The Michelle Obama that her old friends remember, that people knew in Chicago, she was a really incisive social critic. She knew how to drive an argument home. People liked her both in the workplace and socially because she was so frank.

People who face too many demands - two careers, two children - often scale back somehow. The Obamas scaled up.

Michelle Obama is somebody who really wants to take the high road.

Interpreting anyone's marriage - a neighbor's, let alone the president's - is extremely difficult.

I would say that Barack Obama has always been a real optimist about what can be accomplished. He believes that government can be used to create systemic, long-term, real change. And the first lady is more of a skeptic.

Candidates' wives are supposed to sit cheerfully through their husbands' appearances.

I don't like corporate diversity workshops.