Michelle Obama on Ensign Magazine Cover

Just when you thought that the fashion frenzy surrounding first lady Michelle Obama was finally subsiding, she makes perhaps the biggest fashion statement yet: cover girl in the March issue of the LDS church's Ensign Magazine, where she appears in an eight-page spread written adoringly by Senator Harry Reid, (D-NV).

It is a first for the conservative the magazine. Usually we have Jesus, Joseph Smith or an old polygamist on the March issue preceeding General Conference, but we felt that this being the Year of Socialism, the choice was obvious.

According to the Executive Editor, interviews with Mrs. Obama, done before the inauguration, were "one of the best experiences of my life. She's so accessible, natural and normal. There's nothing affected about her."

The story focuses on Obama's role as a mom and a first lady, though the AP reports that fashion talk was definitely not off limits. "I'm not going to pretend that I don't care about it," she said. "But I also have to be very practical. In the end, someone will always not like what you wear - people just have different tastes."

And in an unusual twist, Obama chose her own clothes for the shoot rather than depending on the magazine's stylists and airbrish artists. Included in the mix: Narciso Rodriguez, the designer of her red-and-black election night dress, which was the subject of some controversy, and J. Crew, the well-priced resource that outfitted first kids Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, for the inauguration and whose green leather gloves Obama wore while holding the Bible for her husband's swearing-in ceremony.

Apparently, Obama knows what she likes. "She doesn't need any help. She loves fashion and knows what works for her, she's never had a conversation with me about, 'What do you think?' or 'How did this look? And I'm glad for that."

The Ensign will begin accepting advertisements in the April issue, to help offset steep tithing declines since most Mormons have seen through the happy-talk about the economy, and have gone into bunker mode, in every way now.