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"As Michelle Obama realized over the summer and fall of 2008 that she was likely to become first lady, she asked a question that probably would have surprised outsiders: could she and her children delay moving to the White House? Perhaps it was better, she told aides and friends, to remain in Chicago until the end of the school year, giving her children more time to adjust, rather than coming right at the inauguration. Her notion, though short-lived, was telling: she didn’t understand or care what sort of message it would send to a public enthralled by the new first family, and she had trepidations about life in the spotlight, let alone the prospect of residing in a monument-museum-office-military compound-terrorist target-home."

I don't care for the Obama's, especially Michelle who appears to be a cold hearted and vindictive person to me. But, I side with her on this one. If she had wished to maintain her career (which would mean she actually did something in her $300K a year hospital job) and keep her children in school where they had ties and friendships, so be it.

The "first family" aspect of the President job is almost becoming similar to the royals. If he wanted to just go to work like other elected officials do, I'd be good with it.

I respectfully disagree. If the President’s family doesn’t care enough about this country to make a transition to live in the White House, then none of the family should be there. A family is a unit and if they don’t care it sends an extremely bad signal to we the people. The royalty first family aspect business IS wrong, however the answer is to not treat them as royalty, not give them a pass for not moving in.

Here in New York State the Governor stopped living in the Governor’s mansion in Albany starting with lovely RINO Pataki and now the mansion sits empty and the symbolism is real - the lack of caring enough about the state. Because if these families were flexible and intelligent they could get a positive attitude and enjoy the experience!!!

I suspect that underneath these poor decisions are whiney kids complaining and running the show behind the scenes - typical of the dysfunction of the modern family. “I doon’t waant to leave my friends, etc. No leadership by the parents here and empty first houses that should be symbols of pride of office.

(Sorry to go on and on)

If she had wished to maintain her career (which would mean she actually did something in her $300K a year hospital job) and keep her children in school where they had ties and friendships, so be it.

The "first family" aspect of the President job is almost becoming similar to the royals. If he wanted to just go to work like other elected officials do, I'd be good with it.

I'd agree, but security concerns probably made that impossible. The President's family becomes the focus of many threats, so it's probably best to have them in a secure area. We aren't a country like Holland or Finland where political officials and their families probably could live ordinary lives, and even Sweden, a country without all the global pressures and significance of the United States, has seen two prime ministers assassinated in recent decades.