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Marian Robinson, a homemaker from the South Side of Chicago who became the first presidential in-law in generations to live in the White House after her daughter, Michelle Obama, became first lady of the United States, died May 31 in Chicago. She was 86.

The family announced the death in a statement but did not provide a cause.

Mrs. Robinson, who often was called Mrs. R or the First Grandma, was the daughter of a painter and a stay-at-home mother and became a stay-at-home mother herself at a time when few African American women could afford not to work.

In a small but comfortable home, she raised her daughter, who pursued a career as a lawyer and health-care executive before becoming first lady, and her son, Craig Robinson, who grew up to become a college basketball coach. In later years, Mrs. Robinson also worked as a bank secretary.

Mrs. Robinsons husband, Fraser, was a pump worker at the City of Chicago water plant who suffered from multiple sclerosis and died in 1991. He had been a Democratic Party precinct captain, but his wife had little interest in national politics until her son-in-law, Barack Obama, ran for the White House in 2008.

On election night, Obama described his mother-in-law as having been uncharacteristically emotional as she witnessed his historic election as the first Black president of the United States.

She was sitting next to me, actually, as we were watching returns. And shes like my grandmother was, sort of a no-fuss type of person. And suddenly, she just kind of reached out and she started holding my hand, you know, kind of squeezing it, he said in an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes shortly after Barack Obamas victory over the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), in November 2008.

And you had this sense of, Well, whats she thinking? For a Black woman who grew up in the 50s, in a segregated Chicago, to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States I think there was that sense across the country. And not unique to African Americans.

Mrs. Robinsons children often described her as a woman who spoke her mind and cherished her privacy. She sought to maintain those traits after agreeing to move with her daughters family into the White House.

Theyre dragging me with them, and Im not that comfortable, she told an interviewer when she left home, but Im doing exactly what you do. You do what has to be done.

The decision drew widespread attention. Mrs. Robinson was the first presidential mother-in-law to live in the White House since Elvira Minnie Doud, Mamie Eisenhowers mother.

Mrs. Robinsons role was helping granddaughters Malia and Sasha Obama adjust to life in the Washington bubble and maintain normalcy.

She rode to school with the girls in Secret Service SUVs and tucked them in at night when their parents schedules kept them from home.

One of my biggest blessings is getting to see my granddaughters grow up before my eyes. My job here is the easiest one of all: I just get to be Grandma, Mrs. Robinson wrote in a 2012 essay published in Essence magazine.

During the time that she lived in the White House, Mrs. Robinson rarely gave interviews and appeared publicly with the Obamas only on holidays and at some cultural events, often when her granddaughters were present.

If somebodys going to be with these kids other than their parents, she once said, it better be me.

Marian Lois Shields, one of seven siblings, was born in Chicago on July 30, 1937. After all their children were born, her parents separated.

Marian attended two years at a teachers college but did not complete the program for financial reasons, her son wrote in a memoir. In her early 20s, she married Fraser Robinson and stressed the importance of education to her children, both of whom graduated from Ivy League schools.

She taught us that you can be open and honest about your own shortcomings and it doesnt necessarily mean your kids are going to adopt them, Michelle Obama once said.

The Robinson family was skeptical when Michelle brought Barack Obama home to introduce him; they had met at the Chicago law office of Sidley Austin and began dating in 1989.

Michelle had been career-focused and showed little interest in settling down. But after their marriage in 1992, the large Chicago-based family brought him into its fold. Barack had few relatives nearby, and the Robinsons threw his birthday parties and became the family with whom he celebrated holidays.

Barack Obama said Mrs. Robinson was an unsung hero in his political trajectory. Had she not quit her job to help care for her granddaughters, Michelle Obama might not have felt comfortable taking on the travel required to support her husbands presidential campaign.

Mrs. Robinson continued to live in the Chicago walk-up that she and Fraser had shared until moving to the White House. There, she lived on the third floor one level up from where Michelles family lived.

Mrs. Robinson described herself as being like most grandmothers. She teased her daughter about her strict rules for Malia and Sasha, including limited television-watching and early bed times.

