Not a stay-at-home mom, first lady promotes policy: IHT

Quoted via International Herald Tribune:

Michelle Obama speaking Wednesday to employees of the Housing and Urban Affairs Department, part of her tour to get to know Washington. (Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times)In her first weeks in the White House, Obama has been the gracious hostess and loyal spouse, welcoming visitors to the Executive Mansion and accompanying President Barack Obama to a prayer breakfast and to a charter school to read to second-graders. But in a departure from her predecessor, Obama has also begun promoting bills that support her husband's policy priorities.

Last month, Michelle Obama celebrated the enacting of a pay-equity law with a reception for women's advocates at the White House. Last week, she supported the economic stimulus bill on her visit to the housing agency and another to the Department of Education.

Obama plans to visit all the cabinet-level agencies on her tour to listen to and get to know Washington in the coming weeks, her aides say. They said she relished the chance to serve as one of the president's chief surrogates on critical policy matters. more