Michelle Obama in Her Own Words Read online

  Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2008

  I remember those days clearly, that collection agency, the loan debt people calling you telling you that you’ve got a few more days before you’re in trouble.

  Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2008

  ON HER EDUCATION

  Many people wouldn’t think that someone with my background would end up where I am. . . . No one talked to me about Princeton or Harvard, or even going to college.

  Herald News (Joliet, IL), October 14, 2004

  I like kids, and I thought being a doctor was a noble profession. But then I got to high school and started taking science. And math.

  Reader’s Digest, October 2008

  You get the best education you can get, you work hard, you bring that education back and you give back, and you push the next generation to be better.

  MSNBC, November 13, 2007

  Most kids like me didn’t try, they said okay, you’re probably right, I wasn’t ready [for Princeton or Harvard]. There’s probably some magical thing I didn’t get because I’m black or I’m poor or I’m a girl or I’m not pretty enough.

  Concord Monitor (NH), December 6, 2007

  If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.

  Campaign speech, February 18, 2008

  ON THE ELITIST TAG

  I find it funny that people have tried to label Barack as an elitist. This is the man who grew up not knowing his father, with a young, single mother who he watched struggle to make ends meet, even going on food stamps at one point. And despite the economic struggles that his family went through, Barack turned down lucrative careers on Wall Street and went to work in communities to help folks in need on the South Side of Chicago, helping families who’d been devastated when the local steel plants shut down.

  Marie Claire, October 2008

  I am a product of a working-class background; I am one of those folks who grew up in that struggle. So when people talk about this elitist stuff, I say, you couldn’t possibly know anything about me.

  Associated Press (AP), April 16, 2008

  I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund to show up.

  Evansville Courier & Press (IN), April 17, 2008

  ON EXERCISE

  Exercise is really important to me. So if I’m ever feeling tense or stressed or like I’m about to have a meltdown, I’ll put on my iPod and head to the gym or out on a bike ride along Lake Michigan with the girls.

  Marie Claire, October 2008

  For me, exercise is more than just physical—it’s therapeutic.

  Momlogic.com, July 31, 2008

  [Being fit] has become even more important as I’ve had children, because I’m also thinking about how I’m modeling health to my daughters. I’m trying to teach my daughters moderation and constancy, that exercise is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

  Ebony, September 2008

  My workout routine is 90 minutes long, and I do it up to four times a week, depending on my travel schedule. It includes cardio, free weights, treadmill, stair-walking and other activities.

  Chicago Sun-Times, July 1, 2008

  ON HER FAMILY

  Family is first for us and it will always be that way,

  Boston Globe, October 28, 2007

  We’ve always been the kind of people who go to the soccer games, shop at Target, go for bike rides and make sure the girls get to the sleepovers they’ve been invited to. We still do that, but we usually have a lot of people watching now.

  Newhouse News Service (NNS), August 10, 2008

  ON FAMILY TIME

  We spend time with other families and play games. Uno is a favorite game. We watch movies, the kids like American Idol, SpongeBob, and the Disney Channel. Barack likes action movies and I like romantic comedies. Barack loves The Wire but we were also Sex and the City fans when it was on. The Sopranos was one of our favorites. That’s an example of an intense, gritty, long-term series you have to keep up with. He likes that kind of stuff.

  Rocky Mountain News, July 17, 2008

  We have just some of the most wonderful times when we visit Barack’s grandmother in Hawaii. Those are always wonderful times, warm weather, a time to be together and laugh, when everybody’s relaxed, no schedules, no nothing, just a lot of good fun together.

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

  When it comes to family TV and movie time, what the girls say goes. We love to watch The Incredibles, Shrek, Harry Potter, and Hannah Montana together. But the girls will tell you, they only get an hour of television time each day, after their homework is finished.

  Momlogic.com, July 31, 2008

  We love to go to movies. It’s all kid-centered. We’ve seen every kid’s movie out. Haven’t seen a grown-up movie since Dreamgirls.

  Jet, September 2007

  ON FAMILY VALUES

  We have spent the last decade talking a good game about family values, but I haven’t seen much evidence that we value women or family values. You can’t just tell a family of four to suck it up and make it work.

