The Daily Blog

Betty Ford Dies: Former First Lady Dead At Age 93.

LOS ANGELES — Betty Ford, the former first lady whose triumph over drug and alcohol addiction became a beacon of hope for addicts and the inspiration for her Betty Ford Center in California, died at age 93, a family friend said late Friday.

Her death Friday was confirmed to The Associated Press by Marty Allen, chairman emeritus of the Ford Foundation. Family spokeswoman Barbara Lewandrowski said later that the former first lady died at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Other details of her death were not immediately available.

“She was a wonderful wife and mother; a great friend; and a courageous First Lady,” former President George H.W. Bush said in a statement on Friday. “No one confronted life’s struggles with more fortitude or honesty, and as a result, we all learned from the challenges she faced.”

While her husband served as president, Ford’s comments weren’t the kind of genteel, innocuous talk expected from a first lady, and a Republican one no less. Her unscripted comments sparked tempests in the press and dismayed President Gerald Ford’s advisers, who were trying to soothe the national psyche after Watergate. But to the scandal-scarred, Vietnam-wearied, hippie-rattled nation, Mrs. Ford’s openness was refreshing.

And 1970s America loved her for it.

According to Mrs. Ford, her young adult children probably had smoked marijuana – and if she were their age, she’d try it, too. She told “60 Minutes” she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her youngest, 18-year-old Susan, was in a sexual relationship (an embarrassed Susan issued a denial).

She mused that living together before marriage might be wise, thought women should be drafted into the military if men were, and spoke up unapologetically for abortion rights, taking a position contrary to the president’s. “Having babies is a blessing, not a duty,” Mrs. Ford said.

“Mother’s love, candor, devotion, and laughter enriched our lives and the lives of the millions she touched throughout this great nation,” her family said in a statement released late Friday. “To be in her presence was to know the warmth of a truly great lady.”

Candor worked for Betty Ford, again and again. She would build an enduring legacy by opening up the toughest times of her life as public example

Plane With First Lady Came Too Close to Cargo Jet.

WASHINGTON — Air traffic controllers directed a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama to abort a landing at Andrews Air Force Base because it was too close to a military cargo jet, officials said Tuesday, in yet another embarrassment for the Federal Aviation Administration.

While there apparently was little risk to Mrs. Obama, the episode puts the FAA back into the spotlight as officials struggle to calm public jitters about flying that have been raised by nine suspensions of air traffic controllers and supervisors around the country in recent weeks, including five for sleeping on the job.The first disclosed case of a controller falling asleep on duty occurred March 23 at Washington’s Reagan National airport, not far from Andrews. The most recent was this week when a controller at a regional radar facility near Cleveland was suspended for watching a movie on a DVD player when he was supposed to be monitoring air traffic. The head of the U.S. air traffic system resigned last week.This latest incident occurred at about 5 p.m. on Monday when a Boeing 737 belonging to the Air National Guard, one of several guard planes used by the White House, came within about three miles of a massive C-17 as the planes were approaching Andrews to land, according to the FAA and Maj. Michelle Lai, a spokeswoman for Andrews.

The FAA requires a minimum separation of five miles between two planes when the plane in the lead is as large as the 200-ton cargo jet, in order to avoid dangerous wake turbulence that can severely affect the trailing aircraft.

The FAA is investigating the incident as a possible error by controllers at a regional radar facility in Warrenton, Va., that handles approaches and departures for several airports, including Andrews, where the president’s aircraft, Air Force One, is maintained.

The C-17 and Mrs. Obama’s plane didn’t have the proper separation when controllers in Warrenton handed them off to the Andrews controllers, a source familiar with the incident said.

Andrews air traffic controllers initially ordered Mrs. Obama’s plane to conduct a series of turns to bring it farther from the military jet. When that didn’t provide enough distance, controllers realized that there might not be enough time for the cargo plane to clear the Andrews runway before Mrs. Obama’s plane landed.

Controllers then directed the pilot of Mrs. Obama’s plane to execute a “go-around” - to stop descending and start climbing - and circle the airport, located in a Maryland suburb of Washington. A go-around is considered a type of aborted landing.

“The aircraft were never in any danger,” the FAA said in a statement.

Aviation safety expert John Cox agreed that an accident was unlikely.

“Every professional pilot I have ever known has been in a situation where they were overtaking the plane in front of them and asked to do an S-turn,” said Cox, a former airline pilot. “The only issue that could have come up was if they’d encountered the wake of the C-17.”

Even then, Cox said, the 737 is a “very controllable” plane. “I don’t think Mrs. Obama’s plane would have been in any jeopardy.”

Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, also was on the plane with Mrs. Obama. The first lady and Mrs. Biden had been in New York earlier in the day for a joint TV interview.

The first lady’s office declined to comment and referred all questions to officials at the FAA and Andrews. The president’s West Wing press office did likewise.

The National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information about the incident but hasn’t yet decided whether it will open a formal investigation, board spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.

The controllers in Warrenton and at Andrews work for the FAA, and it is their job to keep planes separated. When aircraft get too close, the FAA counts that as an operation error. Over the past several years, errors by controllers have increased substantially.

In the 12 months ending on Sept. 30, 2010, there were 1,889 errors, according to the FAA. That was up from 947 such errors the year before and 1,008 the year before that. Before 2008 the FAA used a different counting method.Very few of the errors fall into the most serious category, which could result in pilots taking evasive action to prevent an accident. But those instances have also increased. In the year ending Sept. 30, there were 44 such events, 37 in the prior year and 28 in the year before that.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has said the higher number of known errors is due to better reporting and technology that can determine more precisely how close planes are in the air.

Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation of Alexandria, Va., said the kind of spacing error that occurred in the handling of Mrs. Obama’s plane happens every day.

“It was more an embarrassment than a danger,” said Voss, a former controller.

The incident was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post on its website.

Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Darlene Superville and AP broadcast reporter Martin Di Caro contributed to this report.

Michelle Obama Gets a New Shopper-in-Chief.

Ikram Goldman, the Chicago boutique owner who has been lauded as personal stylist of first lady Michelle Obama is no longer on the job.

The Washington Post’s Jason Horowitz reports that the role has passed to former Goldman protégée and personal assistant Meredith Koop, 29 .

Obama and Koop first became acquainted when Goldman dispatched Koop in her stead to tend to the first lady’s sartorial needs two years ago. Koop then took on the job as a personal aide to Obama, and now it seems that Koop has dethroned her mentor.

“Ms. Koop’s responsibilities include advising the first lady on her wardrobe and acting on her behalf in arranging for purchases, including considering the best offered price and buying on discount if discounts are available,” Kristina Schake, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama told the Post.

 The White House is a hard nut to crack, so the reporter went straight to the place where a lady, no matter how high her national-security clearance, always gossips. He talked to Koop’s hairdresser, Vera Chamberlin of D.C. salon Immortal Beloved. Chamberlin informed the writer that that Koop seemed very much in charge of Obama’s closet and had recently lamented that she couldn’t go to New York Fashion Week because she was so busy focusing on what is right for the first lady.

According to Chamberlin, Koop understands high fashion and how it applies to the “common woman” and “how to dress for your shape.” She is a down-to-earth workaholic, who currently sports a style Chamberlin called “New York edge but also Midwestern comfort.”

We had an inkling that Goldman was on her way out last week when we heard her speak in the American Express Sky Box at New York Fashion Week. Goldman shot down any and all questions about her famous client, no matter how minuscule and turned down several requests from this reporter.

Lots of luck to Ms. Koop. With the world watching what Obama wears next, she will most certainly need it.

Rush Limbaugh Calls Michelle Obama ‘Hypocrite’ for Eating Ribs.

Now talk show host Rush Limbaugh is watching Michelle Obama’s weight for her — not that the first lady asked. He says she’s a hypocrite for eating ribs and should stick to nuts and berries as part of her healthy eating initiative.

Mrs. Obama, on a skiing trip to Colorado this past weekend with daughters Sasha and Malia, enjoyed a meal of ancho chili short ribs, pickled pumpkin salad and kale, the Vail Daily reported.

That was way too much for Limbaugh, who, like fellow conservatives Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, is on Mrs. Obama’s case for her healthy kids/anti-obesity campaign, which some right-wingers see as a sign of a nanny state.

“The problem is, and I dare say this, it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice,” Limbaugh said Monday on his syndicated radio program. “And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving and 141 grams of fat per serving.”Limbaugh was just getting warmed up. “She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to lead,” he said. “If we are supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we are supposed to eat roots, berries and tree bark, show us how.”

The first lady has won widespread praise for her “Let’s Move” campaign to curb obesity by encouraging healthy eating among kids. But she has also taken heat from some who think government has no business telling Americans what and how to eat.

“I’m trying to say our first lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or of a woman [Yankees star] Alex Rodriguez might date every six months, or what have you,” Limbaugh concluded.

No word on what Obama thinks about Limbaugh’s broadsides or waistline. But from all indications she is happily married and not in the dating market. And she’s also thought be a Chicago White Sox fan, so Rodriquez probably wouldn’t make her list anyway.

