Michelle Obama (10 page)

As the campaign went on, her mother retired to help Michelle all the time, and she's now part of their lives in the White House. "Thank God for Grandma!" Michelle said to audiences during the campaign. It wasn't what Marian Robinson expected, but she said it wasn't hard. "Michelle is such a disciplinarian," she told reporter Rebecca Johnson, "there really isn't much for me to do." Michelle disagrees. Referring both to her own childhood and the help she gets now, Michelle told Melinda Henneberger, "Mama always understates her role."

To keep the girls in touch with Barack, Michelle bought two Apple Macbooks so they could have video chats. "It's harder for him, being on the road," Michelle told Holly Yeager during the campaign. "I've got my girls and our routine. I am feeling their love. He is missing that."

It took a while for the country to figure out Michelle. Her sense of humor was surprising. A political wife who made fun of her husband? Even the people who knew her well wondered if the voters would understand. "Occasionally, it gives campaign people heartburn," David Axelrod, the campaign's chief strategist told Lauren Collins of the
New Yorker.
"She's fundamentally honest—goes out there, speaks her mind, jokes. She doesn't parse her words or select them with an antenna for political correctness." When Collins asked Michelle if she was offended when Bill Clinton called Barack's opposition to the Iraq War a "fairy tale," Michelle gave the political answer: a simple "No." Then she made a horror-movie voice and held her hands up as if her fingernails were claws. "I want to rip his eyes out!" A nervous look from someone on her staff led her to state the obvious to the reporter: "Kidding!" she said. "See, this is what gets me into trouble."

At times it was difficult for her to keep smiling. Along with attacks from her opponents, and from some of the media, there was a constant stream of extreme, personal anger that flowed from the Internet. "You are amazed sometimes at how deep the lies can be," she told the
New York Times.
A lot of the hatred was connected to race. People who seemed to be angry at the idea of African Americans in the White House tried to spread the idea that Michelle hated white people. At one point, there was a rumor on the Internet that an audio recording of her calling Caucasians "whitey" was about to surface. "I mean, 'whitey'?" she said. "That's something that [1970s sitcom character] 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." There was no recording.

Hillary Clinton's criticism of Barack also stung. Michelle seemed to share a common opinion that Clinton was making race an issue. When ABC News asked Michelle if she would be able to support Clinton if Clinton were the party's nominee, Michelle said, "I'd have to think about that. I'd have to think about [her] policies, her approach, her tone." She was criticized for showing anger. She told reporter Richard Wolffe at the time, "It's like I can't think out loud."

The media's attacks became ugly. A caption on Fox News called her "Obama's baby mama," an insulting term for an unwed mother that included a wink toward her race. Fox later called the fist pound that she gave Barack at the Democratic National Convention a "terrorist fist jab."

She didn't help herself when she said in February 2008, as Barack was clinching the nomination, "for the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country." Had she said she was more proud than she'd ever been before, no one could have argued. But in the part of the political world that saw any Democrat as anti-American, and any African American as hostile to whites, her comment was repeated endlessly.

At the time, her brother Craig explained it to reporter Mark Patinkin as if it were a basketball game. Barack was beating the Clinton team, and later he was beating Senator John McCain's team. "When a team is down, they try everything they can to come back," Craig said. "Elbows, fouling you. And this is so much bigger. So the tactics are going to be what they're going to be."

A couple of things helped ease the sting of the insults. The first was that the attacks seemed to backfire on Barack's opponents. First Clinton, then McCain and then his running mate, vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, seemed to lose support each time they attacked the characters of Barack and Michelle. At the same time, Michelle's star rose. The more the voters saw of her, the more they liked her. That's part of why the attacks backfired. Craig said the difference was "magical." He told reporter Kristen Gelineau, "It's like going to sleep and waking up and you're Tinkerbell."

With weeks left to go before Election Day, November 4, 2008, Michelle and Barack knew they were almost certain to win. The polls from both the Democratic and Republican sides were consistent. Only a sudden news event could have affected the result. John McCain knew that, too.

