Michelle Obama surprises White House tourists

By: Leigh Ann Caldwell
Topics: First Family

White House tourists had an unexpected visitor on Thursday morning. First Lady Michelle Obama and first dog Bo unexpectedly dropped by some visitors on White House tours.

With Bo at her side, the first lady stood and greeted visitors as they were ushered through the White House public viewing rooms. She hugged each passer by, including many elderly women in wheelchairs. One tourist broke into tears as she so overwhelmed with emotion at the shock of seeing the first lady. (watch video at left).

To a group of school children, Mrs. Obama joked that there would be a test on what they learned before they left.

According to the AP, she said "You don't get out of the house unless you pass it." Witnessing the serious faces, she reassured the students. "I'm kidding," she said.

The first lady announced her plans via a tweet and invited people to watch it live on the White House website.

Surprise! @WhiteHouse's biggest celebrity (our dog Bo) & I are about to greet folks on their tours. Watch it live: wh.gov/live -mo
-- The White House (@whitehouse) February 16, 2012

For more than an hour, the first lady greeted and spoke to about sightseeing, food and her "Let's Move" campaign.

Tickets for self-guided tours are free and obtained through members of Congress.

Leigh Ann Caldwell
Leigh Ann Caldwell is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.
Follow on Twitter »

10 Comments +

Add a Comment

by RobAla February 17, 2012 9:41 AM EST

Here we have a good surprise in the First Lady, but I would bet there are a lot of Americans who are surprised at how bad her husband has governed this nation as President. Let's look at the list of achievements during the first 3 years of President Obama and fellow progressives:
1) He lied 8 times in promises to televise the health care discussions openly on CSPAN.
2) He made deals giving one premium health care plan to union members (supporters) and another to the rest of the country.
3) He stood by and allowed the House and Senate to buy health care votes using taxpayer money.
4) He allowed the health care bills to be fashioned behind closed doors and be filled with political favors. This disaster of a health care law increases the cost of health care by imposing fees on medical devices (like pacemakers). He and they took over the nations health care by the federal government - most Americans did not want this extreme action - and still do not. This horrible law will cause the majority of Americans to have higher health care cost in rising premiums. We already can not afford the size federal government that we currently have, with a $15 trillion national debt. It imposes $billions of unfunded mandates on struggling states to provide greater Medicaid coverage. 27 states are suing the federal government over this nonsense, as they don't have the money to pay for this. Businesses are not hiring because of the additional cost PER EMPLOYEE that is caused by this law.
5) President Obama has continued at least a 8% unemployment rate for three years.
6) He irresponsibly overspent 100s of billions of dollars the US didn't have on bailouts (President Bush started it and President Obama accelerated it) and bogus stimulus packages. The worthless 111th Congress (led by Democrat Nancy Pelosi) was too busy screwing up the nation to do their job. They never established a budget for the nation in 2010, and by law they are to do this.
7) President Obama has behaved in the most partisan manner of any recent President, after promising bipartisanship. He has arrogantly trashed everyone who has not agreed with his socialist agenda - even the Supreme Court.
8) Instead of securing the border and enforcing federal immigration laws, the President has made war on Arizona Americans as they attempt to protect themselves from an invasion of illegal immigrants.
9) The President's man, AG Holder, dropped his case against the Black Panthers who blatantly intimidated voters at the polls. Now, Holder may finally be kicked out over "Fast and Furious" - the program that sold guns to Mexican cartels, guns used to kill a US border agent.
10) This President has focused on an extremist agenda of "fundamentally transforming" the US from a democratic republic into a socialist democracy, instead of the millions without jobs. We are all witnessing the collapse of European socialist democracies, yet this does nothing to stop this President from pushing us down that road of disaster.
11) President Obama imposed a moratorium on drilling in the gulf, throwing thousands more out of work. One foreign oil company screwed up, and the President decided to punish other oil companies that have drilled responsibly for decades.
12) President Obama wanted the President Bush tax cuts to expire, which would have resulted in redirecting money away from the economy and pushing it into Washington. The President held on to this until he was forced to change by the pounding the Democrats took in the 2010 election. Still, he promises to increase taxes next year.
13) The President and other progressives in Congress have imposed oppressive additional expenses and regulations on private sector businesses that are crippling the private sector jobs market, while expanding the federal government and public sector jobs. Anyone with any economic sense knows that you need tax revenues from a healthy private sector jobs market to fund public sector expansions, and the money is just not there. Yet, President Obama wildly and irresponsibly continues to massively grow the federal government - hence an outrageous $15 trillion national debt.
14) With gas prices rising and projected to hit $4.00 a gallon by summer 2012, President Obama stops the Canadian pipeline deal that would reduce the US dependence on middle- eastern oil. His entire energy policy is idiotic, and leaves the US damaged.
15) In President Obama's 2012 budget, he never addressed serious issues threatening the future of the nation (like the fact that if Medicare and Social Security are not restructured, they both are projected to collapse by 2037). In fact, in the face of a staggering $15 trillion national debt - he proposed that we add another $trillion to it.

Just to name a few. The perfect word for President Obama is "irresponsible".

Reply to this comment


by catmomtx February 17, 2012 4:23 PM EST: Oh for goodness sakes, get over yourself. Why not spend your time documenting the harm that Bush and Republicans did to our country., that should take you a while.


by achememnon February 17, 2012 9:34 AM EST: I couldn't wait to read the racist negativity from the repugs on this story. They have to say something negative about the President or the first lady even if there is nothing negative going on. Keep up the racist negativity repugs it only makes you look pathetic and shallow and bring more votes to Obama.; Reply to this comment


by mjb89 February 17, 2012 9:09 AM EST: Sprtmano, you're right, she's not in the same league as the Bush women. She is far, far above them.; Reply to this comment


by credibility2 February 17, 2012 8:54 AM EST: This was a WH staged event and not an impromptu one as is being misrepresented. According to ABC News general media wasn't used, which is the standing procedure for these types of things. Only WH personnel were used to capture the "moment". This will probably be used in a campaign ad.; Reply to this comment


by bringbackmfg February 17, 2012 6:46 AM EST: Mother Obama. Coming out to make sure everybody else is eating right and staying fit.; Reply to this comment


by VegasValleyMary February 16, 2012 9:33 PM EST: I feel like "We The People"
with the Obama's in the White House.
First Lady Michelle Obama is a wonderful realistic representative for her husband, her children, motherhood, professional women,
black women, Christianity, and the United States.; Reply to this comment


by Journey12 February 16, 2012 8:06 PM EST: Michelle is just amazing! She just speaks to motherhood and family and it is obvious that she really understand people and can relate!; Reply to this comment

by raymailhot February 16, 2012 7:26 PM EST

A good First Lady will make the president look better in the worse of times. She is doing a great job, now when is the president going to start?

Reply to this comment


by ProgressNow February 16, 2012 7:36 PM EST: Times up my friend, Bush isn't the President. He had his chance and he blew it. There's nothing "Larrrrrrrrr" can do to help him now.