Barack Obama tells Us Weekly in its new issue, on newsstands now, that his wife Michelle is an "extraordinary mother" to their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 7.
"Nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother," the Democratic presidential nominee tells Us. "She works every day to instill in our girls the same values we were raised with."
Michelle's strong sense of family stems from her upbringing: She and her older brother slept in the living room of their hard-working parents' one-bedroom apartment in Chicago's South Side; her father was a city pump operator and her mother was a homemaker.
She went on to excel at Princeton and Harvard Law, and friends detail in the current issue of Us her struggle to balance work and family. "She's a very genuine person, just like you and me," longtime friend Valerie Jarrett says, who adds, "She's not in the least bit interested in being a co-president. Her first priority as first lady would be that the girls are OK
