WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama is a behind-the-scenes force in the White House whose opinions on policy and politics drew her into conflict with presidential advisers and who bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life as the president’s wife, according to a detailed account of the first couple’s relationship.
New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, in a book to be published Tuesday, portrays a White House where tensions developed between Michelle Obama and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.
The Times adaptation of the book portrays Michelle Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, but all the while an “unrecognized force” in pursuing the president’s goals.