  ABC News, May 22, 2007

  I think it’s a unit that raises a child. In this couple, Barack is the person who has the skill, the inclination, the desire, the ability, to be in politics. I have no desire. So that’s a good thing, in my view, since someone has to be focusing on the kids, and that’s me. But it could easily be him. There’s no reason why the nurturing has to come from Mom—it just has to be there.

  Ladies’ Home Journal, August 2008

  ON HER FASHION SENSE

  You can get some good stuff online.

  Associated Press (AP), October 28, 2008

  I found ways to pin my hair and tie it down and I deal with it. If it’s not where it needs to be I pull it back. I just said I am not going to let hair be the dictator of my health.

  Ebony, September 2008

  I still go to Target. I do my own shopping.

  Boston Globe, October 28, 2007

  I love girly makeup and stuff, but my view is that’s a lot of work. I want people to get used to my face more naturally so that I don’t have to do that every day. Who’s got time to put eyelashes on and all that?

  Chicago Sun-Times, August 7, 2007

  I do think that what you wear is a reflection of who you are. I love to look glamorous when there’s a wonderful, purposeful event that is appropriate. But when I’m in Iowa campaigning with the girls, I am in Gap shorts and a T-shirt.

  Ebony, September 2008

  How she handles her hair: Headbands. I try not to do anything additional, because with black folks and perms, that’s where your hair’s on your pillow. So I tend to just slick it back.

  Glamour, September 2007

  I can be comfortable in anything.

  The Telegraph (UK), July 26, 2008

  It’s fun to look pretty.

  The View, June 18, 2008

  Wear what you like.

  Chicago Sun-Times, July 1, 2008

  I’m 5’11”, so typically, I’m in flats. They’re much better for keeping up with the girls and the pace of the campaign trail.

  Marie Claire, October 2008

  I stopped wearing pantyhose a long time ago because it was painful and they’d always rip. And I’m 5-foot-11 so I’m tall—nothing fits. Put ’em on, rip ’em. It’s just inconvenient.

  The View, June 18, 2008

  While I love fashion, I don’t have a lot of time to think about it. That is really my style: some really nice stuff for special occasions, but a whole lot of stuff you can throw on and wash, and it can get dirty, and you don’t lose your mind because you got a spot on it.

  Rocky Mountain News, July 17, 2008

  ON HER FATHER

  My Dad was our rock.

  One Nation speech, Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008

  You never wanted to disappoint him. We would be bawling.

  Newsweek, February 25, 2008

  He and my mom p
oured everything they had into me and Craig. It was the greatest gift a child could receive: Never doubting for a single minute that you’re loved and cherished and have a place in this world.

  One Nation speech, Democratic National Convention,

  August 25, 2008

  ON FEEDING HER FAMILY

  You can’t just make a dinner. It’s got to be a nutritious dinner, grown with good, fresh clean food. That takes time. Trust me. It is a message that we have talked about more and more in our household.

  Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2008

  Over the last year we shifted to organic. We started looking through our cabinets and reading the labels and realized there’s high-fructose corn syrup in everything. Now we keep a bowl of fresh fruit in the house. But you have to go to the fruit stand a couple of times a week to keep that fruit fresh; a six-year-old won’t eat the pruney grape or the brown banana. It’s got to be fresh for them to want it. Who’s got time to go to the fruit stand?

  New Yorker, March 10, 2008

  At country fairs: Stuff on a stick. Corn dogs and candied apples.

  New Yorker, March 10, 2008

  Cooking isn’t one of my huge things.

  Washington Post, May 11, 2007

  We’re bacon people.

  The View, June 18, 2008

  ON FEMINISM

  I’m not that into labels. So if you laid out a feminist agenda, I would probably agree with a large portion of it. But I wouldn’t identify as a feminist just like I probably wouldn’t identify as a liberal or a progressive.

  Washington Post, May 11, 2007

  We all know our country’s journey toward equality isn’t finished yet. We have more work to do.

  Associated Press (AP), August 27, 2008

  I know that the life I’m living is still out of the reach of too many women. Too many little black girls. I don’t have to tell you this. We know the disparities that exist across this country, in our schools, in our hospitals, at our jobs and on our streets.

  Newsweek, January 28, 2008

  ON HER “FIRST TIME I’M PROUD ABOUT AMERICA” QUOTE

  The full quote: What we’ve learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.

