Joe Vesey-Byrne
Dec 20, 2016
left: Joe Raedle/Getty Images, right: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
America's real First Lady, Oprah, has interviewed the woman who technically holds the office, Michelle Obama.
And Flotus has some important advice for the next first family of the United States.
In a clip from an interview that will air on CBS on Monday, Obama offered some advice to her successor in the White House.
The role of First Lady is one that is informally defined. While it's not an office listed in the constitution, the First Lady will often have a staff, and exert great influence in the White House.
The first written usage of the title in the media to refer to the wife of the President was in 1877.
Dolley Madison introduced ice cream to the White House in 1813, Edith Wilson essentially ran America after Woodrow Wilson suffered from a stroke in 1919, and Hillary Clinton went on to run for political office.
In the way many couples support and advise one another, the First Lady is probably the first one to see the president in the morning, and the last person before they go to bed. Talk about access.
Given the mercurial nature of the role, the current Flotus (and for some hopefuls the 46th Potus) had some advice for Melania.
My offer to Melania was, you really don’t know what you don’t know until you’re here, so the door is open, as I’ve told her and as Laura Bush told me and other first ladies told me. I'm not new in this going high thing. I am modeling what was done for me by the Bushes. And Laura Bush was nothing but gracious and helpful. Her team was right there for my team throughout this entire eight-year process. We will do whatever they need to help them succeed.
You know, you don't have any questions the day after the election...my door is always open.
Melania has announced that she plans to remain in New York when president-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House on 20 January 2017.
This is in order for her youngest son to finish school in New York. Similarly, in 2008 Michelle Obama considered remaining in Chicago while Malia and Sasha Obama finished school.
Melania and Michelle met in early November, on the same day that their respective spouses met in the Oval Office.
Picture:
Before you think Obama's fire has gone out, and she's all magnanimous now, she also told Oprah that:
We're feeling what not having hope feels like.
So despite the electoral college vote the current occupants of the White House are still not yet on the train to Trump town.
HT Mashable
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