>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090110/Obama_visit_090110/20090110?hub=TopStories
>
>I hope he comes to my place for tea.

Cool!

I read an article this morning about Michelle Obama's mother. It said she has decided to move into the White House, at least for a few months on a trial basis. She sounds like an absolutely terrific lady. She has never lived anywhere but Chicago and is reluctant to move elsewhere at her age, ~70. You can tell she is still hitting on all cylinders. She took care of Malia and Sasha a lot during the campaign, when their parents were elsewhere. (Now there's a stereotypical black family story with a heck of a twist). It can't have hurt the girls a bit. Michelle's brother Craig, who is now the basketball coach at the University of Washington, said he and Michelle were raised with iron discipline and expectations. You had to do your schoolwork and you had to do your chores, and if they weren't done right you had to do them over. They both went from the South Side of Chicago to the Ivy League, and on from there.

There was a picture along with the article of Barack and his mother-in-law sitting on a couch watching election returns, holding hands. He said later that was one of the moments when it hit him what was really happening, when she squeezed his hand. I don't remember his exact words but it was something to do with the reaction of the black generation before his being different from his own.

The Obama presidency may prove to be a disaster, who knows, but for sure we have a heck of a First Family. Now an extended first family ;-)

(There was a humorous note in a sidebar to the article about other in-laws who have lived in the White House. One of them was Harry Truman's MIL, who said she knew "dozens of men" who were more qualified to hold the office, LOL).