From their first intimate dance as the first couple on inauguration day to their date nights in Paris and New York, the frisson between Michelle and Barack Obama after more than 16 years of marriage has been enviably apparent.
The Obamas are coping with the demands of running the country, bringing up two daughters, living at the White House with her mother and walking Bo the dog - and still seem to find each other sexy.
"How good-looking is my wife?" Obama has boasted.
For some mere mortals, however, the obvious chemistry between them is too much. "Barack Obama, stop ruining my marriage," a writer for Time magazine has pleaded, fearful of being unable to match the "Michelle time" that the world's most powerful leader manages to set aside for his wife every day.
In Paris, the city of love, the Obamas turned down dinner with President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla, his former supermodel wife, in favour of a romantic table for two while Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, were parked with a babysitter at the embassy.
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This came just after Barack Obama had whisked Michelle off to New York by helicopter, plane and limo for dinner, along with a Broadway show, prompting much griping by Republicans about the reputed $73,000 (£44,000) cost to the taxpayer and a lot of gushing by envious wives.
"I'm jealous," said Emily Giffin, the author of Love the One You're With, a chick-lit novel. She could not remember when she last had a date night with her husband: "I flew to New York alone and went out with my friends while he stayed home with the kids. Does that count?"
The Obamas' marriage is the real deal, a White House official confided. "Date nights in Paris and New York? It doesn't get a lot better than that," the official sighed.
The first couple's pheromones are already having a powerful effect on their staff. Tommy Vietor, Obama's long-time press secretary, not only accompanied his boss to Paris but also seized the moment to propose to Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Michelle Obama's press secretary.
McCormick Lelyveld was fooled into turning up at the US embassy early to collect Malia and Sasha, only to find her boyfriend waiting for her with an engagement ring.
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"I was shaking. He completely surprised me," McCormick Lelyveld said. "I couldn't have picked a more perfect way for this to happen."
The Obamas' relationship is a far cry from the cosy marriage of Laura and George W Bush, let alone the dysfunctional state of affairs between Bill and Hillary Clinton. And while the Reagans clearly adored each other, Ronald called Nancy "Mommy".
For those daunted by the seemingly impossible standard set by the Obamas, Renegade: The Making of a President, a new book by Richard Wolffe, provides a useful corrective. When Barack Obama failed in his attempt in 2000 to become a congressman, Michelle was not best pleased with the role of a politician's wife.
"There was little conversation and even less romance," Wolffe writes. "She was angry at his selfishness and careerism; he thought she was cold and ungrateful." She continued to feel resentful when he ran for the Senate in 2004 and did not take part in his campaign.
During his presidential bid, Michelle Obama was accused of belittling her husband with quips about his hopeless housekeeping, early-morning stinkiness and snoring, but the campaign went on to become a joint undertaking.
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"We're going to be fine," Wolffe quoted Michelle as saying. "We just have to make sure the girls are fine. We're strong enough to take on anything and be okay at the end."
By the end of Barack Obama's presidential run, Michelle had become his biggest champion, vouching for his model behaviour as a husband and father at the Democratic national convention. There was nothing phoney about her newly expressed adoration of her husband, a senior adviser insisted.
"You're seeing who she really is," the adviser said. "We're the YouTube generation. She's learnt she can't joke about her husband when she's in the national spotlight."
What makes the Obamas' marriage so convincingly modern is that they clearly try hard to juggle the demands of work, children and romance.
They appear to be an "intimidatingly functional pair", Salon magazine observed. "While they appear to love and admire each other, their marriage does not seem accidental or organic. They appear to think about and tend to it, presumably pulling weeds when they arise."
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Joy Behar, a television commentator, said talking about politics had been a turn-off in her previous marriage, yet the Obamas seemed to thrive on it: "So it's really meaningful when you watch them together. He actually looks like he desires her."
On the other hand, it may be easier to kindle the marriage spark when all the trappings of power are at your disposal. Not every couple can fly to date nights, or have cooks and cleaners at their disposal and the mother-in-law in the White House to look after the children at a moment's notice.
With such skilled masters of public relations in the White House, it is difficult to separate fact from fantasy. The much-envied marriage of the Kennedys turned out to be riven by infidelity. There may be an element of wish fulfilment in the admiring coverage of the Obamas' private life.
As Phil Bronstein, the journalist and ex-husband of Sharon Stone, the actress, noted on his blog for the San Francisco Chronicle: "I swear I've seen this movie, only Michael Douglas was the president. Or Harrison Ford."
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Obama kissed Michelle on their first date after eating ice-cream. "It tasted of chocolate," he recalled.
The Obamas were filmed nuzzling off-stage on the Super Tuesday of the primary campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Michelle whispered "I love you" on election night.
"How good-looking is my wife?" Obama boasted before dancing with her at the inaugural ball.
They snubbed the Sarkozys in favour of dinner for two at a Parisian bistro.