The First Lady and the Kids' Choice Awards
March 31st, 2012
11:48 AM ET

The First Lady and the Kids' Choice Awards

First lady Michelle Obama continues to take Hollywood by storm. She’s appeared with David Letterman, Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres in recent months - and Saturday she made her first-ever live appearance on Nickelodeon’s Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

Mrs. Obama presented "The Big Help Award" to country pop singer Taylor Swift for Swift's work helping tornado and flood victims.

“I’m here because I’ve always felt an obligation to give back; to lift up others the way my parents, my teachers and mentors lifted me. And that’s something that our next honoree believes, too,” Obama said at the awards ceremony. “Taylor Swift may be in the news most often for her award-winning songs and multi-platinum records, but every step of the way she has always made it a point to give back.”

Last year, Swift raised nearly $1 million to help victims of devastating tornadoes in the Southeast. Swift opened the final dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour to a paying audience of 13,000 people, donating all the proceeds to tornado victims.

The first lady won the same award herself two years ago for her work with Let's Move, her initiative designed to combat childhood obesity and encourage healthy habits.

Mrs. Obama has teamed up with Nickelodeon in the past for the network's Worldwide Day of Play, an effort to get kids involved in healthy activities and away from the TV for at least three hours a day. She also appeared on the network's hit show ”iCarly” as part of her Joining Forces initiative to recognize and honor military families. The lead character in iCarly is the daughter of an Air Force colonel serving overseas.

Saturday's Kids' Choice Awards appearance is the first lady's first "in person" appearance on the awards show. She received “The Big Help Award” in 2010 via videotape.

–CNN’s Greg Clary contributed to this report

Obama and GOP..fighting for the little guy
March 31st, 2012
11:20 AM ET

Obama and GOP..fighting for the little guy

(CNN) – Democrats and Republicans addressed struggles facing middle-class families during their weekly addresses Saturday following a busy week dominated by Supreme Court judges’ arguments on health care.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, spoke about proposals to help middle-class families, urging the opposing party to join theirs to find solutions.

Obama boosted the "Buffet Rule," a proposal to end Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy individuals, or, as Democrats describe it, would "ask some of the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share."
"Now, if this were a perfect world, we'd have unlimited resources. No one would ever have to pay any taxes, and we could spend as much as we wanted," Obama said.

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