsequently said that the choice had been narrowed down to either a labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog, and they hoped to find a shelter animal. On April 12, 2009, it was reported that the Obamas had adopted a six-months old Portuguese water dog given to them as a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy. The dog was named Bo by Malia and Sasha.

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Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. He grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Although reared among Muslims, Obama, Sr., became an atheist at some point.

Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he signed up for service in World War II and marched across Europe in Patton's army. Dunham's mother went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved to Hawaii.

Meantime, Barack's father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya pursue his dreams in Hawaii. At the time of his birth, Obama's parents were students at the East–West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama's father went to Harvard to pursue Ph.D. studies and then returned to Kenya.

His mother married Lolo Soetoro, another East–West Center student from Indonesia. In 1967, the family moved to Jakarta, where Obama's half-sister Maya Soetoro Ng was born. Obama attended schools in Jakarta, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.

Four years later when Barack (commonly known throughout his early years as "Barry") was ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother (who died of ovarian cancer in 1995).

He was enrolled in the fifth grade at the esteemed Punahou Academy, graduating with honors in 1979. He was only one of three black students at the school. This is where Obama first became conscious of racism and what it meant to be an African-American.

In his memoir, Obama described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. He saw his biological father (who died in a 1982 car accident) only once (in 1971) after his parents divorced. And he admitted using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years.

After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.

After working at Business International Corporation (a company that provided international business information to corporate clients) and NYPIRG, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked as a community organizer with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city's South Side.

It was during this time that Obama, who said he "was not raised in a religious household," joined the Trinity United Church of Christ. He also visited relatives in Kenya, which included an emotional visit to the graves of his father and paternal grandfather.

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