Michelle Obama crafts policy agenda

As she prepares to step out beyond her role as the self-described "mom-in-chief," Michelle Obama has been busy behind the scenes crafting a policy-driven agenda that will bring working-family issues into the White House u2014 and she's surrounded herself with a team of veteran political insiders and seasoned policy advocates to do it.

Though Obama aides are quick to say the first lady isn't planning on having an independent policy power center, but as Michelle Obama made her first official trip outside the White House on Monday u2014 to the Department of Education u2014 the shape and direction of her office, with advisers who have worked for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Edwards, clearly bear a lot more resemblance to Clinton's style than to that of Laura Bush.

The credentials of Michelle Obama 's new team "give us a glimpse of the future," said Carl Anthony Sferrazza, a former speechwriter for Nancy Reagan who also wrote the introduction to Hillary Clinton's Invitation to the White House: At Home With History. "This is not going to be a first lady focused on sleeveless designer dresses and puppy names but on serious and complex issues," he predicted.u00a0

Michelle Obamau00a0has been working to shape her new role and now appears poised to continue some of the outreach she did during the campaign u2014 to women and, especially, to working women.

Aides said she will visit every Cabinet-level federal agency in the coming weeks in a kind of get-to-know-you tour. She'll also seek to expand her campaign role as "listener" on the national stage, travelling from time to time.

The biggest clue so far about the US first lady's likely role was her appearance at a recent bill signing for legislation that makes it easier for workers to sue over gender-based pay discrimination.