--- title: President Obama Shares Birthday Message for Michelle on Twitter description: President Obama shared a sweet throwback photo on Twitter to celebrate Michelle's birthday a few days before they leave the White House. canonical: https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-17T21:41:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:25.061Z og:title: President Obama's Birthday Message to Michelle Is Everything og:description: The tweet uses an especially symbolic photo choice og:url: https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ad14164ba139137/6988a355a988ca161c6b929e/barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama's Birthday Message to Michelle Is Everything twitter:description: The tweet uses an especially symbolic photo choice twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ad14164ba139137/6988a355a988ca161c6b929e/barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama's Birthday Message to Michelle is Everything by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 17, 2017 9:41 PM UTC  Barack Obama, hugs Michelle Obama after giving his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Aug. 28, 2008. Barack Obama, hugs Michelle Obama after giving his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Aug. 28, 2008.Alex Brandon—AP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 17, 2017 9:41 PM UTC [President Obama](http://time.com/4634554/president-obama-donald-trump-change-america/) is back at it again with the declarations of love for his wife and First Lady, [Michelle](http://motto.time.com/4602621/the-power-of-beyonce-and-michelle-obamas-friendship/). He wished her a loving happy birthday in a famous throwback [photo](https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2012/oct/18/barack-obama-presidency-in-pictures) of the two of them sitting on the back of a golf cart taken on the night of his 2009 inauguration. Obama’s photo choice is especially relevant this week. The First Family is preparing to leave the White House as [Donald Trump’s inauguration](http://time.com/4633043/donald-trump-inauguration-how-to-watch/) is merely days away. Although the President and First Lady have a plethora of heartwarming photographs together (see: the photo President Obama used to celebrate their [24th wedding anniversary](http://motto.time.com/4517126/barack-michelle-obama-anniversary-photo/) or all of their photo-ops before [state dinners](http://time.com/4535384/michelle-obamas-fashion-state-dinner/)), the President decided on a photo that represented the beginning of their journey together in the White House. The tweet itself echoed a shoutout President Obama made during his [farewell address](http://time.com/4631007/president-obama-farewell-speech-transcript/). The birthday message reads, “To the girl from the South Side who took on a role she didn’t ask for and made it her own: Happy Birthday, Michelle. I love you.” In the speech, he praised Michelle and said: --- > “” --- > [](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/821371347012087808) It’s pretty much the ultimate throwback photo. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/"},"headline":"President Obama's Birthday Message to Michelle is Everything","datePublished":"2017-01-17T21:41:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:25.061Z","description":"The tweet uses an especially symbolic photo choice","url":"https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ad14164ba139137/6988a355a988ca161c6b929e/barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ad14164ba139137/6988a355a988ca161c6b929e/barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"barack-obama-michelle-obama-love-story-romance-photos-08","caption":"Barack Obama, hugs Michelle Obama after giving his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Aug. 28, 2008.","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4636770/president-obama-michelle-birthday-tweet/","name":"President Obama's Birthday Message to Michelle is Everything"}}]}] ```