England for Obama

Who knew? Not I. Barbara Walters did, though:

*Insert Eddie Izzard’s “little small yappy dog” routine here*

You can watch the full Barbara Walters ABC News interview (sans laughter track) in parts on YouTube, starting with part one here.

Relationship experts Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks have made another interesting observation about Barack and Michelle Obama over on HuffPo.

Using the recent 60 Minutes interview as an example, they draw attention to the fact that Barack actually looks at Michelle when she’s talking. No, really! Apparently, this is a complete rarity among First Couples:

“With Michelle and Barack’s relationship, their level of ease, affection and respect carries a deep sense of authenticity about it. After nearly 40 years of counseling couples, individuals, business executives and others, we’ve seen just about every form of concealment, subterfuge, defensiveness and guile there is to see. If you’ve been watching presidential couples for a few decades, you’ve also seen just about every form of concealment, subterfuge, defensiveness and guile there is to see. Maybe now we’re embarking on something new and long overdue: a role model of a healthy relationship in the White House.”

And amen to that. Here’s a clip from the interview if you want to see all that, y’know, looking:

Watch CBS Videos Online

And here were some of the most interesting observations on the HuffPo comments board:

“I think the solid relationship between them contributes a great deal to the President-elect’s famous calm and even temperament. It’s a lot easier to forgive insults and move on (Lieberman & and all the rest) when your life is filled with strong, authentic love. It keeps everything else in perspective. It lets you approach everything from a position of strength and confidence. I have often thought in the past about how personally lonely and bereft some politicians seemed to be (Nixon comes to mind, as does HRC) and wondered how much that affected their public personalities.” - myjazzyhands

“There is no doubt that the two share a special chemistry and relationship that will do wonders for americans. We have had years of polarization, anger and resentments towards each other as a people. And it’s considered cool to put down your spouse and show disrespect to them… The people of this country are tired of being afraid, depressed and angry. And the fact that the Obamas respect and love each other and are not afraid to show it to the world is another layer of the tone and thinking and mood changing.” - lafrance

“One thing that makes me feel hopeful for women’s rights is that Obama sees his wife as his peer, as another human being. I don’t think he would ever deny that she is capable of making her own choices about her body and her life. To many men, their wives are all women, and all women can generally expect to be treated the way a man treats his wife and daughters. If this holds true, the women of America are in for one of the best four year spans in their history.” - Anpan

“Barack won over lots of hearts because he is a good listener and is actually interested in what people have to say. It begins at home and is a great quality for a parent to have as well as a husband.” - roshni

“One thing I noticed this fall - Barack Obama consistently looked supporters in the eye as he shook their hands during the campaign. People would post about it as well, so I know it was not my imagination! Contrast that to film clips of Palin working the rope, and you’ll see that she had this kind of frantic look about her - no looking at people’s eyes, simply looking for those open doors that she could plow through…” - sonomarc

“The famous “terrorist fist jab” pic said it all to me. The instant I saw it, I thought “that’s how I want a woman to look at me.” Well, actually the thought that ran through my head was “that dude’s SO getting laid tonight,” but it amounts to the same thing. That’s not a look at, that’s a look right through. Lucky man.” - ElBruce

“Oh God I want to be in this family. I’m 32 years old and I’ve never wished my family life was different; one learns to accept what one has. But the more I see this family, the more it hurts. I wish I was Malia or Sasha. I can’t believe I envy a 6-year-old. Deeply. — just another black girl from a broken home.” - karinova

“I am a white guy from the Bronx and I feel the same as you. Maybe they will adopt us?” - Ed Shapiro

Time magazine has compiled an online gallery of its best Barack Obama photographs. Which is great, as long as you have the patience to work through the supreeeemely irritating ad that appears between every picture. No mind: here are my favourites:

All of the photos above - bar the one of Michelle and Barack backstage at the Bruce Springsteen/Billy Joel concert - were taken by Callie Shell. As was this one, which I just love, but which didn’t make it into Time’s gallery:

You can see more of Shell’s brilliant photographs from the campaign trail here (note: keep clicking ‘Show more images’). In fact, it’s better than the Time gallery because the pictures are larger, and include fascinating insights from Shell. There are also no supreeemely irritating ads.

