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Former first lady Michelle Obama visited her second D.C. public high school in two weeks, surprising 12 teenage girls in their classroom on International Womens Day.

Obama stopped by Cardozo Education Campus in Washingtons Columbia Heights neighborhood Wednesday and met with students for nearly two hours to talk about their life goals and future.

Celebrating the beauty and diversity of our country on this #internationalWomensDay with some of the many fierce and promising girls here at DCs Cardozo Education Campus, Obama wrote in an Instagram post about her visit. I loved visiting this school because it tells the American story in so many ways.

[Michelle Obama surprises D.C. students, talks struggles and life goals for two hours]

The school says it received no notice that Obama would be coming to speak with students. Principal Tanya Roane said the school district told her that D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson would be sitting down to talk to students, and asked her to pick 12 girls who were representative of the student body. The school has an international academy for recently arrived immigrants and another more traditional academic academy. The principal chose students from both academies.

The students, wearing their Cardozo V-neck sweaters, were having tea with the chancellor in the media center when Obama walked in.

We just happened to look up and in walked this tall, incredibly beautiful woman who certainly looked like Michelle Obama but couldnt have been Michelle Obama because Michelle Obama wouldnt be in our school, Roane said. We were simply elated and overwhelmed.

Upon seeing the former first lady, most of the students broke into tears. Ayanna Morgan, 16, said she couldnt believe it was real. Obama touched Morgan and told her to give her a hug. The students sat in a circle and Obama mostly had one-on-one conversations with them about their life ambitions.

Morgan told her that she wanted to go to community college and cosmetology school at the same time, and ultimately transfer to Duke University. Obama told her she could do that, and said not to let other peoples opinions affect who she is as a person.

It meant a lot for the most important person in my life to come here and say that, Ayanna said. I have always looked up to her. It was crazy.

Marisol Rodriguez, 15, moved from El Salvador three years ago and told the first lady that hers would be the first generation in her family to go to college. She said she ultimately wanted to join the FBI. Obama told her to fight for her dreams and never give up.

She talked about who we are, and what we are capable of doing, Marisol said. It was advice I already knew, but coming from her it was different.

As Obama left, she went around and took a picture with each student and staff member.

We are still smiling over here from ear to ear; we are still basking in the fact that we had the first lady in our building, Roane said. When you meet the former first lady and she is in your school, it will be a memorythat will be etched in your hearts and mind for the rest of their life.

Obama surprised14 students at Ballou STAY high school last week, and similarly talked about students future goals and aspirations.

Mrs. Obama had an emotional and heartfelt discussion with the students, Caroline Adler Morales, a spokeswoman for the former first lady, wrote in an email last week after the Ballou visit. There were tears, laughs and lots of hugs.

While the Obamas shared a close rapport with D.C. Public Schools, the relationship with the Trump administration has had a rocky start. Protesters greeted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos when she visited a D.C. school last month. DeVos later criticized teachers, prompting the school to send 11 tweets defending itself.

The previous White House occupants are still D.C. residents, renting a house in the Kalorama neighborhood at least while their youngest daughter finishes high school.

Obama has no publicly scheduled visits to a D.C. school in the future. If she stops by another school, students will get another surprise.

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Michelle Obama surprises D.C. students, talks struggles and life goals for two hours

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Michelle Obama surprised 12 'fierce and promising' girls on International Women's Day - Washington Post

WASHINGTON Remember when pundits hailed the election of Barack Obama as the beginning of a post-racial America?

After the election of Donald Trumpto the presidency, it seems like a distant memory. But in 2008, it was the prevailing wisdom among political commentators.

Cornell Belcher, a long-time Democratic pollster who worked on both of Obamas presidential campaigns, started seeing through the mirage of racial harmony well before Trumps election made it obvious. In Belchers book, A Black Man in the White House: Barack Obama and the Triggering of Americas Racial-Aversion Crisis, released weeks ahead of Trumps election, he presents years of research showing that white resentment grew steadily under Obama.

He too had hoped Obamas presidency would usher in a period of post-racial politics. But in his public opinion research in the ensuing eight years, he told HuffPost on Thursday, he saw a rise in racial aversion ... which accumulated in a sort of perfect storm for a candidate like Donald Trump.

To measure racial aversion, Belcher surveyed peoples responses to a range of questions ... from affirmative action questions to government doing too much for people of color, to people of color not being as patriotic.