Ive heard [Michelle] say, Mom, what are you rolling your eyes at? You made us do the same thing, Mrs. Robinson once told the Boston Globe. I dont remember being that bad. It seems like shes just going overboard.

Mrs. Robinson described her approach to grandmothering as: I do everything that grandmothers do that theyre not supposed to.

I have candy, they stay up late they watch TV as long as they want to, well play games until the wee hours, she said.

In addition to her daughter and son, survivors include six grandchildren.

Along with her deep involvement with her family, Mrs. Robinson maintained varied interests. She was in her 50s when she took up running and won gold in the 50-meter and 100-meter races at the 1997 Illinois Senior Olympics. She stopped running after an injury.

If I cant do it fast, Im not doing it, she told Oprah Winfreys magazine in 2007. You dont run just to be running you run to win.

She had not traveled abroad before her son-in-law was elected president and seemed to like tagging along on the first familys official overseas visits. When asked once whether she was enjoying her life in Washington, Mrs. Robinson told Essence, I really am. You want to know why? Because my children are good parents. It makes it very easy to be a grandmother when your children are good parents.

Mrs. Robinson built a busy social calendar that included trips to casinos in Las Vegas and concerts in Washington. At the same time, her low profile gave her a level of anonymity that allowed her to travel without a security detail. If someone recognized her as the mother-in-law of the president, she would often say, I get that a lot.

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Marian Robinson, mother of first lady Michelle Obama, dies at 86 - The Washington Post

Donald Trump knows that no one ever went broke underestimating the attention span of the American public. Thats why, almost immediately upon attaining the Oval Office, his revisionist history went into overdrive. He declared hed inherited an economic disaster from President Barack Obama. Then, just eighteen months later, he was claiming hed accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportions. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump continued to regularly tweet that hed cleaned up President Obamas economic mess.

As with just about all of Trumps pronouncements, these were lies. But Trump and his advisers clearly believe that If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it. So even as the Dow Jones average approached its all-time high in 2024 under President Joe Biden, Trump continued to claim credit, asserting thatthree years after hed left officethis was still the Trump stock market. As he runs for election again, both Trump and his surrogates now routinely parrot the claim that he created the greatest economy in history.

But the hard data belie Trumps claims. The reality is that Obama inherited from George W. Bush an economic collapse that rivaled the Great Depression, and then proceeded (with the help of Congress and the Federal Reserve) to rectify it, setting the U.S. economy on a continuous, steady upward trajectory that Trumps administration simply maintainedfor a time. And while Trump cant really be blamed for the global economic shutdown that occurred in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, he doesnt deserve any special credit for simply taking up what his predecessor left for him.

Although it may be difficult for Americans to recall, at the time Obama was elected, unemployment stood at a staggering 10%. At the time he left office that figure was 4.7%. That, among many other reasons, was why Obama would have undoubtedly defeated Trump in 2016, had the U.S. Constitution allowed him the opportunity for a third term in office. At the time of Trumps election, as described by Ben White, writing for Politico, the U.S. under Obama was experiencing a robust economy, with the lowest jobless rate in nearly a decade, record home and stock prices and a healthy growth rate.

Nor did Trump perform any economic miracle once he became president. Even allowing for the massive reduction in unemployment that the country experienced as it climbed out of Bushs crisis, jobless numbers during Obamas second term continued to drop by 3.3%, a rate nearly triple what America experienced under the first three years of Trumps single term (unemployment dropped just 1.2% during those years). Meanwhile, the countrys GDP growth during the last four years under Obama was 2.4%. In Trumps tenure (pre-pandemic) that figure was 2.5%.

As former White House communications director Jen Psaki explained in 2018, A buffoon could have kept the recovery going. And in fact, Trump managed to do just that. As Politifact laconically put it in February 2020, as the country teetered on the precipice of what turned out to be the worst public health crisis in a century, The performance under Trump has generally continued the pace of improvements that began during the final few years of Obamas presidency. No more, no less.

