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WORLD> America
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First ladies speak out, life at the White House
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-03 09:55 Nancy Reagan on Obama: "Nobody's perfect"
"I would have gone, and you know I don't like to travel.... Politically it would have been a good thing for [President Obama] to do. Oh, well, nobody's perfect. He called and thanked me for working on it, but he could have gotten more mileage out of it." But she also had kind words for the Democratic president. Even though she voted for Sen. John McCain in last year's election, Reagan said she "thought Obama ran the best campaign I have ever known -- disciplined, well-organized, very, very good. I was very impressed." With her 88th birthday approaching, she also opened up about dealing with the loss of her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, in 2004. "I miss Ronnie a lot, an awful lot. People say it gets better. No, it does not.... It sounds strange, but ... I see Ronnie. At nighttime, if I wake up, I think Ronnie’s there, and I start to talk to him. It’s not important what I say. But the fact is, I do think he's there. And I see him." Don't mess with Michelle Interesting remarks from another first lady, Michelle Obama, will also soon be hitting shelves, this time in former Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe's book on the Obama campaign, "Renegade: The Making of a President." Politico got an early copy and released some of the juicier tidbits. After losing the Texas and Ohio primaries, campaign manager David Plouffe and then-candidate Obama found themselves in an "uncomfortable" car ride with Mrs. Obama: The future first lady, writes Wolffe, "threatened not to return to the campaign trail until they had come up with a new strategy." Says Plouffe: "I think she was pissed at both of us." The book details another touchy moment in the campaign, just after Obama's now-famous speech on race. The speech was designed in part to put out fires set by the release of controversial sermons from Obama's then-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama then scheduled a meeting with Rev. Wright in Chicago. Obama was trying to dissuade Wright from a "comeback tour" and told his former pastor to expect a "media circus" if he reemerged. Wright, Wolffe writes, wanted to tell his side of the story and felt like he was "the aggrieved party." Reemerge, Rev. Wright famously did when he reignited the controversy with an appearance at the National Press club, leading Obama to distance himself from the fiery pastor. Behind-the-White House-scenes It may be hard to believe amid the 24-hour news rush that there's much more behind-the-scenes White House life we need to see. But Brian Williams and his NBC crew said they shot more than 150 hours of footage: "We were pretty stunned at how much we were able to record and how natural events seemed to be." Some moments that are sure to make their fare share of rounds on the Web are the president getting tangled in first pooch Bo's leash, the presidential pup pawing at the NBC microphone and Rahm Emanuel kicking the camera crew out of his office (Williams said the chief of staff shut no less than eight doors in front of them). See photos of official presidential M&Ms, body man Reggie Love, "Receptionist of the United States" Darienne Page and perfectly straight lines being mowed into the Rose Garden lawn; or check out the official White House photostream on Flickr for more pictures of presidential life in and around Washington, D.C.
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