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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

    President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.  (CBS)

  • Photo Essay First Visit

    The Obamas get personal tour of White House from the Bushes.

  • 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.

(CBS)  And there have not been many of those. The past two years were spent on the campaign trail and before that Senator Obama split his time between their home in Chicago where Michelle and the girls lived, and a very modest apartment in Washington, which nearly burned down.

Kroft: So, you've given up the apartment in Washington that you stayed in?

Mr. Obama: I used to get teased, not just by Michelle, but by my own staff. They'd say, 'You know, you're the only senator that has a worse apartment than your 25-year-old staff people.' Eventually, I think, Secret Service kind of looked at me like, you know, once the building caught fire, and the ceiling caved in, I said…

Michelle Obama: But he moved back in anyway.

Mr. Obama: For a while.

Michelle Obama: After the fire.

Mr. Obama: Shortly.

Kroft: Did you ever stay there?

Michelle Obama: I visited, but I didn't sleep there.

Mr. Obama: She insisted on a hotel room.

Michelle Obama: I saw it. I saw it long enough to know that I wasn't gonna stay there.

Mr. Obama: Yeah

Kroft: It is one bedroom? Studio?

Mr. Obama: Yeah, it was sort of a one bedroom. It had kind of the vintage, college dorm, pizza…

Kroft: Community organizer, right?, feel to it.

Michelle Obama: It reminded me of a little better version of the apartment you were in when we first started dating. That was a dump too.

Mr. Obama: Right near Harold's Chicken Shack.

Michelle Obama:Yeah.

Mr. Obama: Yeah. That's when I had the car with the-the hole in it.

Michelle Obama: And you could see the sidewalk, because the rust had gone through.

Mr. Obama: The air-conditioning.

Michelle Obama: So that was my side. I would look and see the ground going past. And I still married him.

Mr. Obama: That's how I knew she loved me. It wasn't for my money.

They got their first look at their new home last Monday, when the President and Laura Bush invited the Obamas to the White House, which has 130 more rooms than that old Washington apartment.

Kroft: What was it like going through there?

Michelle Obama: Well, first of all, Laura Bush was just so gracious. She is a really sweet person. And couldn't have been more excited and enthusiastic about the tour. So that was wonderful. And her entire team, their team has been working closely just to make us feel welcome. But the White House is beautiful. It is awe-inspiring. It is. What I felt walking through there was that it is a great gift and an honor to be able to live here. And you know we want to make sure that we're upholding what that house stands for. But I couldn't help but envisioning the girls running into their rooms and, you know, running down the hall and with a dog. And, you know, you start picturing your life there. And our hope is that the White House will feel open and fun and full of life and energy.

Mr. Obama: Sleepovers.

Michelle Obama: And sleepovers.

Continued



Produced by L. Franklin Devine, Michael Radutzky and Andy Court
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Add a Comment See all 54 Comments
by basia95 November 19, 2008 4:00 PM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by olivia4441 November 19, 2008 3:32 PM EST
WGAS-- WHO GIVES A SHI-.

The 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.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 1:50 PM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 6:39 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 2:07 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 1:39 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 12:53 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 12:32 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 12:31 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by basia95 November 19, 2008 12:29 AM EST
I enjoyed the Obama''s comments on their personal transition to the White House. I must comment that since Mrs. Obama will soon be our First Lady that her wardrobe must include stockings if she will be wearing a skirt.
Reply to this comment
by bombamamia November 18, 2008 5:04 PM EST
It feels good to have someone in the White House that I will be proud to call President. It is so refreshing to have an intelligent, compassionate, kind hearted person as President. And Mrs. Obama is going to be a great First Lady. They are both so intelligent and gracious. They''re a beautiful family.
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by tejasdemo November 18, 2008 4:58 PM EST
They seem like normal people to me.
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by yvonne113 November 18, 2008 2:58 AM EST
to doorgunner3
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!!!!
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by bold123-2009 November 18, 2008 1:18 AM EST
Dear Mr. President:

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
Reply to this comment
by olivia4441 November 17, 2008 9:55 PM EST
Will Obama share his money or is he just a preacher..and soon to "*** America" ?
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.
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by harapan-2009 November 17, 2008 4:23 PM EST
Barack Obama and his wife play an exemplary role for many in their 20s and 30s--folks who have the minds and the hearts to do good with their talent and intelligence but are discouraged with the ''reality'' of the dog-eat-dog world, which has beat cynicism into the modus operandi. Everything that the Obamas represent: consistence, respect, deliberation, and idealism--as well as a view of life that believes in the good, strong, and pure--have slipped through people''s hands in their struggle to survive; forced to dismiss what was once considered an objective in life: to be a well-rounded, good human being. The Obamas--as professionals, parents, and as a couple, and now as First Family--are at the least a breath of fresh air, and at the most as substantially influential as real-life role models can be. I wish the Obamas strength and grace for the next four years.
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by likenoone-2009 November 17, 2008 4:20 PM EST
I made lots of money with clinton in office and and
I like a good dog
Reply to this comment
by sunbum33919 November 17, 2008 4:14 PM EST
John was a bigger whor then Bill Clinton
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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.
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by licha3 November 17, 2008 3:49 PM EST
President-elect and Mrs. Obama were great in the interview. What a beautiful, inteligent, and charismatic couple they are. They do remind me of John and Jackie Kennedy. Steve''s remark of having a dog and a mother-in-law come into the White House was insensitive.
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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by sunbum33919 November 17, 2008 3:32 PM EST
They are protected and you can tell they feel that power and have that faith by the presence they have! Sorry get over it. 2 strong intelligent, hardworking folks who had nothing given to them are in the White House... Hope won Hate lost.....
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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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