Michelle Obama Has Girls Night In With Oprah

It was TV night for Michelle Obama on her girls-only getaway at Oprah Winfrey's Hawaii estate.

CBS This Morning's Gayle King, who's among the guests, tweeted: "whooo-hoo #HavesandHaveNots is (FINALLY) back on tonite! I have been waiting and tonite sitting in front of the tv @oprah in hawaii"

Tyler Perry's The Haves And The Have Nots is the most popular series on—what else—Oprah's OWN network.  

We're also learning more about Michelle's big 50th birthday party on January 18th after she returns from her Hawaiian vacation. The White House has sent out Save The Date emails for the big event, which they're calling "snacks & sips & dancing & dessert."

And get this—guests are told: "Do eat before you come."

Etiquette expert Lizzie Post tells The Washington Post, "I don't think it's rude, but I do think it's a little...different than what people are used to. My advice to people would be not to put 'eat before you come' on an invite."

One person definitely not scoring an invite is former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates, a republican, blasts President Obama in his new book, Duty, writing this about the war in Afghanistan: "The president doesn't trust his commander...[and] doesn't believe in his own strategy."

Vice President Joe Biden gets the harshest review in the book: "I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

In a clear public show of support for Biden, the White House released video of the president and vice president having lunch today.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney also had this to say; "Vice President Joe Biden has been one of the leading statesmen of his time, and he has been an excellant counselor and advisor to the president."