First Family: Life in the White House

Kitchen Cabinet: Headlines for Feb. 9

Health

• Do we need a department of food? (New York Times)
• SCHIP expands mental health coverage for kids (US News & World Report)
• Children's health care bill is just the beginning (AP)

Education

• 'Stimulus (education) money should be spent only on programs that work well' (New York Times)
• Money isn't the problem: Improve the way education programs operate (New York Times)

Michelle Obama pitches educators on stimulus package

The first lady spent some time at the Education Department on Monday, talking with staff about her husband's stimulus package:

She applauded educators, asking them to "roll up your sleeves" to help the Obama administration carry out its initiatives. She said the multibillion dollar stimulus package -- which contains more than $140 billion for education -- was a way to prevent teacher layoffs, increase Pell grants to college students, and preserve early childhood programs.

Recalling her experiences as a student in Chicago's public school system, Mrs. Obama said: "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the public schools that nurtured me and helped me along. And I am committed, as well as my husband, to ensuring that more kids like us and kids around this country, regardless of their race, their income, their status, the property values in their neighborhood, get access to an outstanding education."

Related: President and First Lady visit D.C. charter school (New York Times)

Malia, Sasha joining clubs, basketball team at Sidwell

President Obama spoke about his family's life in the White House during Matt Lauer's pre-Super Bowl interview:

LAUER: How they doing?

OBAMA: You know, they -- I said this I think in an earlier interview. People think I'm cool. Nobody's cooler than my two girls. They just seem to take whatever comes with, you know -- happiness and -- steadiness. And they're loving school. They're making friends. In fact, they've got a -- they've got some friends from school over -- today and -- they've already joined some clubs. And Sasha, you know -- I think maybe to endear -- myself to her, she -- she decided she wanted to join a basketball team. So -- what more could I want?

LAUER: Are you getting to take part in some of the routines? So I was thinking, you know, you've been on the road basically for two years, although you got home a lot.

OBAMA: Right.

LAUER: Now you're all under the same roof basically for 12 days. Are you there for breakfast? Do you -- do you get to read them a story at night, tuck them in bed? How's it going?

OBAMA: It's the best deal -- of -- of this whole thing is it turns out I've got this nice home office. And -- at the end of the day, yeah, I can come home, even if I've got more work to do, I can have dinner with them. I can help them with their homework. I can tuck them in. If I've gotta go back to the office, I can. But -- I'm seeing them now more than anytime in the last two years. And -- and that's been great for the whole family.

Related:

• What going to school at Sidwell is really like (Page Six Magazine)
• Have Obamas figured out how to get kids to make their beds? (The Sun News)

Kitchen Cabinet: Headlines for Jan. 29

• Every peanut product from Georgia plant recalled
• Senate likely to pass bill on kids' health insurance
• Home-birth advocates push for change in laws
• Stimulus plan would provide flood of aid to education
• Schools' budgetary scissors cut paper

President, first lady visit Sasha at school

The Obamas took a morning motorcade ride to the Maryland campus of Sidwell Friends, where 7-year-old daughter Sasha is a student, according to the Associated Press.

The New York Times reported the first couple was at the school to attend a "class presentation":

The Obamas spent about an hour at the school, making it back barely in time for a bill signing ceremony, which started 15 minutes late.

The Washington Post said:

Sasha and her peers are studying Native American history and culture.

"Each child did research on an American Indian topic and then presented their work to other students and parents," school spokesman Ellis Turner said. The lesson included a breakfast featuring Native foods.

The Times wondered whether the president was making up for joking yesterday about the school being closed because of the snow:

The remarks provoked a bit of a bristle on Thursday's editorial page of The Washington Post, whose editors wrote, "In fact, Tuesday's ice produced a particularly slippery day yesterday. Mr. Obama can make pronouncements from inside his well-shoveled bubble, but we can report that it was pretty treacherous out there in the real world. School administrators who opted for closure made the right call -- this time. To the Obamas, we say: Welcome to Washington, and, hey, you have it easy. At least one parent has the flexibility to work from home."

Pennsylvania kids teach Obama girls about Quaker traditions

WPVI-TV in Philadelphia spoke with some third, fourth and fifth graders at a Quaker charter school about what they're doing to welcome Malia and Sasha to the community:

...after watching the inauguration on TV last week, they got to work describing the nine principles of Quakerism, like integrity, simplicity and service, even telling the girls about the weekly devotional. ...

Later this week one of the teachers will be visiting Sidwell Friends school in Washington and willl hand deliver the letters.

Obamas may head to Chicago when Sasha, Malia have three-day weekend

Mid-February may mark the Obamas first return to Chicago after settling in to the White House, the Chicago Tribune reports:

Aides declined to comment on Obama's February schedule, but a source close to him said he could make his first presidential visit to Chicago as early as Presidents' Day weekend, when his daughters have a three-day break from school.

O'Hare has a runway long enough to accommodate Air Force One, but from there the Obamas would still need to get home either by motorcade or helicopter. The Tribune says "the search is under way for a South Side helipad."

Snow closes Sidwell Friends, amusing President Obama and Sasha

The Washington Post's Frank Ahrens reports that President Obama took a moment before a meeting to comment to the press that school was closed today:

"Because of what? Because of some ice?" Obama said to laughter around the table. He said Sasha, his 7-year-old, pointed out that in Chicago, not only is school never canceled for snow, "you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors."

New York Times covers Obamas as parents

Motherlode's Lisa Belkin writes occasionally about the first family.

• Parents in Glass White Houses. Belkin explains what's so admirable about the president and First Lady as parents: "What intrigues me about the new First Family is how they keep their children so grounded even with the likes of me writing about them. You can almost hear the conversation in the Obama home at about 8 a.m. on November 5: 'This is how it's done at our house. Time to go to school.' (They did get there a little late that morning, Michelle told '60 Minutes.')"
• The Obama Work-Family Balance. She notes (as her colleague Jodi Kantor did), "in some ways the world's most demanding job will mean that Barack Obama will see more of his children than he has over the past six years."