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Jodi Kantor Book Reveals Tension Between Michelle Obama, Rahm Emanuel

By New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor.

Nobody says no to Michelle Obama, except maybe Rahm Emanuel. According to The Obamas, a new book by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, Michelle wanted to sit in on Emanuel’s 7:30 a.m. staff meetings, but he rebuffed the idea. Kantor writes that the first lady wasn’t thrilled about her husband’s choice for chief of staff and as time wore on, the pair was increasingly at odds over how President Obama should approach policy issues like immigration and health-care reform. Emanuel often took the tack that the president needed realistic legislative victories, while the president's spouse was more concerned with whether her husband was fulfilling the mission he set out to achieve. But the White House has already pushed back against Kantor's book, calling it "an overdramtization of old news" and said the characterization of the Obamas' relationship are from "second-hand accounts."