Michelle Obama Heads Back to Oprah, Staying in Public Spotlight.

First Lady Michelle Obama headed to Chicago on Thursday for a taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Obama’s interview is said to be focused on ways that the nation can support families who have a member in the United States military.

The show will air next week and comes at a time when Mrs. Obama has been very much in the public eye. On Wednesday, the first lady announced that she was forming a partnership with Wal-Mart to help combat childhood obesity. Executives from the retail giant said they would put pressure on their suppliers to lower sodium and sugar content in foods sold at the store.

On Tuesday, Obama grabbed the nation’s attention not for what she said, but for what she wore. At the state dinner honoring Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama’s red Alexander McQueen dress became a much discussed topic.

Of course, Obama has often been the recipient of publicity from Winfrey, having palled around together on the campaign trail, appeared on her show and graced the cover of “O” magazine.

Michelle Obama Taps Tina Tchen as New Chief of Staff.

First Lady Michelle Obama is naming Tina Tchen her new chief of staff, picking a Chicago attorney already in the White House to replace Susan Sher.Mrs. Obama said in a statement provided to Politics Daily, “I am thrilled to welcome Tina to my team.”Tchen and Sher will work together this month during a transition that will include a state dinner on Jan. 19 for Chinese President Hu Jintao. Sher, whose departure was announced last year, had long planned to move back to Chicago, where her husband, a Cook County Circuit Court judge, had remained.Tchen will oversee Mrs. Obama’s main agenda items, including marking the completion next month of the first year of her “Let’s Move!” anti-childhood-obesity drive.”What the East Wing does is very much shaped by her interests and passions as have been seen for the last two years, so I see most of myself as continuing to serve her and the administration and carrying that vision out,” Tchen said in an interview Wednesday morning.In appointing Tchen, Mrs. Obama did not stray far from a familiar circle. Tchen works for White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett as the director of the Office of Public Engagement and as executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. Tchen will continue to run the council.Tchen, Sher, Jarrett and Mrs. Obama all come out of an interlocking Chicago circle whose relationships go back years. Tchen said, “When you do Democratic politics, progressive politics in Chicago, it is not that big a community and you all get to know each other.” She met Mrs. Obama sometime “in the early ’80s, as we were doing that kind of work, political progressive grassroots work.” Tchen was also a major fund-raiser for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, ranked as a “superbundler” who raised more than $200,000.

Jarrett said in an interview on Wednesday Tchen brings more than a comfort factor to the post. She comes with “trust, confidence, knowing that Tina shares our philosophy about public service and why we are here and her enthusiasm and passion for the issues which Mrs. Obama cares deeply about and she will be a terrific bridge between the East and the West Wing.”

Tchen becomes Mrs. Obama’s third chief of staff and her appointment comes as part of a midterm personnel shuffle at the White House. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Wednesday he is stepping down. And another Chicagoan, former Commerce Secretary William Daley, is in the running to be the new Obama White House chief of staff, as is interim chief of staff Peter Rouse.In her statement about Tchen, Mrs. Obama further said, “I have admired her work with the White House Council on Women and Girls and her leadership with the Office of Public Engagement. Tina’s tenure at the White House has focused on ensuring that communities across the country have a voice and a presence at the White House, and her office has worked closely with mine to develop many of our outreach efforts, so she was the natural choice for this role. We particularly share a commitment to nurturing young women and utilizing the White House as a platform for education and inclusion, and I look forward to continuing that work together.”As sad as I am to see Susan go, I always knew she would return to her family and her community in Chicago. She arrived here in January of 2009 intending only to stay for a year and her extended tenure as my Chief of Staff has been a gift. She has led my team with an even hand and a clear vision and I am so grateful to her and her family for her time here in Washington.”When selecting a replacement, I looked for someone who had the right experience to lead my team and am grateful to bring on Tina, whom I’ve known and respected for 20 years. Tina’s success leading the Office of Public Engagement, reaching out to people across the country and encouraging Americans from all walks of life to feel connected to this White House, makes her uniquely qualified to step up to this position. I look forward to working with her in the years ahead to develop effective strategies for the Let’s Move! campaign, to broaden our work on behalf of military families, to continue the arts and cultural events in the White House, and to advance our international agenda.”

Tchen, 54, is a Chinese-American and mother of two children: Emma, 14, a student at a private school in Washington and Patrick, a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe/Harvard and her law degree from Northwestern University. Before moving to Washington, Tchen was a partner at the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom for 23 years.