Obama the nerd who won Michelle

Updated on: 28 January,2009 08:25 AM IST |
The Daily Telegraph |

SHE had already heard about the "cute" guy coming to work under her

First lovers: The love between Barack and Michelle Obama was there for the world to see at the inauguration balls. They looked like new lovers

It didn't look like improving when he turned up for his internship with a rusty car and three cheap suits. So, Michelle Robinson kept her interest cool

But Obama later wrote in his book, The Audacity Of Hope, "I noticed that she didn't seem in too much of a hurry to get back to the office."

The first kiss

Their second meeting was at a company picnic, where they shared ice cream.

"I asked if I could kiss her," said Obama. "It tasted of chocolate." Could it have started any sweeter?

Amid the hope that drove Obama's campaign, was America's romantic wish for a return to Camelot.

When the Obamas hit the dance floors at the balls that followed his inauguration, the illusion breathed new life.

"I have the special honour of being the guy who accompanied Michelle Obama to the ball," Obama said at one ball. Camelot was alive.

After the kiss

Michelle was smart and feisty, used to speaking her mind. Yet it enchanted Obama, who is her natural opposite. They married in 1992 after courting for three years.

By 1996 Obama had left his teaching job to go into politics and Michelle's life as a political decoration had begun, which her fierce intellect struggled with early on.

But there is no suggestion she will simply fall into wifely domesticity. She is expected to be a solid behind-the-scenes worker and given their relationship, it is hard to imagine Obama would want it any other way.

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