WASHINGTON–Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha returned from Spain on Sunday, a vacation at a lavish hotel on the Mediterranean coast that triggered her first controversy since becoming first lady. I’m told she made the trip because she promised one of her closest friends, a longtime Chicago pal who just lost her father, she would spend time with her.

Mrs. Obama is the most popular figure in the Obama orbit — and turned around her image from the 2008 presidential campaign by adamantly staying away from any kind of controversy, focusing on safe issues: combatting childhood obesity and helping military families.