Nov. 16, 2008
The Obamas On Their Personal Transition
Talk About Their Family's Move To The White House, And Efforts To Preserve Sense Of Normalcy
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Play CBS Video Video The Personal Transition The Obamas will soon be the youngest first family to move into the White House since the Kennedys nearly 50 years ago. Steve Kroft speaks with Barack and Michelle Obama about their personal transition.
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Video A Father's Promise President-elect Barack Obama spoke with Steve Kroft about a special promise he made 2 years ago to his young daughters.
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Video Obama And The Presidency President-elect Barack Obama speaks with Steve Kroft about his thoughts and goals as our nation's next Commander-in-Chief.
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President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. (CBS)
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Photo Essay First Visit The Obamas get personal tour of White House from the Bushes.
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Interactive The White House Explore America's White House, which has survived a fire set by British troops and has undergone several major renovations in the past 200 years.
While the Obama transition team has been working closely with the Bush administration to ensure an orderly transfer of power, the Obama family has been working hard on a transition of their own that began with an emotional election night in Chicago.
Steve Kroft: When was the first moment that it began to sink in that you were President of the United States? Do you remember?
Mr. Obama: Well, I'm not sure it's sunk in yet.
Michelle Obama: I guess I'm sort of like him. I'm not sure if it has really sunk in. But I remember, we were watching the returns and, on one of the stations, Barack's picture came up and it said, 'President-Elect Barack Obama. ' And I looked at him and I said, 'You are the 44th President of the United States of America. Wow. What a country we live in.'
Mr. Obama: How about that?
Michelle Obama: Yeah.
Mr. Obama: Yeah. Yeah. And then she said 'Are you gonna take the girls to school in the morning?'
Michelle Obama: I did not. I didn't say that.
Mr. Obama: It wasn't at that moment.
Kroft: You made the address in Grant Park. And you brought the kids out. And, at some point you whispered something. Can you remember that?
Michelle Obama: I said, 'Wow, Look at this.'
Mr. Obama: How 'bout that?
Obama On Economic Crisis, Transition Obamas On Picking The Presidential PoochMichelle Obama: I told him, 'Good job. Well done.' To walk out there and see hundreds of thousands of hard working folks, because so many people put their energy and their hopes into this campaign. To see the outcome and the emotion, it was a very emotional evening because I think people were ready to take hold of this country and help move it in a different direction and you felt that.
Kroft: The emotion of that night was fueled, in part, by the fact that you were first African-American ever elected. Did you feel that?
Mr. Obama: There's no doubt that there was a sense of emotion that I could see in people's faces and in my mother-in-law's face. You know, I mean, you think about Michelle's mom, who grew up on the west and south sides of Chicago, who worked so hard to help Michelle get to where she is, her brother to be successful. She was sitting next to me, actually, as we were watching returns. And she's like my grandmother was, sort of a no-fuss type of person. And suddenly she just kind of reached out and she started holding my hand, you know, kind of squeezing it. And you had this sense of, 'Well, what's she thinking?' For a black woman who grew up in the 50s, you know, in a segregated Chicago, to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States. I think there was that sense across the country. And not unique to African-Americans. I think that.
Michelle Obama: That's right.
Mr. Obama: I think people felt that it was a sign of the enormous progress that we've made in the core decency and generosity of the American people. Which isn't to say that there were a number of reasons that somebody might not have voted for me. But what was absolutely clear was is that whether people voted for me or against me, that they were making the judgment based on is this guy gonna, you know, lead us well? Is this guy gonna be a good president? And that was my assumption walking in. And that's how it turned out. And that felt good.
Kroft: What was your conversation like the next morning at the breakfast table with the kids.
Michelle Obama: Yeah, everyone was tired.
Mr. Obama: Because they had been up until midnight.
Michelle Obama: They had been up. But we got up and went to school. But we went to school late. Barack, you slept in. You know, so I think we were just back into the routine. Our hopes are to just to keep the girls moving. It's like okay , Daddy's president-elect, okay, we can get to school by 10. And we got to the school and the folks at the school were excited. Some people were cheering as I walked the kids to the class. And I remember Malia saying, 'That's embarrassing.' But you know, it was a pretty normal day for us.
Produced by L. Franklin Devine, Michael Radutzky and Andy Court
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 54 CommentsThe ones who do do not understand they have signed up for a depressive country, one which they will suffer even greater than the one they already have. LMAO..You get what you deserve , idiots.
every woman has a way to carry on a relationship with her husband. that is want get them growing. you as a accomplished, degreed person must have lost that during your studies. when you have a circle of influences that judge what you can''t get; you tend to hate with jealousy on my 1st lady. she is very charming and that what men like. Pres. O enjoys and respects his wife. she has plans to be focused on her family. that leaves him to be focused on us. what man doen''t want a supportive wife to come home to? Hillary made a very good statement that has influenced so many women in her past situatuion. Michele has done that same in her current situation. family will always come first. The fundalmental difference is that she is a virtueous woman. How many do you know like that in your circle. My husband and i carry on very much like the Obama''s. guess what? folks can''t buy what we have. a wholesome family communication, not a caveman style. if most woman spoke up with the spouses and got respect from their husbands, they wouldn''t have to sit in the back. many pastorial married teams carry on this way as well. the Obama girls have a great role model for a mom. i love them all, they are my family. we should all check ourselve and be happy for others. and she doesn''t have to wear designer clothes because she has a body that designer want to clothes. you go Michele!!!!
For over 40 years poor people dreams of hope and economic opportunity have been shalter by America and those it has elected to represent us have failed. Blacks Organizing Leadership Development BOLD, have fought quietly behind the scenes over 17 years in Federal, Appeal and in the United States Supreme Court to no avail. With our beginning with President George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush you may be the world last hope to enforcing our Economic Opportunity Acts of 1964, 1967, 1972, 1978 and the Community Service Acts of 1974. We know it was these acts the established President Lyndon B. Johnson''s "War On Poverty" program and laws that promised to lift poor people out of the dungeons of Poverty. Mr. President, history calls on you and the United States Congress to sign an Executive Order which gives poor people under Mary L. Hill, Founder and National Regional Director of the Community Service Administration by law. According to the acts Anti-poverty funds were earmarked for a specific purpose and in 1981 without a record vote congress repealed an Act signed into law by a duly elected President of the United States. We are the children of Israel and its time to Let My People Go.
Now is the time.
Sincerely,
Rubin Young, President
Blacks Organizing Leadership Development, BOLD
bold_inc@yahoo.com
Proof is in the action, not the word. This man was supported by the masses for having promised them the world without any past experiance or accomplishment..who is the fool??! Surely not I.
I like a good dog
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I''m thinking most of the Presidents had mistresses or whatever you would want to call them..... but I''m betting that isn''t going to happen with P.E.Ob..... nuh uh.... nope. All those secret tunnels will be closed off and sealed tight. Clinton was a moral disgrace but still loved by many - so to speak.
Good things will come out of all this and will prove to all racists that we need to look beyond color.
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I must have missed something...... protected by whom or what? Are you talking about the secret service? What "power" does the Constitution allow to the First Lady? She obviously has power in her private non-political life but is not afforded any power as the First Lady. Sometimes a woman needs to take a backseat to her husband regardless of how powerful she feels she is......this would be such a time (and this does not mean I hate her or him). I want the world to love her...... but many will not just because she is "rude and snarly"...... UNLESS she becomes president. Her actions / speech directly reflects on the President. Some may and will interpret this as a sign of his weakness.
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