Barack and Michelle

"She is my rock-the one person who keeps it real." -Barack"I don't want anybody to think that it's easy. . . . We have a strong marriage, but it's not perfect." -MichelleThey exploded onto the world scene and within a matter of a few short years captured the ultimate political prize. In so doing, they became a First Couple like no other: He-the biracial son of a free-spirited Kansas-born woman and a mercurial Kenyan father who abandoned him at an early age-was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia, educated at Columbia and Harvard, and launched his political career in America's heartland. She, by contrast, was the product of a solidly middle-American family with roots planted firmly in Chicago's working-class South Side-paving the way for her to achieve her dreams of an Ivy League education and a position at one of the nation's top law firms.By the time they claimed the White House in one of the most hotly contested presidential races in modern history, Barack and Michelle Obama were seen by millions around the world as the new Jack and Jackie Kennedy-brilliant, attractive, elegant, youthful, exciting. Accompanied by their two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, the Obamas would arrive at 1