Obama

Michelle Obama Used As A “Bargaining Chip” by White House

This is.. weird:

How popular is the first lady? So popular that in June 2009, former Rep. Allen Boyd told the White House he would only vote for the energy bill if Michelle Obama appeared with him at an event for a volunteer organization in Florida. (Boyd, who is white, faced a potential black primary challenger.) Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel agreed to the deal, to the frustration of the first lady, who found out later that she had been promised without her consent. The energy bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate, Boyd lost to a Republican in 2010 anyway, and the West Wing staff learned never to book the first lady without asking her first. [emphasis added]

Ironically, this was in a post from Buzzfeed, where other factoids about the Obamas were intent on showing how focused he is on his family.

Notice that Obama is never mentioned here – did he agree to this? Was she angry at him? Or did he learn about it afterwards too?