Americans thrill to love story in White House Feb 13, 2009 04:30 AM Be the first to comment on this article... JOCELYN NOVECK ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - She's a busy mother of two and a full-time executive at a film distribution company, but sometimes Susan Margolin can't help it: She googles Barack and Michelle Obama, not to check on his latest policy initiatives, but to see what they're doing as a couple. "They went to the Kennedy Center with the girls the other night," she reported recently. "Isn't that cool? And I love how they always make time for date night. "They seem to have a real romance going." Just in time for Valentine's Day, it's the season of the PDA in the White House - and we're not talking about President Obama's prized BlackBerry. The first couple's constant Public Displays of Affection have people fascinated, charmed and even a little jealous of this 21st-century White House marriage. The Obamas aren't the first openly romantic first couple. Ronald and Nancy Reagan, in particular, had a famous love story. But to many, the Obama marriage represents a more modern White House romance: Two people who've both had important careers, who try to balance professional success with family stability, who are playful with each other and mutually respectful, and who aren't afraid to show their affection and chemistry – again and again. Remember when she leaned in for a quick snuggle as they walked the parade route together on Inauguration Day? It was over in a flash, yet the photo made front pages. Or the widely documented moment on election night in Chicago's Grant Park, when the two embraced, he whispered into her ear and she whispered back: "I love you." Then there was inauguration night, when the two closed their eyes and somehow managed to dance as if they were alone, not at the centre of thousands of popping flashbulbs. YouTube clips are accompanied by gushy comments like: "This is soooooooo romantic! I've DVR-ed it on my TV." From the floor at the Obama Home States Ball, Kirk Dillard, an old friend of Barack Obama's from their years together in the Illinois legislature, marvelled. "Just looking at Michelle and the president having fun up there on the stage – you could tell they were having the time of their lives," says Dillard, a Republican state senator. "Michelle and Barack have always been madly in love, they've always been best friends, and she's always been his closest confidante. "Their relationship has remained constant at all levels, and it's wonderful to see." Joanna Coles, editor of Marie Claire magazine, couldn't help having a naughtier thought as she watched the inaugural coverage. "You feel there's some real presidential whoopee going on, and more power to them," says Coles. On a more serious note, she sees the Obamas as the first to represent a modern White House couple making it work, with all the trade-offs and turn-taking that implies. "I think it is fantastically inspiring," Coles says. "He couldn't have done it without her incredible support – and she giving him this big chance. But I don't think anybody thinks Michelle has given up her career. The minute he's out of office, she will be stepping it up. "A true partnership is about passing the baton." Stephanie Coontz, who studies the American marriage, is struck by how different the Obama marriage is from other White House partnerships. "We've seen love in the White House before, but in many cases it was the adoring wife, along the lines of Nancy Reagan," says Coontz, a professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. "What the Obamas have is a jocular, playful love, a mutual respect, and on Michelle's part, a lack of awe and of adoration." The story of how the couple met is a modern one, notes Coontz. She was his assigned mentor at the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin. So "there wasn't the old sense that the guy is a leader," Coontz says. On the down side, the Obama marriage can cause jealousy, or a sense of pressure to achieve the same thing. "It worries me because, how many years have they been married, and they're so romantic?" asks Geralyn Lucas, a New York and author. "It's total pressure!" It's possible the Obama marriage is fascinating and inspiring to only Obama supporters. "In a sense, it's people who love this president so much, and so they love the woman he loves, too," says Janice Min, editor of Us Weekly. "For them, there's already a fairy-tale aspect to this presidency, and to have the romance layered on top of that, it just makes it all the more intriguing." Min thinks the public is genuinely fascinated with its glimpse into the emotional life of a president. "Just to know anything about a president's romantic life is so unusual," she says. "Just to even think they have one is so intriguing.''