Trump is currently running TV ads in swing states claiming we had more in our pockets when Trump was president. And for Americans on the lower end of the economic ladder, stubborn inflation and corporate price-gouging absolutely continue to eat into their paychecks. Inflation is caused by a number of factors, many of them still redolent in a global economy continuing to reorient itself from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply and labor disruptions it wreaked on every nation on this planet. Meanwhile those in the U.S. with 401ks and other retirement vehicles are generally experiencing substantial gains because of the resurgent stock market.

But Trumps claim is clearly intended to suggest that Americans were generally wealthier during his administration. Obviously, thanks to the pandemic, that was not the case for most Americans during his final year in office. During the COVID-19 crisis the financial situation of millions of Americans was preserved mainly due to stimulus checks enabled primarily by Democratic-sponsored Senate legislation, an effort that was continued by Biden. But even for Trumps first three (pandemic-free) years, the economic gains experienced by Americans were the product of an economic recovery well underway during Obamas tenure.

That is not to say some people did not become obscenely wealthy during Trumps term in office. In fact, a few billionaires definitely did. As explained by Ben Steverman, writing for Bloomberg News, the .000006% cohort of the U.S. population who qualify as billionaires had increased their combined wealth by a staggering $1 trillion after Trumps four years in office. That was almost entirely due to Republicans mass tax giveaway to the wealthy in 2017, which Trump eagerly signed into law. Those tax cuts were designed to solely benefit the countrys wealthiest Americans, the corporate CEOs and otherwise uber-wealthy individuals who bankroll Republican political campaigns, which is why the Republicans barely mentioned them going into 2018 elections.

But those tax cuts did not translate for ordinary Americans. And while in 2018 they provided a temporary boost to the stock market (akin to a sugar high as many termed it), within two years the economy had reverted to the same trends that predated implementation of the tax cuts and were inherited from the Obama administration. Meanwhile, contrary to Republicans claims that these cuts would pay for themselves, they are currently on track to explode the countrys national debt by another $2 trillion.

Those massive tax cutsand their consequences for the countrys futureare the most significant difference between Trumps 2016-2019, pre-pandemic economy and the economy that President Obama cultivated during his eight years in office. And while Americans may understandably have trouble remembering just how strong the Obama economy was at the time he departed, what they might want to consider instead are the implications should Trump be allowed another opportunity to cut the taxes for the nations wealthiest. Those are the same taxes that allow Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to remain solvent, and pay directly for innumerable government services and benefits most Americans take for granted.

As economists are fond of pointing out, the performance of the economy is mostly a consequence of events that presidents cannot control. Thus, most presidents tend to operate as stewards, carefully managing all the various unexpected crises and the domestic and global repercussions that befall their terms in office, with a view toward maintaining the nations economic growth. Obama governed in this manner, as has Biden, and both have the numbers to show for it. Trump, however, has shown no such forbearance, either in his appalling response to the COVID-19 pandemic or in his pet policies before that catastrophe occurred. His specific economic plans should he be elected again have been characterized as potentially disastrous.

Americans memories may be short, but there is one basic fact they ought to keep in mind. This country has sustained two successive economic calamities during this century, in 2008 and 2020, both occurring under Republican administrations. In both circumstances, it was the DemocratObama in 2009 and Biden in 2021who succeeded in pulling the economy and this nation out of a very deep, dark hole left to them by their Republican predecessor. So Americans ought to ask themselves, which party has proved itself competent at managing the economy, and which has not?

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Trump didn't create a booming economy. He inherited one from Barack Obama - Daily Kos

Marian Robinson, who has died aged 86, was the mother of Michelle Obama, the former First Lady of the United States.

Marian Robinsons own father, the grandson of a slave in Georgia, had grown up in Alabama in the Jim Crow years, when he was barred from white-only lavatories, buses and restaurants. In 2008 she was sitting on the sofa with her son-in-law Barack Obama when he was declared Americas first black president.

