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She is perhaps the only person to describe the prospect of being first lady of the United States as "a trip."

Five feet 11 inches of Ivy-League-educated, pearl-wearing powerhouse, Michelle Obama has undoubtedly been an asset to presidential hopeful Barack Obama, both on the campaign trail and along the road that led them there.

She trained him on his first law job, encouraged him not to "screw it up" before his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and kept her family firmly grounded in Chicago even as their future became increasingly tied to Washington.

On the stump she speaks passionately and intelligently, drawing crowds that rival her husband's, and in television interviews she leaves the likes of Katie Couric looking decidedly amateur.

But as Ms. Obama emerges as a major force in her husband's election campaign, having walked away from her own $200,000 (U.S.) annual salary to help him win, it is becoming more likely that the job of first lady could trip her up. How will a woman who has overcome every obstacle and accomplished tremendous levels of success respond to a role that casts her simply as wife?

"She's going to have to be a little bit safe, a little bit more traditional," said Robert Watson, a professor of politics at Lynn University who has written a book on American first ladies. "The amount of impact she can have even in a traditional role cannot be minimized."

Much has been said about the influence Bill Clinton may wield in his wife's administration, but Ms. Obama has been careful about outlining any vision she may have for herself in the White House, as she understands there are those who would find such statements overambitious from a political wife.

But how she would respond to life in office can perhaps be gleaned from her own background, the years she spent advocating for education, health care, and the rights of the poor, and the way she has adjusted her own character and attitude in the course of the primaries.

"I love losing myself in a set of problems that have nothing to do with my husband and children," she has said. "Once you've tasted that, it's hard to walk away."

Born Michelle Robinson in 1964, she was raised on the south side of Chicago, in a poor, black neighbourhood where her family lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Her late father worked as a pump operator for the city water department, while her mother stayed home to look after Michelle and her older brother, Craig Robinson, now a professional basketball coach.

Raised with confidence in her abilities and high expectations to meet, Ms. Obama wanted to be a pediatrician, until she realized she didn't enjoy science. As a teenager she commuted three hours back and forth to a gifted high school, earning a place at Princeton University, where she majored in sociology and graduated cum laude.

After Harvard Law School, she took a job as an intellectual property lawyer at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin LLP. And it is there that the story of her marriage began, as she was assigned to mentor a summer associate named Barack Obama who had just finished his first year at Harvard Law School.

She thought they would have nothing in common, that a black guy from Hawaii would be weird, and doubted the secretaries who whispered that he was cute.

But they soon hit it off, and when she said she wouldn't date someone she was mentoring, he threatened to quit. He eventually won her over, taking her for ice cream, to community meetings and the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. They married in 1992.

On the campaign trail, fans of Mr. Obama say that he opens them up to the possibility of their own potential, and it could be said that he helped his wife do the same.

Unsatisfied with her work in law, Ms. Obama was encouraged by her husband to put her brain and experience to use outside of the corporate world.

She took a job as an assistant for then-Chicago-mayor Richard Daley, a move that shocked her law colleagues, and spent three years with Public Allies, a non-profit that helps young people get paid apprenticeships.

In 1996, she went to work for the University of Chicago Medical Centers and was vice-president for community and external affairs earning a salary of more than $200,000 when she took leave last year to join her husband's campaign.

At the medical centre she had flourished professionally, expanding their volunteer base from 200 to 800 and co-ordinating outreach to the low-income residents of the south-side neighbourhood where she grew up.

As her career developed, so did her husband's profile, as he went from the Illinois State Congress to the national stage.

But she insisted on staying in Chicago, where the couple's two daughters, Malia and Sasha, go to school. The challenges of this arrangement, and her life as a working mother, have been a recurring theme for Ms. Obama on the campaign trail.

She has conceded that the role of first lady would be a full-time job, and has said in the past that she has thought about being a full-time mom.

The United States has had educated, successful and ambitious first ladies in the past, Dr. Watson said, but Ms. Obama will still have to walk a "fine tightrope" to ensure she does not appear to want to accomplish too much too soon.

"You have to start out doing less and gradually build it up under the guise of a feminine pet project," he said. "Unfortunately, that's the reality of how first ladies are treated in America."

Dr. Watson said Ms. Obama will face criticism from women who expect her to use the pulpit of the presidency to her advantage, but risks damaging her husband's authority with less progressive constituents if she is seen to overstep her bounds.

Already, Ms. Obama has curbed the sarcasm with which she used to describe her husband, and couches her political opinions in her identity of wife, mother and working woman.

But she is unlikely to stay quiet, invisible or uninvolved should her husband take office, or even in the case that he loses the Democratic nomination.

In his book The Audacity of Hope, Mr. Obama writes that most people who meet her "quickly conclude that she is remarkable.

"People will approach me and say something to the effect of "you know I think the world of you Barack," he wrote. "But your wife. Wow!"

The first wives club

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Before the White House: A member of the Women's Trade Union League, she lobbied for minimum wage and the end of child labour. Led the New York State Democratic Party in the 1920s.

As first lady: Continued to work for her causes during her husband's administration, even holding weekly press conferences and writing a newspaper column.

After the White House: Appointed a delegate to the UN General Assembly from 1945 and 1952 by President Harry Truman.

BETTY FORD

Before the White House: Worked as a dancer, dance teacher and fashion model.

As first lady: An advocate of women's rights, she supported the proposed equal rights amendment and the legalization of abortion. After undergoing a mastectomy, helped raise awareness of breast cancer.

After the White House: After being treated for alcoholism and prescription painkiller addiction, she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

NANCY REAGAN

Before the White House: An actress, she was featured in the films Donovan's Brain, Night into Morning, and Hellcats of the Navy.

As first lady: Championed drug prevention and founded the Just Say No campaign. She also dedicated herself to restoring the interior of the White House.

After the White House: Cared for her husband, Ronald, until his death in 1994 and has become a champion of stem cell research.

HILLARY CLINTON

Before the White House: A graduate of Yale Law School, she was the first female partner of Rose Law Firm, taught law at the University of Arkansas and co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

As first lady: The first presidential spouse to have an office in the West Wing, she was appointed by her husband as chairwoman of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform.

After the White House: Elected to the Senate in 2000 as representative for New York. She is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for president.

LAURA BUSH

Before the White House: School teacher and school librarian.

As first lady: Started the National Book Festival and the National Anthem Project, and has visited Africa several times to raise awareness for AIDS.

Siri Agrell