Michelle Obama’s Trump jibe at portrait unveiling

Michelle Obama made a pointed reference to peaceful transitions of power as she and Barack unveiled their official portraits.

Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama take part in the unveiling of the their official White House portraits in the East Room of the White House. Picture: AFP.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has delivered a veiled swipe at Donald Trump after she and husband former president Barack Obama unveiled their official portraits at the White House.

Reviving a tradition suspended during the Trump presidency, the Obamas visited the White House on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) at the invitation of president Joe and First Lady Jill Biden, to reveal their portraits completed almost six years ago.

“We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power … And once our time is up, we move on,” Mrs Obama, sometimes talked about as a potential Democrat presidential candidate in 2024, said in what were the most politically provocative remarks of the unveiling.

The former president, embroiled in multiple state and federal investigations, has repeatedly denied he lost the 2020 election and did not attend Mr Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, two weeks after a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol building.

The hour-long ceremony otherwise had the atmosphere of a high school reunion, as the president, his predecessor and their wives heaped praise on one another, recounted fond memories of living in the White House, and their accomplishments in health care reform, “social justice reform” and climate change.

Mr Biden, 79, who served as Mr Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017, moved to dispel any rumours that their relationship had soured since the end of the Obama presidency, hailing Mr Obama as “one of the most consequential presidents in our history, with one of the most consequential first ladies”.

“There are few people I’ve ever known with more integrity, decency and moral courage than Barack Obama … Nothing could have prepared me better or more for being president than being at your side for eight years”.

Happening Now: President Biden and the First Lady host former President Obama and former First Lady Obama for the unveiling of their official White House portraits. https://t.co/JLgH6y9h6B

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 7, 2022

Mr Obama, 61, appeared in good spirits, joking in his remarks about how he missed air force One and had been talked out of wearing a tan suit for the occasion – a reference to a 2014 choice of suit that had provoked controversy.

“It is now America’s good fortune to have you as president,” Mr Obama said, hailing Mr Biden as “a true partner and true friend”. “The country is better off than when you took office and we should all be deeply grateful for that”.

Mr Obama, who now resides mainly in Martha’s Vineyard, praised Sharon Sprung, the 69-year old Brooklyn-based artist who painted Mrs Obama, for capturing his wife’s “grace, her intelligence, and the fact that she’s fine”.

“And I want to thank Robert McCurdy for taking on a much more difficult subject,” the former president added, referring to the creator of his portrait, who is known for his hyper-realistic, photograph-like depictions.

Mr Trump, who succeeded Mr Obama as president in 2017, did not schedule an unveiling of the two portraits, which will hang at the White House alongside those of presidential couples going back to the Washingtons.

The ceremony was the first such unveiling of presidential portraits since 2012, when the Obamas hosted George and Laura Bush at the White House. Observers doubt Mr Biden will host Mr Trump and his wife to unveil their portraits, given the animosity between the two.