Some highlights from the thousands (probably) of photographs at Barack Obama’s Flickr page:

(With Michelle’s mother, watching the results come in)

Thought you liked these two people before? Watch this:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Note 1: Don’t worry if you’re thinking, “I’d love to watch it, but I don’t have an hour”. The interview only takes up 40 minutes of the aforementioned 60.

Note 2: If you’re not distracted by the clock, the theme, erm, noise to 60 Minutes sounds spookily as if it’s about to burst into Zoo Station by U2.

Note 3: It’s a nice touch that the advert playing in the breaks is one helping people to stop smoking. What with that being Barack’s promise to Michelle, should he run for office.

Note 4: Isn’t it nice to see a First Couple who are bright, articulate, thoughtful, measured, compassionate, warm and grounded?

And I’m not going to list this as a ‘Note’, because it’s far too serious: but Barack’s re-commitment to closing Guantamo and ending torture was, for me, the most important thing he said in this interview, and was an utter relief to hear.

Thought that Zoe Bartlet’s codename ‘Bookbag’ was cute in The West Wing?  Well, that ain’t got nothing on seven-year-old Sasha Obama’s.

Yes, the secret service codenames for the Obama family have been revealed, and they are… <Drumroll>…

Barack Obama - Renegade

Michelle Obama - Renaissance

Malia Obama - Radiance

Sasha Obama - Rosebud

It’s alright. It’s OK to go “Aww!”.

Oh, and while we’re at it:

Joe Biden - Celtic

Jill Biden - Capri

The secret service have actually been giving the Obamas protection, and therefore using these names, for some time now - since during the primaries - and of course, secret service codenames aren’t secret in themselves. It’s secret service, see. As opposed to secret (service) codenames.

The codenames are chosen by the White House Communications Agency and used so that secret service staff can know who they’re talking about quickly, easily and without ambiguity. A quick look at Wikipedia reveals the names of White House inhabitants past and (just about) present - and yes, alliteration has always been the (code)name of the game. Here are some examples:

John F. Kennedy - Lancer

Jackie Kennedy - Lace

Caroline Kennedy - Lyric

Richard Nixon - Searchlight

Pat Nixon - Starlight

Ronald Reagan - Rawhide

Nancy Reagan - Rainbow

Bill Clinton - Eagle (clearly Bill Clinton was winning the ‘Coolest Secret Service Codename’ game until Barack Obama came along. Doh!)

Hillary Clinton - Evergreen

Chelsea Clinton - Energy

Al Gore - Sawhorse or Sundance

Karenna Gore - Smurfette (can’t work out if this is the best or worst codename)

George W Bush - Tumbler (was this because of his previous drinking habit? A little facetious, no?)

Laura Bush - Tempo

Jenna Bush - Twinkle

So there you have it. Coming soon: your family’s Random Secret Service Codename Generator. Why not pick a letter and play along at home?!

OK, OK, so it was only a matter of time before I used that headline. There. ‘Tis done.

Here’s today’s ‘pinch me’ footage: live coverage of Barack and Michelle Obama being invited into the White House by George and Laura Bush:

(Sadly not shown: Obama sitting down in the chair in the Oval Office, putting his feet on the desk and chucking some balled-up paper into the bin. Or rooting around in the drawers, National Treasure-style.)

Barack and Michelle cast their votes this morning, taking daughters Malia and Sasha with them to the polling station. Great stuff:

(Photos of the Obamas, Bidens and Clintons casting their votes here.)

And I don’t mean that rudely. Although, y’know…

Sarah Palin’s $150,000 a month on clothes (and accessories - don’t forget Piper’s Louis Vuitton handbag, now!), with the Obamas’ fashion habits, discussed below in July:

Hmm, now, remind me: who’s the regular mom? Who’s the elitist? And which team is it that understands ordinary Americans?