The answers, collected over the course of eight years, showed a hardening of white attitudes toward people of color. Belcher attributes that trend not just to Obama, but to the rising coalition of communities of color that elected Obama.

Obama won reelection with just 39 percent of the white vote nationwide, not just by turning out more people of color, but also by taking advantage of the fact that the country simply had more voting-age people of color to turn out, Belcher noted. The changes that made that victory possible scared many of the white voters who went on to vote for Trump, according to the pollster.

Trump is a George Wallace-like historical figure. The difference is that George Wallace could not win the Republican primary. He couldnt win the nomination and become president, Belcher said.

But Donald Trump could, because now, with the rise of really, not Obama, but the Obama coalition, the wolf is now at the door, he continued. And what I mean by the wolf is at the door is, I mean America is going through dramatic shifts, demographic shifts.

Now Belcher is warning against Democratic analysts who see a message of economic empowerment alone as the key to rebuilding the party.

[The country is] only going to get browner, so we have to solve for this, or we lose the future, he concluded. And again, thats not pointing fingers at so many working-class whites, who, you know what, their world has changed, and the changes that are happening in our country, in this country, are stark. And we shouldnt be surprised that some people are uneasy about it. But we should have that conversation about that unease, and a prescription about that unease that doesnt pit us against each other.

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How The Racist Backlash To Barack Obama Gave Us Donald Trump - Huffington Post

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that there remain employees within the government who are continuing to promote Barack Obama's agenda, while a Republican congressman called on President Donald Trump to "purge" them from the federal workforce.

"I don't think it should come as any surprise that there are people that burrowed into government of the last eight years of the administration and may have believed in that agenda and want to continue to seek it," Spicer said at the White House press briefing.

Related: Spicer fixes his upside down American flag pin

During an interview on Friday on MSNBC, Iowa Rep. Steve King said Trump's got to get rid of those workers who aren't loyal to the new president.

"If I were Donald Trump, I would take a look at all of my political appointees that and anybody that was an appointment that came from the Obama administration. I would end that tomorrow morning, or tonight for that matter," King said.

"I will use the word purge," he added. "I've used it over the last few days. I think that needs to happen. I think it's a descriptive word that fits well within the English language, and I know there are people that will attach extra meaning to that. I don't know a better word to use."

Asked Friday about a presidential mandate for a purge like the one King described, Spicer said no such mandate existed.

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GOP Lawmaker Demands 'Purge' of Obama Holdovers - NBCNews.com

Barack Obama may well go down as our most stylish president. And now that hes retired, hes looking even sharper.

Visiting the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, on Sunday with former First Lady Michelle, he jettisoned his typically tailored suits for a pair of fresh, straight-legged jeans.

Theyrea far cry from the light-wash, roomy pants he donned to throw out the first pitch at a 2009 White Sox game.Im a little frumpy, he told The Cut afterward.. Those jeans are comfortable, and for those of you who want your president to look great in his tight jeans, Im sorry Im not theguy. (Looks like his stance on the matter has changed.)

This is hardly the first time the ex-president has shown his cool side. On a Caribbean excursion in January, he sported a backward baseball cap and sunglasses. Beside him stood his wife, Michelle, looking more ethereal than ever in a floaty caftan.

In his boldest, post-presidential look to date, Obama was snapped wearing an all-white ensemble, which made him look as if hed walked straight off a movie set. Images of the outfit, which included a short-sleeve shirt that showed toned arms,circulated on social media in February, inciting comments from ARE THOSE MUSCLES I SEE?!? Bruh, thats not even cool or fair! to Obama left the office n started wearing less n going out more he glowed up.

Can the runway be far behind?

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Obama has never looked better - New York Post

New York Times

Obama Education Rules Are Swept Aside by Congress New York Times When Mr. Obama signed the act in December 2015, many Democrats and Republicans alike celebrated the supposed end of what they saw as an era of federal overreach into local schools. The measure, known as ESSA, took a more collaborative approach ... Senate dumps Obama rule for holding schools accountablePolitico Senate scraps Obama regulations on school accountabilityWashington Post Senate GOP votes to nix Obama-era education rulesThe Hill (blog) Washington Examiner all 35 news articles »

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Obama Education Rules Are Swept Aside by Congress - New York Times