Michelle Obama brings fresh twist to traditional role

CHICAGO — The story of Michelle Obama's first 100 days actually begins 10 months ago.

Barack Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination and was the presidential front-runner in June, but Americans still had reservations about his wife. Her approval rating hovered around 43 percent, a politically troubling number stemming from questions about her patriotism and relatively low profile before the campaign.

Even the fist bump she gave her husband rankled some, with one television commentator comparing the celebratory knuckle knock with a terrorist gesture.

Then the great image rehabilitation began.

Michelle Obama appeared in an affordable sundress on "The View." She danced on "Ellen" and joined the Jonas Brothers in a skit. Her brother outed her as a "Brady Bunch" fan before she gave a convention speech about her middle-class upbringing in Chicago.

Her new everymom persona slowly supplanted images of the unpatriotic Michelle who once famously said she wasn't proud of her country until her husband's candidacy. She was no longer the woman who wrote a provocative essay on her experiences as a black student at Princeton, but a busy mother who worried about work-life balance and getting the kids to soccer practice on time.

For the past 10 months, Michelle Obama sidestepped controversy and the public rewarded her for it. Her approval ratings have steadily increased, rising to 72 percent in a recent Gallup poll and now surpassing her husband.

Within her first 100 days alone, Michelle Obama's public popularity has jumped 4 percentage points as she embraced the traditional first lady's role and steered clear of political land mines.

Sweaters that she wears now sell out instantly online. London schoolgirls weep in her presence. And magazines like People, Us, Vogue and Essence offer her their cover.

"She's off to a great start," said Noelia Rodriguez, former press secretary for first lady Laura Bush. "She has established an image of someone who is comfortable in her own skin."

The first lady's success, in part, stems from her willingness to follow a more established path as first lady. She maintains an office in the East Wing, instead of the West Wing like Hillary Rodham Clinton did. She has not sat in on Cabinet meetings like Rosalynn Carter or launched a major policy initiative.