Interesting article in The Politico today …
In tackling the problem of childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama is doing something that her husband rarely does — talking about an issue bluntly in terms of race and helping urban America.
She is, some say, filling a role that Barack Obama seems less inclined to fill, serving as a kind of bridge from the White House to black America in much the same way that she functioned during the campaign, observers said.
and
… in Michelle Obama, many observers see an unexpected ally — an urban first lady.
“So far, she seems to be very adept at highlighting problems particularly entrenched in cities and particularly identified with cities without raising alarms about an administration fearful of urban decline or overly deferential to a certain population,” said Harry Moroz of the Drum Major Institute, a nonpartisan think tank focused on big-city issues. “The first lady can’t make up for what the White House Office of Urban Affairs is not doing. The more the first lady talks about model local policies, the more cities will be seen as problem solvers, instead of problems.”