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WASHINGTON — First Lady Michelle Obama is staging picture-perfect photo ops on her tour of China — but back home, her East Wing office is fraught with tension and anxiety, according to a new insider account. Her office “can be a confining, frustrating, even miserable place to work,” writes former White House press assistant Reid Cherlin in an article in The New Republic. “Jealousy and discontentment have festered, as courtiers squabble over the allocation of responsibility and access to Mrs. Obama, both of which can be aggravatingly scarce,” he continues. Michelle Obama has a strong approval rating (69 percent in...

Chinese rights activists were detained and beaten by government thugs as Michelle Obama, her daughters and mother landed in Chengdu Tuesday to see pandas. According to Radio Free Asia, authorities were afraid the activists would try to meet with Mrs. Obama. From the report: Sichuan-based rights group Tianwang said policemen and plainclothes officers beat up a group of land protesters on the streets of the provincial capital Chengdu, before dragging them to a police station. The petitioners are villagers who lost their homes or farmland in land grabs and forced demolitions by the government and local property developers, according to...

The China charm offensive continues.

First lady Michelle Obama's Spring Break trip to China with her daughters and mom has received some glowing news reports, but not because her press corps has had an easy time covering the event-filled trip. Reporters say that they have been blocked from events, screamed at by officials, held back with red tape and told not to move from prepositioned lookouts, possibly to avoid taking embarrassing photos. On Monday, the New York Times filed a pool report about the first lady’s tour of Xi’an, a city dating to the 14th century. “Event below marred for press by obnoxious Chinese advance...

A pool reporter at the Great Wall of China for Michelle Obama’s visit there Sunday said “Chinese authorities made sure, for a day, that Mutianyu [a section of the Great Wall] was visibly free of Obama-Mao t-shirts.”

Stanford Report, March 22, 2014 Michelle Obama underscores the importance of global education and beams into Stanford from Beijing Speaking at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing on Saturday, Michelle Obama said study abroad allows students to realize that countries all have a stake in each other's success. Following her remarks, she held a conversation with students on the Stanford campus via a high-tech videoconference. Michelle Obama promoted study abroad programs during a speech at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing on Saturday, then encouraged Stanford and local high school students sitting in Palo Alto to...

First daughter Sasha Obama cut a stylish figure in jeans and shades as the Obama girls visited the Great Wall of China today. Michelle Obama, Malia, 15, and Sasha, 12, were left alone to explore the Mutianyu section of the historical landmark in the northern Beijing suburbs though Chinese police officers looked on protectively. The three walked a stretch of the wall that looks out to a massive rock inscription on a hillside that reads in Chinese: ´Loyal to Chairman Mao.´ The country has been fascinated by Mrs Obama´s ´elegance´ during the weeklong visit to the country to promote educational...

First Lady Michelle Obama is wrapping up her tour of China today and even though the American press was shut out from her trip, the First Lady has received glowing coverage of her taxpayer-funded visit. Despite the already over-the-top praise, NBC’s “Today” had a unique take on the trip. Appearing on Sunday, March 23, CNBC’s Eunice Yoon commented that both Mrs. Obama and the wife of the communist president of China were a “hip fashion icon from a small town who happens to be married to a very powerful man who’s running a country.” The segment itself was fairly brief,...

The White House banned journalists from accompanying Michelle Obama on her trip to China and explained that it was because the purpose of her trip is not political. Some news outlets even repeated the White House’s assertion of the non-political nature of the visit without mentioning that the press was not allowed to accompany them. But in a speech that sounded at times to be extremely political, she also said the following: “And that’s why it’s so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the internet and through the media; because that’s how we discover the truth.” So...

Did you catch Big Guy’s speech at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida last week? President Obama made it personal in Florida on Thursday, as he spoke about his efforts to make sure the U.S. economy "rewards the hard work of women." Consider it done:”US First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Malia and Sasha visit the Summer Palace in Beijing’ Obama also spoke about his wife's difficulty in balancing work and family:“When Michelle and I had our girls, you know, we gave everything we had to try to balance raising a family and chasing careers, but I’ll be honest with...

Amid a growing crackdown on Chinese dissidents, the US First Lady tells an audience in Beijing that the "questioning and criticism" of political leaders is crucialFreedom of information, expression and belief should be considered "universal rights", Michelle Obama, the US first lady, told students in China on Saturday. Speaking at Peking University on the second full day of a weeklong, bridge-building family tour of the country, Mrs Obama said: "It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the internet and through the media." "When it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshipping as you choose, and...

