(Image source: The New York Times/pool photo)

BY: MALLORY PERRYMAN

ANCHOR: JENNIFER MECKLES

You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.

On a trip to South Africa- First Lady Michelle Obama met Nelson Mandela, defended her husband’s policies in Africa, and doled out some advice-- dating advice.

On the trip, ABC’s David Muir asked Mrs. Obama what advice she will give her two daughters when they someday fall in love.

Michelle Obama (First Lady): “Choose people who will lift you up. Find people who will make you better.

David Muir: “You said the president has made you better.”

Obama: “Yes”

Muir: “And you said let’s just for the record say...have you made him better?”

Obama: “Yes, I haven’t told him that so now it’s on record and I can bring it up whenever I am mad at him. (laughs) Yes, of course I’ve made him better.” (laughs)

She also praised her girls, 12-year-old Malia and 10-year-old Sasha, for staying grounded- even with very public parents. The Mail & Guardian’s Tanya Pampalone reports- Mrs. Obama is well-liked in the area.

“We like Michelle Obama because she's beautiful and smart and humble. We like her because she loves Stevie Wonder and macaroni and cheese and working out. We like her because she's a woman of the world...”

And a reporter for The Grio says- the trip to Africa could have been all politics- but the First Lady managed to control the message.

“She has side-stepped some of the most controversial issues, such as the problems caused by Africa's remaining dictatorships...But she has delivered on her ‘core Africa issues’ -- AIDS, poverty, and education; and she has done it with grace.”

Although most of the reaction to Mrs. Obama’s trip has been positive- a conservative blogger for Canada Free Press suggests the trip is merely a publicity stunt.

“Even though touted loudly as a ‘goodwill trip’,  there must be some South Africans wondering why it took America’s First Lady almost three years to disperse her goodwill in their country...The photos coming out of Africa show an Obama giving Africans love, hugs and smiles, but hungry children cannot eat love, hugs and smiles.”

Michelle Obama’s approval ratings have consistently been higher than her husband’s. Only a quarter of those questioned in a winter 2010 CNN poll rated her unfavorable.

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Transcript by Newsy.