December 28, 2007
Michelle Obama: "It's Now Or Never"
Michelle Obama in the new Vanity Fair tells contributing editor Leslie Bennetts that “it’s now or never,” with regard to her husband’s bid for the presidency. “We’re not going to keep running and running and running, because at some point you do get the life beaten out of you. It hasn’t been beaten out of us yet. We need to be in there now, while we’re still fresh and open and fearless and bold. You lose some of that over time. Barack is not cautious yet; he’s ready to change the world, and we need that.”
More excerpts after the jump. The full interview can be read here.
Michelle Obama also talks with Bennetts about:
NOT PRETENDING HER HUSBAND IS PERFECT:
“I can’t do that. That’s not me. I love my husband. I think he’s one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever met, and he knows that. But he’s not perfect, and I don’t want the world to want him to be perfect. If you look for that, then people can’t try hard stuff, because you might mess up. We want leaders to be bold and to try some things that might not work, because they might work and be great. I think that’s one of our failings as a nation—we’re looking for our leaders to be something that’s not realistic, and then we’re deeply disappointed when they don’t live up to those unrealistic standards. So let’s shake that up a little bit. We’re moving into the 21st century, and life is different. We’ve struggled; we’ve grown. Let’s not be hypocrites about it, either. Let’s not say we want one thing and then demand you be something you’re not.”
BARACK AT HOME:
“When he comes home, he’s taking out the garbage and he’s doing the laundry and he’s making up the beds, because the girls need to see him doing that, and he knows I need him to do that. And that was a meeting of the minds that we 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’—because the truth is, if I did that, I’d probably still be angry.”
PUTTING HER CAREER ON THE BACK BURNER:
“The way I look at it is, We’re running for president of the United States. Me, Barack, Sasha, Malia, my mom, my brother, his sisters—we’re all running. I can’t hold down a full-time job … and be on the road three or four days a week. Barack has never asked me to stop doing my job; as far as he was concerned, ‘You have to do whatever makes you feel comfortable.’ But, for me, it was: How can I not be part of this? How can I go to work every day, when we’re trying to do something I believe in?”
THE OBAMAS’ DIFFERING VIEWS ABOUT WHAT MAKES A FAMILY:
“I came into our marriage with a more traditional notion of what a family is. It was what I knew growing up—the mother at home, the father works, you have dinner around the table…. And then I married a man who came from a very different kind of upbringing. He didn’t grow up with a father; his mother traveled the world. So we both came to this marriage with very different notions about what children need, and what does a couple need to be happy. So I had to give up some of my notions, and so did he. That’s part of being married; everyone makes compromises. Once I got a sense that the family we were creating was going to be good for our children, I realized that it wasn’t exactly what I had, but our children are thriving and they feel loved.”
FINDING OUT HER HUSBAND WANTED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT SO SOON AFTER BECOMING A U.S. SENATOR:
“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?’ So we had to talk about it. Before I signed on, I had to know, in my mind and my heart, how is this going to work for me, and would I be O.K. with that? He wouldn’t have done this if he didn’t feel confident that I felt good about it, because it is a huge sacrifice. The pressure and stress on the family isn’t new. But we entered this thing knowing it was going to be really, really hard. For us, the question was: are we ready to do something really hard again, right after doing something that was really hard?”
CENSORING HERSELF FOR THE PRESS:
“I’m kind of sarcastic, and I’ve felt that my sense of humor had to be subjugated on some level. My husband loves my sense of humor, and we tease each other mercilessly. But if somebody doesn’t get the joke, then you become a caricature of what the joke was. So it’s like, Well, jeez—let me not joke, then, if it’s going to be all that problematic. People get real worked up about some things I felt were really minor, funny, harmless observations about who we are as people.”
WHAT KIND OF FIRST LADY SHE’D BE:
“I am really being as authentically me as I can be. When people ask, ‘What kind of First Lady will you be?’—I’m going to try, in all this, to be honest, hopefully funny, and open, and share important parts of me with people, hopefully in a way that will help them think about their lives and avoid the mistakes we may have made in our lifetime. What you see on the trail is probably who I will be as First Lady, because that’s really who I am.”
Posted at 10:47 AM
Comments
ITS NEVER MICHELLE! Talk about running a dirty negative sick campaign…. Obamas chief strategist campaign advisor, mintes after the Bhutto murder tried to link Senator Clinton!!!…talk about desperation in a camp!!!! Later, Axelrod backed away from his earlier statements. This obamacamp is sick, great example of Obamas people skills in selecting a chief strategist.
DES MOINES – Sen. Barack Obama directed fierce shots at his two chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), as he delivered his new stump speech at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. Obama’s criticisms were just another example of his reneging on his campaign promise of running a different kind of campaign. Obama campaign also spent Thursday continuing to criticize Edwards for a labor-backed 527 group that is running ads on his behalf. Obama campaign fired off emails to supporters entitled “What’s really happening in Iowa.”This guy looks pretty sad.
After The New York Times published a story Thursday reporting that Obama voted “present” — instead of yes or no — almost 130 times,
Major doubts over Barack Obama’s foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London – and none elsewhere in Western Europe or Latin America. they underlined this message by pointing to reports showing that Mr Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman. There was also strikingly robust criticism from an independent Washington think-tank about a 'disconcerting void' over transatlantic relations in Mr Obama’s foreign policy, as well as from a former British Minister for Europe. "Mr Obama’s advisers claim he has an 'intuitive grasp' of world affairs. Like G. Bush Obama as too raw for the presidency. Argument carries weight with voters, including Obama admirers.
"Denis MacShane, a Minister for Europe in Mr Blair’s Government, said he had been troubled by comments Mr Obama had made on the Middle East peace process and the prospect of military action in Pakistan. He added: 'A lot of people are concerned that international policy is not his strongest suit. Obama turned down requests from other visiting foreign dignitaries, such as an Italian opposition leader who was told that the senator was in 'presidential mode' and only seeing leaders of countries." Angry Chinese officials are taking aim at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over his statement that he would 'stop the import of all toys from China.'
"The Illinois senator’s remarks, which came at an Iowa campaign stop Wednesday, were 'unobjective, unreasonable and unfair,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters at a Thursday briefing. 'Imagine if the quality of American products was not 100 percent up to standard. Could we take that as a reason to totally ban U.S. products?' We need to avoid electing another president like Bush who is not experienced in foreign policy.
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JoJo | 12.28.07 11:35 AM
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FINDING OUT HER HUSBAND WANTED TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT SO SOON AFTER BECOMING A U.S. SENATOR:
Michelle should have knocked some sense into her husband for that and told him in no uncertain terms that he had no business running for president so soon after becoming a US senator.
corinne | 12.28.07 10:36 PM
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