Michelle: "Having that "sense of security allows you to take risks. People think that it comes from wealth or generations of access and success, but it doesn't. The security of your parents' love really gives you the foundation to think that you can fly. And then you do."
Source: Stephen M. Silverman. "Michelle Obama's Mother Leads Daughter's Fan Club." People.com. 4/07/2009.
Barack Obama: “Sometimes, when we’re lying together, I look at her and I feel dizzy with the realization that here is another distinct person from me, who has memories, origins, thoughts, feelings that are different from my own. That tension between familiarity and mystery meshes something strong between us. Even if one builds a life together based on trust, attentiveness and mutual support, I think that it’s important that a partner continues to surprise.”
Source: Ian Kerner, Ph.D. "5 Love Lessons We Can Learn From the Obamas." MSNBC.msn.com. 3/5/2009.
Michelle Obama: “Our relationship was first a friendship. It took off from there.”
Source: Ian Kerner, Ph.D. "5 Love Lessons We Can Learn From the Obamas." MSNBC.msn.com. 3/5/2009.
Andrew Romano: "... I think it's the Obamas' willingness to act in public much how they act in private—open, informal, flirtatious—that has incited most of the swooning. uch how they act in private—open, informal, flirtatious -- that has incited most of the swooning. At the Youth Ball, I noticed the president do something that's impossible to imagine any of his predecessors doing: resting his head, eyes closed, on Michelle's shoulder."
Source: Andrew Romano. "Our Model Marriage." Newsweek 2/23/2009.
Stephanie Coontz: "What the Obamas have is a jocular, playful love, a mutual respect, and on Michelle's part, a lack of awe and of adoration."
Source: Associated Press. "Obama Marriage Inspires Fascination, Imitation." MSNBC.com. 2/12/2009.
Associated Press: "... the Obama marriage represents a much more modern kind of White House romance: Two people who've both had important careers, who are trying to balance professional success with family stability, who are both playful with each other and mutually respectful, and who aren't afraid to display their affection and chemistry _ again and again."
Source: Associated Press. "Obama Marriage Inspires Fascination, Imitation." MSNBC.com. 2/12/2009.
Alice Thomas: "For him to regard her and treat her and show and express unabashedly, unashamedly, his love for her, his love for her intelligence, respecting her, romancing her, smiling at her — for the world to see that exchange between a powerful black man and a powerful black woman, I think it’s what is everlasting about this,” Thomas said. “I don’t think we can point to another power black couple like that.”
Source: DeNeen L. Brown, Richard Leiby. "The Very Image of Affirmation." WashingtonPost.com. 11/21/2008.
Barack Obama: "And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama."
Source: "President-elect Barack Obama's remarks in Chicago." SFGate.com. 11/04/08.
Tonya Lewis Lee asked Michelle, "How do you and Barack deal with being apart for an extended period?": "We have adjusted to maintaining a really solid relationship at a distance. We talk every day, every night. If we have a moment, no matter how tired we are, we go on a date."
Source: Tonya Lewis Lee. "Michelle Obama Looks Back (And Ahead!) Lifestyle.msn.com.
Barack Obama: "... "it's [the] tension between familiarity and mystery that makes for something strong, because, even as you build a life of … mutual support, you retain some sense of surprise or wonder about the other person."
Source: Andrew Romano. "Our Model Marriage." Newsweek 2/23/2009.
Kathlyn Hendricks: “Not only does [Barack Obama] love his wife, he respects her,” said Hendricks. “The model of harmony, shared humor and easy communication that the Obamas reveal really is a new model — if ordinary citizens practiced this each day, our world would transform very quickly in positive directions ... The Obamas’ body language, expressions and gestures all match. That's an indication of harmony rather than conflict. When Michelle came out on election evening, she and Barack spoke and touched as if they were alone. Then they turned to the audience. If they can communicate that way in public in front of hundreds of thousands of people, their bod is very solid and real.”
Source: Vidya Rao. "Barack and Michelle: A more perfect union?" Msnbc.com. 11/29/08.
Lani Guinier on the Obama effect on marriages: “She [Michelle] and her husband [Barack] embody a very healthy relationship. That in itself is quite a public and political statement.”
Source: DeNeen L. Brown, Richard Leiby. "The Very Image of Affirmation." WashingtonPost.com. 11/21/2008.
Gil Troy: “The Obama marriage is a modern partnership between equals; they are a working couple just like the Clintons. But, unlike the Clintons — and more like the Bushes — the Obamas appear to be a solid couple, devoted to each other, with no fidelity questions hovering overhead.”
Source: Vidya Rao. "Barack and Michelle: A more perfect union?" Msnbc.com. 11/29/08.
Barack: "If I ever thought this was ruining my family, I wouldn't do it."
Source: Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, "The Obamas Get Personal", People, August 4, 2008, page 57.
Michelle: "Time and love and sacrifice and struggles make you stronger."
Source: Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, "The Obamas Get Personal", People, August 4, 2008, page 57.
