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Portland Community College
is proud to present
Dr. Cornel West
Nine days after the inauguration of the
next U S president, one of America's
most provocative public intellectuals
and author of Race Matters and the
upcoming Hope on a Tightrope
will look back on the 2008
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election for a night ol
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I
November 12, 2008
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Page A2
insight and inspiration
Thursday, Janu ary 2 9 th , 2 0 0 9
Doors open a t 7p m , N ew m ark T h e a tre
Michelle Obama has Own Transition
Daughters
Malia, Sasha
her priority
(AP) -- As Michelle Obama
prepares for her new life at the
White House, at least two things
are certain about the kind of first
lady she will be.
She will rem ain the new
president's close confidante and
adviser, in keeping with a tradi
tion that transcends presidencies
and political party. President
elect Obama has portrayed her as
the family’s "rock" — and told
Newsweek magazine she had
"veto power" over his decision to
run for president.
She's also the mother of young,
frolicking children — something
the country hasn't seen in a first
lady in decades.
D aughters, M alia, 10, and
Sasha, 7, are her priority, Michelle
Obama has often said, the last
thing she thinks about before fall
ing asleep at night and the first
thing on her mind when she wakes
up in the morning.
Her schedule during the presi
dential campaign was arranged
so that she would get home to
tuck them in at night and see them
off in the morning.
Not since 1977, when 9-year-
old Amy Carter moved in, has
there been such young children
at the White House.
A ides say p u b lic ly th at
Michelle Obama is not interested
in helping shape policy or having
a seat at her husband's decision
making table. At least for now,
she wants to focus on easing the
transition for the girls, finding
them new schools and getting
them settled and comfortable with
a totally new way of life.
To that end, first lady Laura
Bush showed Michelle Obama
around the White House resi-
Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for President last August in Denver with
his daughters Sasha, 7, (left) and Malia, 10, and his wife, Michelle. (AP photo)
dence on Monday while their
husbands met privately in the
Oval Office. •
"My first job, in all honesty, is
going to continue to be mom-in-
chief," she told Ebony magazine,
"making sure that in this transi
tion, which will be even more of a
transition for the girls ... that they
are settled and that they know
they will continue to be the center
of our universe."
A w orking mom h erself,
Michelle Obama, 44, was a high-
level administrator at the Univer
sity of Chicago Medical Center
before taking a leave to help her
husband's campaign. Familiar
with the juggling act working
mothers perform, she wants that
to he one of hertop issues as first
lady.
"How to make sure our poli
cies are structured in a way that
supports that balance, whether
it's more w ork/fam ily leave,
whether it's better health care.
There are a lot of policies that go
along with allowing women that
freedom," she told the magazine.
She also wants to help military
spo u ses
and
prom ote
volunteerism.
So, to the question of what
kindoffirst lady Michelle Obama
will be, there are some clues, in
cluding from her.
She has plenty o f role models
and has been c o m p a re d to
Jacqueline Kennedy, is every bit
as hig h -p o w ered as H illary
Clinton and has praised Laura
Bush's calm and rational approach
to issues.
Comparisons to Kennedy have
centered on style and fashion.
Watch for Michelle Obama to
become a trendsetter, possibly a
reluctant one. A sleeveless, off-
the-rack, black-and-white dress
she wore on "The View" quickly
sold out. And she recently told
comedian Jay Leno that the en
semble she wore on his show
came fromJ.Crew.
Her approach to issues? Per
haps calm and rational, like her
husband — and Laura Bush.
T he first lady d e fe n d e d
Michelle Obama after Republi
cans criticized her for saying she
was proud of her country for the
first time in her adult life. Asked
about the criticism, Laura Bush
said Michelle Obama probably
meant to say she was "more
proud" and that comments dur
ing a cam paign are closely
watched and often misconstrued.
Michelle Obama said on "The
View" that she was touched by
Laura Bush’s comments and had
sent her a note.
"And that’s what I like about
Laura Bush.You know, just calm,
rational approach to these issues.
And you know. I'm taking some
cues. 1 mean, there's a balance.