The Robinsons had raised their daughter Michelle and her elder brother Craig on Chicagos South Side in a rented one-bed apartment smaller than the White Houses master suite. Marian sacrificed her career as a bank secretary to raise their children, while her husband Fraser who never missed a days work, despite suffering from MS was a pump operator for the citys water company.

They lived on a single working-class salary, but kept an immaculate Buick, forced their children to eat broccoli, and expected them to go to college a reality-check to the stereotype, as Michelle Obama put it, that African-Americans primarily live in broken homes, that our families are somehow incapable of living out the same stable, middle-class dream as our white neighbours.

Marian taught Michelle to read before she started nursery school. Later, when Michelle was stuck with a dud teacher, Marian marched down to the school and had her moved up a year.

At home, the Robinson children were treated as adults. Sex, drugs and politics were discussed at the kitchen table. Make sure you respect your teachers, but dont hesitate to question them, said Marian. Dont even allow us to just say anything to you. Ask us why.

To save money, Marian sewed all her daughters clothes, made Muppet toys out of socks and dyed her own hair (on one occasion, accidentally, green). When Michelle neglected to tell her parents about an expensive high school trip to Paris, assuming it was not an option, they were hurt. Neither one of them had ever vacationed in Europe, recalled Michelle Obama in her memoir, Belonging. They never took beach trips or went out to dinner. They didnt own a house. We were their investment, me and Craig. Everything went into us. Michelle was sent to Paris.

To Barack Obama, the child of a Midwestern mother and a Kenyan father who had vanished from his life, this tight-knit family was a wonder. When campaigning took its toll on the Obamas own marriage, it was the widowed Marian who stepped in, even though she had resumed full-time work, coming over at 4.45am to help with her two granddaughters, but she insisted: I am NOT going to be one of those old ladies who wont leave their kids alone just because theyve got nothing better to do.

When Michelle begged her to move with them to the White House, Marian refused, telling a reporter: I love my own house. The White House reminds me of a museum... How do you sleep in a museum? Later she relented, becoming First Granny and accompanying the girls to school every morning, but insisted on doing her own laundry, eating television suppers and moving without a security cordon. When she slipped out of the gates, strangers would tell her she looked just like Michelle Obamas mother. Yeah, I get that a lot, she would reply.

When people gushed to her about Michelle and Craigs achievements (he got a basketball scholarship to Princeton), Marian would say: Theyre not special at all. The South Side is filled with kids like that. Obama described her as a living, breathing reminder of who we were and where we came from, a keeper of values wed once thought ordinary but had learned were more rare than we had imagined.

Marian Lois Shields was born on July 30 1937 in Chicago, one of seven children, to Purnell Shields, a construction worker who had to make do with low-paid work because the white-controlled unions denied him a union card, and his wife Rebecca Jumper, a nurse; they later divorced.

In 1960 she married Fraser Robinson, who died in 1991; her son and daughter survive her.

Marian Robinson, born July 30 1937, died May 31 2024

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Marian Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama who lived in the White House as 'First Granny' obituary - Yahoo! Voices

Former US president Barack Obama endorses a hostage deal and Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden this evening as clear, realistic and just.

In a post on X, Obama says the proposal, which has been green-lit by Israel, ensures Israels security, returns hostages taken on October 7th to their families, increases aid into Gaza and relieves the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and engages Israelis, Palestinians, Arab countries and the broader international community in the process of rebuilding Gaza.

While he says a ceasefire alone wont ease the pain of Israelis and Palestinians devastated by Hamass October 7 massacre and the subsequent war in Gaza, he says a truce can put a stop to the ongoing bloodshed, help families reunite and allow a surge of humanitarian aid to help desperate, hungry people.

It can save lives, here and now and it can lay the foundation for what will be a long and difficult road to a future in which Israel is secure and at peace with its neighbors, and Palestinians finally have the security, freedom and self-determination that they have sought for so long, he adds.

Obama also praises the steady, tireless efforts of Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to bring this awful war to an end.

