Obamas are covering the September ‘08 issue of Essence magazine

The Obamas are covering the September ‘08 issue of Essence magazine. And here’s a snippet from their feature story:

Despite all that has changed for them publicly, the Obamas insist that little has changed in their private lives. Their friends are the same. And Fafily treats them the same, as at their last Thanksgiving. “Everybody came over to our house just like nobody was running for president,” Michelle says, laughing.

And sometimes, the Obamas find ways to merge their two lives. At the end of the day in Butte, Montana, the family returned to the local Holiday Inn Express where they were staying, ordered dinner in from a local restaurant, ate cake, and cranked up birthday girl Malia’s favorite music: Beyoncé, the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana. “We just spent about two hours dancing and singing, rocking out,” Barack told the reporters on his campaign plane the next day. “Malia said it was the best birthday she’d ever had.” He pauses, then adds wistfully: “I don’t know if she was just telling us what we wanted to hear, but I can tell you from my perspective, it was one of the best times I have had in a long time.”

Loves this family. And the Oprah effect has been calculated (not too scientifically though) and apparently her support of Barack will give him over 1 million votes.