Michelle Obama in Her Own Words Read online

  Newsweek, February 25, 2008

  There were no miracles in my life. The thing that I saw that many of us still see is hard work and sacrifice.

  Associated Press (AP), April 16, 2008

  My lens of life, how I see the world, is through my background, my upbringing.

  New Yorker, March 10, 2008

  ON HER CHILDREN

  Barack and I are always checking: Are they still OK? Every week, there’s a gut check.

  Glamour, September 2007

  My children force me to keep my feet on the ground.

  Newhouse News Service (NNS), August 10, 2008

  Malia’s [birthday is] the Fourth of July. Yes, we planned it that way. I cooperated. I was supposed to have her on July first, but I waited because my daughter would be more historic.

  Associated Press (AP), June 13, 2008

  They’re living in a family where they’ve got an African American grandmother and an Indonesian aunt. They’ve got a Chinese American cousin. They’ve got African American cousins. They’ve got a multiracial cousin in Africa who’s African and English. The inlaws of our in-laws, who are Chinese Canadian, are part of their families.Their world is bigger.

  Ladies’ Home Journal, August 2008

  I believe that kids thrive with structure and rules and boundaries. I’m a big proponent of that. And I’ve been grateful that Barack supports that. So when he comes home after a long week away it’s not like he’s the fun dad who does all the fun and I do all the work. He definitely reinforces the rules that we have in place, and one of those is making bedtime. We have a pretty strict bedtime.

  Larry King Live, October 8, 2008

  I’m so happy that my girls will grow up where the prospect of a woman or African American president is normal. And that’s one of the major reasons why our family has invested so much into this campaign. I want them to grow up in a world where they don’t have to limit themselves, where they can dream and achieve without ever hitting a glass ceiling.

  Momlogic.com, July 31, 2008

  We don’t want them to become political props.

  Chicago Tribune, May 28, 2007

  One thing I learned from Barack is there is not one right way to parent.

  Washington Post, December 14, 2007

  My girls are the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I go to bed. When people ask me how I’m doing, I say, “I’m only as good as my most sad child.”

  New York Times, October 28, 2008

  They break our hearts. And they have been so good about this process, and patient, and understanding. Kids will adjust to anything you throw at them. Our job is to not keep asking so much of them that they crack under the pressure.

  Ladies’ Home Journal, August 2008

  We don’t pull them out of their world.

  Chicago Sun-Times, July 1, 2008

  If I call in and there’s something not right with them, my whole day is messed up.

  Campaign speech, October 22, 2008

  I want my girls to really be free, to reach and dream for whatever they can imagine. I don’t want anybody telling them what they can’t do. I want them to be proud to live in this country. I want them to be able to travel the world with pride. And I don’t want that just for my girls. I want that for all of our children, and we’re not there. We’re not there.

  Brattleboro Reformer (VT), December 6, 2007

  My kids are having a good life. Do not worry about them. They’re doing well.

  Campaign speech, July 8, 2007

  Our concern is that they stay normal. Where I gain comfort is that all of these [presidential] children have turned out to be pretty decent kids, even with the bumps and bruises that go along.

  People, November 17, 2008

  They are our hearts. They light up our lives. I don’t care where I am, whether I’m on the campaign trail, at work, in a car, I’m worrying about their health and well-being. I want to make sure that they are happy and healthy and whole.

  Campaign speech, October 7, 2008

  ON HER COLLEGE YEARS

  Being one of the school’s few African American students at the time, I found there weren’t many opportunities for minorities. So we created a community within a community and got involved at places like the Third World Center.

  Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005

  The first time I set foot on Princeton, when I first got in I thought there’s no way I can compete with these kids. I mean, I got in but I’m not supposed to be here. Then I get there and I thought these kids had the answers. The truth was that the toughest part of Princeton was getting in. Then I got into Harvard, and the more I achieved, the more I realized that they don’t know any more than I do. They just believe in themselves in a way that’s very different.

  MSNBC, November 13, 2007

  I remember being shocked by college students who drove BMWs. I didn’t even know parents who drove BMWs.

  The Telegraph (UK), July 26, 2008

  The path I have chosen to follow by attending Princeton will likely lead to my further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society, never becoming a full participant.