Jet-setting first lady Michelle Obama has placed a great wall around her junket to China, denying press access while she racks up an $8,350-a-night bill at a swanky high-rise hotel — a move that is already drawing barbs back home. Her entourage — which includes her daughters and mother — are reportedly enjoying 24-hour butler service, a private steamroom and in-room dining at the Beijing Westin. “For the most part, Americans get that the president and first lady usually stay in well-appointed accommodations when they travel abroad, but the problem with doing it — especially now — is there are...

FULL TITLE: Beijing hotel workers already 'fed up' with Obama entourage in 3400-square-foot, $8,350-per-night suite inconveniencing 'pretty much everyone' – and the first lady's mother is 'barking at the staff' Michelle Obama and three of her family members are staying in a $8,350-per-night Beijing presidential suite, but despite a 24-hour butler and other perks that come with the lodging, her entourage has inconvenienced 'pretty much everyone' and made the hotel staff 'fed up,' a well-placed hotel staffer has told MailOnline. The sumptuous pad at the Westin Beijing Chaoyang hotel – its website calls the room 'an oasis of comfort –...

It was the eagerly awaited meeting of the world’s two most important first ladies. But there was a clear winner when Michelle Obama met her counterpart Peng Liyuan for the first time in Beijing. As photographs and television footage began to emerge of Mrs Peng and Mrs Obama touring the Chinese capital, the country’s online forums were quick to claim victory in the “battle of the First Ladies”. “Our First Lady is so graceful and elegant, leaving Michelle far behind,” said one critic. “We have won this time,” remarked another. “Ours is more refined and eye-catching,” said a third.

For those of you who’ve been missing the fashion updates of the recently shuttered Mrs. O site, good news! I think she’s taken her keen eye for fashion over to Huffpo. At least this sounds like her: Velvet and patchwork and shine -- oh, my. Michelle Obama, along with daughters Sasha and Malia and mother Marian Robinson, arrived in China Thursday, but you'd never know by looking at them that they just took a 14 hour flight. The ladies of the first family not only look fresh-faced, but extremely fashionable as well in their travel outfits. FLOTUS stunned in a...

The professional press corps has been frozen out of Michelle Obama's swing through China. But the White House has partnered with CNN to bring in amateurs. Katie Hawkins-Gaar, a CNN editor, coordinated the effort to solicit and accumulate submissions from "iReporters" interested in asking questions about the "importance of students learning from one another's cultures," Mrs. Obama's stated emphasis for this trip. The White House's webpage dedicated to the first lady's trip describes the "assignment" as follows: CNN iReport Assignment: iReporters in the U.S. and around the world have submitted questions for the First Lady about study abroad. Stay tuned to watch Mrs. Obama answer...

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Evidently the White House realizes that Michelle Obama’s expensive and luxurious family junket to China, accompanied by her mother and daughters, looks like a colossal waste of taxpayer money. That’s the logical explanation for unusual restrictions on media access. No reporters are accompanying her. Even the Obama sycophants at the New York Times are noticing:  "Mrs. Obama is drawing scrutiny for her decision to travel with her mother and her two daughters, who are on spring break, bringing to mind a vacation she took to Spain in 2010 with her daughter Sasha and some friends. She and her entourage paid...

First Lady Michelle Obama will be accompanied by her children and her mother on her trip to China, which begins today. But she won't be accompanied by the press. "Michelle Obama’s trip to China starting on Wednesday will be nonpolitical, the White House says, a 'people-to-people exchange' emphasizing the importance that both nations place on education. As if to underscore the point, no reporters are traveling with the first lady, and she does not plan to give interviews while there," reports the New York Times. The White House is defending the first lady bringing her family along for the ride...

White House executive pastry chef Bill Yosses is resigning after First Lady Michelle Obama fundamentally changed his job duties to focus on healthier food. Yosses is leaving the White House in June to work on a new project focusing on “food literacy” and The New York Times says Michelle is “partly to blame.” The openly gay chef was hired by Laura Bush in 2007 to make his trademark cookie plates and sugar sculptures. Mrs. Obama took over in 2009 and ordered Yosses to make healthier plates in smaller portions. Yosses began replacing butter with fruit puree and sugar with honey...