There's a reason why people like
her. It's because she doesn’t, sort
of, you know, fuel the fire."
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(AP) — Now that his brother-
in-law is headed for the W hite
House, Craig Robinson turns
his focus to his own cam
paign as basketball coach
at Oregon State.
Robinson was in C hi
cago last Tuesday to cel
ebrate Barack Obama's vic
tory, appearing onstage at
the massive victory rally at
G ra n t P a rk . M ic h e lle
O bam a's big brother was
b a c k in C o r v a llis on
W ednesday for practice
with the Beavers.
"It d o e sn 't get m uch
better than that," he said
o f the trip. "A lthough I
would im agine that w in
ning a Pac-10 cham pion
ship would feel pretty good
right about now."
Robinson is em barking
Craig Robinson
on his first season as head
son and fin ish ed second to
C ornell in the Ivy L eague,
Brown's w inningest season.
Hired by the Beavers in April,
Robinson has cam paigned for
O bam a on his own time.
On Tuesday afternoon in
Chicago, Robinson joined a
g ro u p — in c lu d in g his
brother-in-law— that played
basketball. Then they went
to the Obama home for a quiet
dinner. No television was on
and no one answered calls.
Robinson said e x cite
ment began to build when
the family could hear some
cheers from outside. Then
the h e lic o p te r s sta rte d
hovering above.
"W e w e re th in k in g ,
'H e y , it m ust be going
well,"' he said.
After the rally, Robinson
took the children home while
the Obamas stayed to thank
supporters.
T ran sition to P o w er
www.cascadecycling.com
ribn
coach of O regon State.
He.came to Oregon State from
Brown, where he had been coach
for two years and went 30-28.
The Bears went 19-10 last sea-
Cell 503.890.1181
jp a risto kw.com
front Front
Jr. Boulevard Shields recalls a
chorus of honking on the street
and people pouring out of build
ings waving American flags and
jumping up and down.
Fireworks erupted into the
nighttime sky.
Bob Boyer, another African-
American who did a stint in the
Oregon Senate in the late 90s,
turned down several election
party invites, opting to spend the
night at home on the couch with
his wife, Judy, of 30 years.
“It was a historic night and we
wanted to celebrate between each
other." said Boyer who received a
barrage of phone calls that evening
from relatives all over the country.
When asked what "President
elect Barack Obama" conjures up
in his head a week later, Boyer
thinks of the man ’ »calm and calcu
lating demean«,r and how he’s risen
by harnessing grass roots support
that eventually drew hordes of
people to hear him speak.
"P ortland set the stage at
75,(XX) people on the waterfront,"
said Boyer referring to when the
Illinois senator spoke in the Rose
City last spring.
Boyer attended the Democratic
National Convention as an alter
nate delegate in August, and was
told that the turnout for Obama’s
speech in Portland set the bar
high for the senator's acceptance
speech in Denver at Invesco
CHECK Field.
“I'm so proud of that,” said
Boyer.
Lolenzo Poe, who served as a
member on the Portland Public
School Board and currently se
nior policy adviserto Multnomah
County Chair Ted Wheeler, also
spent the night at home with
friends and family
He trolled through the net
works trying to find any new nug
gets of information before the
election was called.
“My gosh, we've made it to
that mountaintop." said Pi«, who
was elated at the news. But Poe
wasn't as stunned as his 87-year-
old uncle who had made his way
north from Jim Crow Mississippi
decades ago.
“He had a fundamental belief
that white America would never
elect an African- American,” said
Poe, who added that his uncle
spoke w ith “ stunned b e lie f ’
shortly afterwards.
Sen. Avel Gordly, a veteran
African-American legislator who
is stepping down in January to
teach at Portland State, was at an
election party at a I ifelong friend’s
house. She sat most of the evening
at a computer upstairs blogging
for the Oregonian.
Once the election was called
the house exploded in jubilation,
as did the street outside.
Gordly said she was particu
larly impressed with the gracious
concession speech by O bam a's
vanquished opponent, Arizona
Sen. John McCain who she said,
“spoke as a statesman.”
"The ancestors are proud and
smiling," she added.
I