  From her 1985 undergraduate thesis, “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community”

  The thing about these wonderful schools is they can be surprisingly narrowing to your perspective. You can be a lawyer or you can work on Wall Street; those are the conventional options. They are easy, socially acceptable, and financially rewarding. Why wouldn’t you do it?

  The Telegraph (UK), July 26, 2008

  Princeton University was really my first exposure to the possibility of the Ivy League. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get in, or I couldn’t thrive, or I couldn’t survive. I didn’t know to want that. It wasn’t the vision that I could see for myself because I couldn’t see anybody around me doing that.

  Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2007

  I have found that at Princeton no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus, as if I really don’t belong.

  From her 1985 undergraduate thesis, “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community”

  I gave up the notion of being a pediatrician after I realized that organic chemistry was going to be [required]. I don’t think I have put my heart and soul into the notion of being a lawyer.

  U.S. News & World Report, February 1, 2008

  Unfortunately, there are very few adequate support groups which provide some form of guidance and counsel for Black students having difficulty making the transition from their home environments to Princeton’s environment. Most students are dependent upon the use of their own faculties to carry them through Princeton.

  From her 1985 undergraduate thesis, “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community”

  When I wasn’t studying, I was working.

  Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005

  ON HER CRITICS

  One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

  Marie Claire, October 2008

  I take them in my stride. It’s part of this process and we are not new to politics.

  The View, June 18, 2008

  Throughout my life I have not paid much attention to what people say about me who don’t know me.

  All Things Considered, NPR, August 25, 2008

  You couldn’t be in politics if you didn’t have a thick skin. There are people who say things. This race just isn’t about me and Barack. It’s about something bigger.

  Larry King Live, October 8, 2008

  Somehow I’ve been caricatured as this emasculating wife. Barack and I laugh about that. It’s just
that do you think anyone could emasculate Barack Obama? Really now.

  Newsweek, February 25, 2008

  I don’t listen to a lot of it. I tune out.

  Chicago Defender, January 30, 2008

  I need stability and evenness, and not paying attention to media coverage helps. It’s usually either really, really good or really, really bad, which doesn’t reflect what people are thinking.

  Newhouse News Service (NNS), August 10, 2008

  You are amazed sometimes at how deep the lies can be. I mean, “Whitey”? That’s something that George Jefferson would say. Anyone who says that doesn’t know me. They don’t know the life I’ve lived. They don’t know anything about me.

  New York Times, June 18, 2008

  Surprisingly, it does not really affect me as an individual.

  Sunday Telegraph London, December 23, 2007

  We’ve developed a thick skin along the way. When you’re out campaigning, there will always be criticism. I just take it in stride, and at the end of the day, I know that it comes with the territory.

  Momlogic.com, July 31, 2008

  If I wilted every time somebody in my life mischaracterized me or called me a bad name, I would have never finished Princeton, would have never gone to Harvard, and wouldn’t be sitting here with him. So these are the lessons we want to teach our kids. You know who you are, so what anybody else says is just interesting fodder.

  Essence, September 2008

  ON DATING BARACK

  I’ve got nothing in common with this guy, [I thought]. He grew up in Hawaii! Who grows up in Hawaii? He was biracial. I was like, okay, what’s that about? And then it’s a funny name, Barack Obama. Who names their child Barack Obama?

  Washington Post, November 28, 2007

  I lowered my expectations because I thought this was probably just a black man who can talk straight. I did what most people do, I made assumptions based on the bio. Then I found out that he was biracial. I didn’t know what to do with that.

  O, The Oprah Magazine, November 2007

  His first car had so much rust that there was a rusted hole in the passenger door. You could see the ground when you were driving by. He loved that car. It would shake ferociously when it would start up. I thought, “This brother is not interested in ever making a dime.” I would just have to love him for his values.

  Washington Post, October 5, 2008

  I told him if this isn’t leading to marriage, then, you know, don’t waste my time.

  Chicago Sun-Times, September 19, 2004

  We had many debates about how to best [bring about] change. We both wanted to affect the community on a larger scale than either of us could individually, and we wanted to do it outside of big corporations. It was not a “make a lot of money, wrap it up and call it a day” thing.

  Daily Princetonian, December 7, 2005

  I found him to be charming and funny and self-deprecating, and he was very serious but he didn’t take himself too seriously.

  USA Today, May 11, 2007

  When I first met him, I fell in deep like.

