Michelle Obama Watch

The WAPO has another article on Michelle Obama called When Michelle Met Barack. They interview former coworkers about how MIchelle and Barack met and Sidley Austin (for some reason I thought there was an “&” in there, but the WAPO is leaving it out). The article is the typical retread but has more details from Michelle’s time at Harvard Law. There has been a great deal of attention to her Princeton undergrad days. Not so much about her time at Harvard. But the most fascinating bit for me was the fact that Michelle represented Barney the Dinosaur. Okay well technically not Barney personally, but close enough:

The group went out of its way to give Michelle work suited to her interests. When an opportunity came in to handle the budding public television career of Barney, the purple dinosaur poised to become a phenomenon among American children, Goldstein says he and others felt it had Michelle’s name written all over it. …The firm’s task was to manage the trademark protection and distribution of Barney plush toys and other merchandise, Goldstein says, and to negotiate with public television stations that wanted to broadcast the show. “She had very little experience in that area,” recalls Goldstein, “but she latched onto it and did a very good job with it.”WAPO

Of course the WAPO had to get in some zingers.

Michelle could also frustrate her supervisors. Quincy White, the partner who helped recruit Michelle and who headed the marketing group, remembers finding her a challenge to manage. White, who is now retired from the firm, says he gave her the most interesting work he could find, in part because he wanted to see her advance, but also because she seemed perennially dissatisfied.WAPO

There is a really nice photo gallery covering the past 20 years of their relationship. The comments section to the story are also a hoot.