Politics and finance. When Michelle Met Barack. First Lady Describes Her initial impressions of the future U.S. President In less than the three weeks, Michelle Obama becomes the nation's next first lady. In an interview with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, she talks about how she first met Barack Obama, and why it wasn't love at first sight. Tell me about the first time you met Barack. What was your impression? I was a first-year associate at Sidley & Austin. I had just graduated from law school, had spent my first summer as an... year as an intern, and there was all this buzz about this hotshot young first-year law student from Harvard. And everyone, I mean from the head of the firm on down, had talked about how brilliant this guy was. And it was rare that a firm as big as ours hired first-year students. So, he was gonna come in as a summer associate. And they decided that I should be his adviser,