  Good Housekeeping, November 2008

  We went to a reception and Spike Lee was there, and Barack told him, “I owe you a lot.” Spike Lee got a big kick that Do the Right Thing, as Barack said, “got him a little play” because in the movie I allowed him to touch my knee.

  Chicago Sun-Times, September 19, 2004

  I wasn’t expecting much. Any black guy who spent his formative years on an island had to be a little nerdy, a little strange.

  Washington Post, May 11, 2007

  To see him transform himself from the guy who was a summer associate in a law firm with a suit and then come into this church basement with folks who grew up like me, but who were challenged and struggling in ways that I never would, and to take off that suit and tie and become a whole other person and connect with people in the same way he had connected with folks in that firm, you don’t see someone who can make that transition and do it comfortably. To feel comfortable in his own skin and to touch people’s hearts in the way that he did, [well], people connected with his message. And I knew then and there there’s something different about this guy.

  CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, February 15, 2008

  His wardrobe was kind of cruddy. He had five shirts and seven blue suits and a bunch of ties. He looks good in his clothes because he is tall and thin, but he has never been into clothes. I had to really tell him to get rid of the white jacket.

  Washington Post, October 5, 2008

  ON THE DECISION TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

  I thought, “Uhhhh, you’re kidding!” It was like, “No, not right now, right?” There was a period of Let’s not do this now, let’s press the easy button! Can we get a break, please?

  Vanity Fair, December 2007

  I’m one of these people who walks down every dark road before I take on a pretty ambitious process. And that’s one of the things that I did. I thought through all the things that could go wrong. So I kind of prepared myself. And what I found is that there hasn’t been anything that I didn’t expect to happen.

  Larry King Live, February 11, 2008

  The selfish part of me says, “Run away! Just say no!” because my life would be better. But that’s the problem we face as a society, we have to stop making the Me decision and we have to make the We and Us decision.

  Washington Post, November 28, 2007

  I took off the Michelle Obama hat, the selfish hat, the one that says “No,” and put on my citizen hat, my hopeful hat, and realized that I want Barack Obama to lead me, even if it’s inconvenient. We have to be bold.

  Salon.com, November 28, 2007

  Honestly, the last thing that I wanted for my girls was to have them grow up in this, have their lives turned upside down in the midst of all of this, to have them hear their parents being criticized on national TV.

  Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2008

  ON DISAGREEMENTS WITH BARACK

  We fight over the remote. He likes to click back and forth to the sports channel. And if I’m clicking, I’m clicking back and forth to HGTV. So it just depends who gets there first.

  Rocky Mountain News, July 17, 2008

  We’re two well-versed lawyers who know each other really well. We each think we’re right about everything, and can argue each other into a corner.

  Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2008

  There was a meeting of the minds that [Barack and I] had to reach. I wasn’t content with saying, “You’re doing important things in the world, so go off and be important and I’ll handle everything else here [at home].” Because the truth is, if I did that, I’d probably still be angry.

  Vanity Fair, December 2007

  The big thing I figured out was that I was pushing to make Barack be something I wanted him to be for me. I believed that if only he were around more often, everything would be better. So I was depending on him to make me happy. Except it didn’t have anything to do with him. I needed support. I didn’t necessarily need it from Barack.

  O, The Oprah Magazine, November 2007

  I tease him all the time. Today, he still didn’t put the butter up after he made his breakfast. I was like, You’re just asking for it, you know that I am giving a speech, why don’t you just put the butter up? He said he was just giving me material.

  Campaign speech, April 18, 2007

  You want to know how Barack prepares for a debate? He hangs out with me, and he’s ready.

  New York Times, October 28, 2008

  ON DISCIPLINING HER KIDS

  There are downstairs rules, different rules in different parts of the house.

  People, August 4, 2008

  No whining, arguing, or annoying teasing.

  People, August 4, 2008

  ON DIVERSITY

  I hate diversity workshops. Real change comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable.

  New York Times, June 18, 2008

  Di
versity can’t be taken care of with ten kids. There is an isolation that comes with that.

  New York Times, June 18, 2008

  ON THEIR ECONOMIC STRUGGLES

  The only reason we’re not in debt today is because Barack wrote two best-selling books. That’s like hitting the Lotto, because that was not a solid financial plan.