I'm not really sure what's so awful about that picture.
The lighting is nice, at least...

I didn't have a problem with it either. I mean, let's face it, she's never going to be a "looker."

Per usual Dan, you've brought up a great point, getting readers to critically think. Don't bother with the article. Hope this post gets lots of comments discussing the image.

@2: I think she's positively gorgeous.

Mmmmmm, hips.......

his point is that she normally looks so much better than that. michelle obama is hit and miss in that she's almost always 'hit', but when she's 'miss', it's not good. this is a mild miss.

The movement and their positions, the lighting, it's irreplaceable and gorgeous. Okay, she looks a little chinny. Well, she is a little chinny.

To look on the bright side, see page 37 of the front section. Best feature use of a full page of newspaper in ages.

I think the pic is fascinating. It's reminiscent of some of those great B&W photos in Look and Life during the JFK/Camelot days.

Which picture? They all looked fine to me.

i kinda like that picture. the one that seemed most unfortunate was the one of the two of them posing with 1 year old malia... the smile doesn't come anywhere near her eyes, and her whole torso is crumpled up like an old lady with osteoporosis. i think she must have been exhausted that day. he looks a little frazzled, too.

Yeah...which picture? I don't see anything wrong with any of them. Which photo is the cover?

I can't stand her perpetually surprised eye brows. They freak me out.

Newsflash, Dan: You're gay!

Despite what advertising execs (gay) and fashion designers (gayer) may have led you to believe, straight guys actually like women who look like, of all things... women!

(And not like 14 year-old boys, thankyouanyway)

Yeah, it's pretty bad. First, the gynormous hips (she looks like she's carrying saddle bags under that dress); Second, the mega-chin, and; Third, the bad hair/bangs. The shot with Barack and Malia makes her look pretty homely too. I'd be pissed.

Article is really interesting though. She definitely wears the pants in that marriage and Barack really seems to love her to pieces. I'm jealous. You go, Michelle!

Renowned photographer Roy DeCarava passed away last week - this photo very clearly seeks to pay him homage - and I think it's an excellent, timely choice. (Not knowing what an array the photo editor had to choose from I think it's shrewd to go with classic...) Look at the outlines drawn as unified but enigmatic cypher - entirely backlit is, well, a difficult shot at best - then note the bystanders, audience, the event and the defining separation between the couple and the location - intimate, familiar - as the entire world watches on. They float in a bubble of light that seems to reveal all but skimps on shadowy detail. This is the sort of photograph that ripens before your eyes, revealing a story that rewards patient observation.

Google him, his work is incredible. If you like that sort of thing.

Dan, I don't get your point. Ms. Obama is a beautiful woman. I'll confess I envy her hips, I wish I had her hour glass figure. I wish that I was a beautiful like her. Cest la vie ...

I seriously don't get Dan's point.

All the pics are MORE than fine.

Does she have to be a supermodel for you to love her, Dan?

People always go on about her hips, but I don't think they're so "ginormous" at all. They're nothing in comparison with some of the hips/backsides I see in my neighborhood, that's for sure. I think she's a striking woman and I really appreciate the fact that they have such a strong marriage, whatever their arrangement may be -- they're doing better than 50% of the population, certainly.

#19, I agree. The photo (and Michelle in the photo) is beautiful.

So the problem is that the photo shows that Michelle has hips? Dan, dude, WTF?

That's just her shape. It's a perfectly lovely and healthy shape. Michelle makes it look glamorous even though it's not cut from the Hollywood mold. And that's not just a bunch of PC bullshit, it's true.

That photo is fucking amazing - a candid glimpse from backstage with amazing composition and lighting.

Usually I get you Dan, but not on this. She's got a beautiful womanly figure, and, thought we know you're critical of people who are overweight.... she's NOT!

She's not an attractive woman to start with (come on, we all know she has the money for invisalign) and she goes out of her way to show off her worst features (my god, put on some cap sleeves and cover those 50-year-old underarms, I beg you!), so you cannot blame the press for not spending valuable time trying to make her look good.