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Obama endorses Biden's 'clear, realistic and just' hostage release and Gaza ceasefire proposal - The Times of Israel

Marian Robinson, mother to former first lady Michelle Obama, died on Friday, May 31, at 86. Her loved ones said she leaves behind a void in the hearts of many. As a steadfast figure in the Obama White House, Robinsons presence extended far beyond familial ties, touching the lives of all who knew her.

My mom, Marian Robinson, was my rock, always there for whatever I needed. She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away, said the former first lady in a statement released Friday by former President Barack Obama and other family members.

Born Marian Lois Shields, the former first grandmother set out on a journey that was characterized by fortitude and compassion after emerging from the vibrant tapestry of Chicagos South Side. From her early days as a teacher to her later role as a trusted secretary, Robinsons life was a testament to the values of family and service, showcasing her personal achievements and contributions.

In a heartfelt tribute, Michelle Obama fondly recalled her mothers enduring influence, describing her as the unwavering pillar of their family. Robinsons wisdom, honed through lifes diverse experiences, was a beacon of light during times of uncertainty. Her steadfast support and gentle nature were not just sources of strength but unique qualities that endeared her to the entire Obama clan.

Throughout Barack Obamas historic presidency, Robinson was a symbol of stability, offering sage advice and unconditional love. Despite the grandeur of the White House, she maintained her down-to-earth charm, forging deep connections with staff and finding solace in everyday routines, thereby extending her influence beyond her immediate family.

Her wisdom came off as almost innate, as something she was born with, but in reality, it was hard-earned, fashioned by her deep understanding that the worlds roughest edges could always be sanded down with a little grace, the family wrote.

In the statement penned by Michelle, Barack, Craig, Kelly, Avery, Leslie, Malia, Sasha, Austin and Aaron, they remembered Robinsons lessons handed down over the years.

Our mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think, they wrote. Dont sweat the small stuff. Know whats truly precious. As a parent, youre not raising babies youre raising little people. Dont worry about whether anybody else likes you. Come home. Well always like you here.

The family recalled that, as a young woman, Robinson studied to become a teacher before working as a secretary. She fell quickly and madly in love with Fraser Robinson, another South Sider with a boxers strength and jazz-lovers cool. Together, they raised two children, Craig Robinson and the former first lady, in a tiny upstairs apartment on Euclid Avenue in South Shore.

A strong caregiver, mother, grandmother and provider, Robinson took her wisdom all the way to the White House.

On Election Night in 2008, when the news broke that Barack would soon shoulder the weight of the world, she was there, holding his hand, the family wrote. With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden emphasized Robinsons contributions to her family.

We knew Mrs. Marian Robinson as a devoted mother and grandmother with a fierce and unconditional love of her family. With the blessing of friendship, we felt that love ourselves with every quiet smile or warm embrace she shared with us, the Bidens wrote in a White House statement. She believed, like we do, that family is the beginning, middle and end. She moved into the White House to be there for her family when they needed her the most, and in so doing, she served her country right alongside them. Her life is a reminder that we are a great nation because we are a good people

Robinsons family remembered her as a woman who was not preoccupied with the glitz and glam that came with being the first grandmother, but rather found joy from simple pleasures.

Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument Over those eight years, she made great friends with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home. Shed often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at CVS, and sometimes another customer might recognize her. You look like Michelles mother, theyd say. Shed smile and reply, Oh, I get that a lot.

Robinsons faith in God was central to her life.

The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope, Robinsons family wrote in their statement.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said on MSNBC that Mrs. Robinson was absolutely the anchor of that family and added that she had a very discerning spirit. Sharpton was a frequent visitor during the Obama White House and afterward.

On the Sunday before former President Obamas inauguration, the then-soon-to-be first family attended worship services at 19th Street Baptist Church in Northwest D.C., where Pastor Derrick Harkins greeted them at the church door.

That day, people stood in line to attend that historical service and they stood on their feet when the family, including Robinson, walked into the church.

She was a quiet and consistent presence for the first family, Harkins told The Washington Informer. She was offering grandmotherly advice. It was a cute interlude on how she always seemed to be a steady presence for the whole family.

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Marian Robinson: A steadfast figure in Obama's White House - The Washington Informer