Per the National Review online
On 2.29.08, Michelle Obama visited Zanesville, Ohio, where she met with a group of women at a local day care center. According to the U.S. Census, Muskingum County, where Zanesville is located, had a median household income of $37,192 in 2004.
Michelle Obama said that she and her husband made the choice to give up lucrative jobs in favor of community service. "We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we're asking young people to do," she tells the women. "Don't go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we're encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond." Faced with that reality, she adds, "many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management."
What she doesn't mention is that the helping industry has treated her pretty well.
In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama's compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office. And that does not count the money Mrs. Obama receives from serving on corporate boards.
Mrs. Obama also bemoaned the amount of money she has to spend -- nearly one-third of the median household income in Zanesville -- on piano, dance, and other lessons for her two children. But she was grateful for the concern her husband's supporters have shown for her.
I bet the fact that she bemoaned the cost of Dance lessons and such to the people in Zainesville went over really well. Like many in SE Ohio, even a teacher with a masters barely makes 41,000, and that's doing it for 20 plus years. I know them, and they struggle.