By Andrew Satter, CQ Staff

Last week’s New York Times story that Michelle Obama is undergoing efforts to soften her image set the political world abuzz.

Television pundits, newspaper columnists and bloggers on both sides of the political divide took the story and ran. A promo for MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” declared, “She’s Barack’s greatest asset. But after tough criticism, is it time for Michelle Obama 2.0?”

It made sense. Barack Obama ’s opponents have cast Mrs. Obama as bitter and unpatriotic, attacking her for saying at a Wisconsin rally in February that for the first time in her adult lifetime she was really proud of her country. Mrs. Obama has since sought to clarify the remarks, saying that she has always been proud of America and was referring to the political process.

But there really is no “New Michelle.” A CQ Politics comparison of Mrs. Obama’s public events of the last week with her speeches and appearances during the Democratic primary reveal that the so-called Michelle Makeover is more myth than reality. While she may have made small tweaks in tone and style, for the most part her words have not changed.

Take Mrs. Obama’s much discussed appearance on ABC’s morning talk show ‘The View’. Pundits saw it as a calculated move to combat her “negatives” in a friendly environment.

The interview was mostly positive, as Mrs. Obama and her co-hosts talked about the potential First Lady’s early life.

“Tell people a little about your story,” coaxed ‘The View’ co-host Barbara Walters.

“I’m a girl that grew up on the south side of Chicago,” Mrs. Obama responded. “My father was a working class guy, he worked a shift all his life. And because of his hard work, he sent not just me, but my brother to Princeton.”

If that line sounds familiar, it should. For example, there was her speech at Ohio State University back on February 15, when she told the crowd, “I grew up in a working class family on the south side of Chicago. My father was a city worker all his life, a blue-collar shift worker.”

Or there was this speech on January 31 in Wilmington, Delaware:

“I’ve talked about this all over the country. I grew up on the south side of Chicago, in a working class community.”

Mrs. Obama’s appearance on ‘The View’ also was not her first interview under very-less-than-hostile conditions.

In late April Michelle Obama appeared on the ‘Rachel Ray Show,’ where the hostess quizzed Mrs. Obama: “Can you even remember the last time you had a date night?” and “What’s your (and your husband’s) song?”