A Moving Experience for Obama's Mother-in-Law

Cue the mother-in-law jokes! The newly dubbed "First Granny" is coming to the White House.

By all accounts, Marian Robinson gets on splendidly with her son-in-law -- so well that Michelle Obama has persuaded her mother, 71, to leave Chicago and move to Washington. The former secretary -- widowed in 1991, retired last year -- was the primary caregiver for Malia and Sasha when their parents were on the campaign trail and will help the family make the transition to a new school, new friends and presidential spotlight.

"It's a very wise decision" said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian of the National First Ladies' Library in Ohio. "It will provide continuity and intimacy to these two girls who are being uprooted. It will be good not only for the children, but for the new first lady."

No word on whether Robinson will live with the family or get her own place nearby, but she won't be the first presidential mother-in-law to spend lots of time at 1600 Penn: Mamie Eisenhower's mother, Elvira Doud, wintered there; Bess Truman's mom, Madge Wallace, moved in and relentlessly bullied poor Harry.

Will Jean Finnegan Biden, 91, move to the Naval Observatory grounds in January? Joe Biden's mother lives with the family in Delaware, but there's a pool house behind the veep's official residence (Tipper Gore's mom lived there in the '90s) that's perfect for one.

By Marissa Newhall | November 11, 2008; 1:02 AM ET