  Campaign speech, February 18, 2008

  What I was clearly talking about was that I’m proud of how Americans are engaging in the political process. For the first time in my lifetime, I’m seeing people rolling up their sleeves in a way that I haven’t seen and really trying to figure this out, and that’s the source of pride that I was talking about.

  Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2008

  So let me tell you something. I am proud. I’m proud of this country, and I’m proud of the fact that people are ready to roll [and] do something phenomenal. I know I wouldn’t be standing here—Barack and I, our stories wouldn’t be possible—if it weren’t for our fundamental belief and pride in this country and what it stands for.

  Boston Globe, February 21, 2008

  ON THE FIST BUMP

  I’m not that hip. I got this from the young staff. That’s the new high-five. It’s now my signature bump.

  The View, June 18, 2008

  ON THE FUTURE

  The changes that we need to make in this country are gonna be hard, and they’re gonna require a whole lot of sacrifice from every single American. And it’s gonna require a level of unity in this country that we haven’t seen yet and we haven’t experienced it, at least in my adult lifetime.

  CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,

  February 15, 2008

  Things aren’t going to get better when you wish for it or you hope for it: Things get better when regular folks take action to make change happen from the bottom up. Every major, historical moment in our time it has been made by folks who said, “Enough,” and they banded together to move this country forward—and now is one of those times.

  Speech, Georgetown, S.C., January 14, 2008

  ON GETTING A DOG

  [The girls’] main concern about this whole race was whether or not they could get a dog, that was the bargaining chip. It’s like, “You want to run for president, we’re getting a dog.” And let me tell you we talk about that dog every day. What breed, how big, how small. Yesterday morning we talked about names. I said, “Look, you are getting a dog, just knock it off.”

  Chicago Sun-Times, May 14, 2008

  ON HER GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, A SLAVE

  It’s good to be a part of playing out history in this way. It could be anybody. But it’s us, it’s our family, it’s that story, that’s going to play a part in telling a bigger story. It is a process, of uncovering the shame, digging out the pride that is part of that story, so that other folks feel comfortable about embracing the beauty and the tangled nature of the history of this country.

  Washington Post, October 2, 2008

  An important message in this journey is that we’re all linked through our histories of growth and survival in this country. Somewhere there was a slave owner—or a white family in my great-great-grandfather’s time that gave him a place, a home, that helped him build a life—that again led to me. So who were those people? I would argue they’re just as much a part of my history as my great-great-grandfather.

  Washington Post, October 2, 2008

  ON HEALTH CARE

  It’s mutual responsibility. Whatever health-care solution we bring to the table, people have to use it. People have to put good food in their bodies. People have to take their medication as directed. People can’t sit and completely blame outside forces.

  Chicago Tribune, April 22, 2007

  How do we make sure our policies are structured in a way that supports balance, whether it’s more work/family leave, or whether it’s better health care? There are a lot of policies that go along with allowing women that freedom.

  Ebony, September 2008

  ON HILLARY CLINTON

  No one has been more gracious and more helpful to me.

  New York Times, August 28, 2008

  My husband is a better candidate because of her. My daughters will think of themselves differently because of her. She has been nothing but gracious and open and warm and generous in this effort.

  Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2008

  Hillary has been phenomenal. From the minute after this was done, she has always been just cordial and open. I’ve called her. I’ve talked to her. She’s given me advice about the kids. We’ve talked at length about this kind of stuff, how you feel, how you react. She has been amazing. She is a real pro and a woman with character.

  Larry King Live, October 8, 2008

  I’m sure there are some [similarities]. But I feel like I am uniquely me.

  CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, February 15, 2008

  I’ve always admired what she has been able to do with Chelsea. You can tell from one conversation with Chelsea that she’s a mature, decent, well-balanced young lady. [The Clintons] did something right. Hillary talked about how they were very protective of her personal space, and how they created some real clear hard boundaries that were never crossed. That went a long way to retaining some normalcy for her.

  Newsweek, November 5, 2008

  I think the world of Hillary Clinton, particularly as a woman, having watched her go through a lot of what I might be going through and doing it with a level of grace, and raising a phenomenal daughter. There’s no way that I would say absolutely not to one of the most successful and powerful and groundbreaking women on this planet.

  International Herald Tribune, May 20, 2008

  She is smart and gracious and eve
rything she appears to be in public. Someone who’s managed to raise what appears to be a solid, grounded child.

  Chicago Magazine, October 2004