The Obama campaign was determined to race to the finish line as hard as possible, but the worst part of the worrying was over. Now Michelle had to think about what would come next. As always, she was considering every possibility. But she didn't waste time wondering about which first lady she would use as a role model. "I don't think I can honestly emulate somebody else," she told Richard Wolffe. "I think I can only be who I can be in this role. And that's going to come with all the pluses and minuses and baggage and insecurities and all the things that I'll bring into it, plus my hopes and dreams along with it."

Some of those dreams are personal. For the self-described "Mom-in-Chief," one benefit of moving into the White House is that Barack will be working from home. After all of Barack's time as a state senator in Springfield, Illinois, then as a U.S. Senator in Washington, D.C., and finally as a presidential candidate for twenty months, Michelle finally has her whole family under one roof.

There are also grander hopes. At the Democratic National Convention a few months earlier, she had expressed the one constant theme in her life: "Barack and I ... want our children—and all children in this nation—to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them."

Her example is already proof of that.

Laurie Brown is the reason there's a book.

Thanks to Laurie also for putting it in the hands of Jen Haller, Julia Richardson, Sheila Smallwood, Helena Chandler, Donna McCarthy, Margaret Melvin, John Mendelson, and Betsy Groban.

Thank you to Mark McVeigh, Nancy and Stanley Colbert, Magdalena Alagna, Jill Holt, Mark Grishaber, and Sonia Matthews, for everything.

Many thanks to William Rinehart, Pete and Gethyn Soderman, Randy and Vicki Sturgill, and to the many volunteers and staff in Wilmington, North Carolina, including Chris Bramley, Heather Matheson, Sarah Reamer, Justin Schardin, and Nathan Williams.

INTRODUCTION

"Can Michelle Obama Be First Lady No Matter What?": Wonkette, November 13, 2007 (
wonkette.com/322259/can-michelle-obama-be-first-lady-no-matter-what
).

"There is no difference": Richard Wolffe, "Barack's Rock,"
Newsweek,
February 25, 2008.

"Nothing is fake": Kim Chipman, "Coach Robinson Knows Real Michelle Obama Amid Attacks,"
Bloomberg,
July 22, 2008.

"My daughters are doing chores": "Barack Obama: The Barbara Walters Interview," ABC News, November 26, 2008.

"Just don't screw it up, buddy": Barack Obama,
The Audacity of Hope
(New York: Crown/Random House, 2006), 359.

CHAPTER
1

"pass a test just by carrying a book under his arm," "as good or better": Wolffe, "Barack's Rock."

"my mentor, my protector, and my lifelong friend": Michelle Obama, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008. Transcript from the
New York Times,
August 26, 2008.

"She might seem intimidating at first because she's so smart": Rebecca Johnson, "Michelle Obama's the Natural,"
Vogue,
September 2007.

"Some of my earliest memories": Michelle Obama, "Democratic Radio Address," October 25, 2008.

"because [politics] seems like a dirty business": Melinda Henneberger, "Michelle Obama Interview: Her Father's Daughter,"
Reader's Digest,
October 2008.

"reluctant participant": Holly Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama,"
O Magazine,
November 2007.

"I generally have shielded her from most of my campaigns": Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"we as a family were extremely cynical": Liza Mundy, "A Series of Fortunate Events,"
Washington Post,
August 12, 2007. See also: Liza Mundy,
Michelle
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 27.

"People ask me about my kids now": Johnson, "Michelle Obama's the Natural."

"My dad was our rock," "He was our champion, our hero": Michelle Obama, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008.

"always had a smile on his face": Mundy,
Michelle,
42.

"Seeing a parent with a disability": Henneberger, "Michelle Obama Interview: Her Father's Daughter."

"As he got sicker": Michelle Obama, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008.

"He didn't complain": Mary Mitchell, "Makeup's Too Much Work for Michelle,"
Chicago Sun-Times,
August 7, 2007.

"one of those people ... who are always preparing": Henneberger, "Michelle Obama Interview: Her Father's Daughter."

"When you have a parent with a disability":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"She never takes a pass": Johnson, "Michelle Obama's the Natural."

"You never wanted to disappoint him": Wolffe, "Barack's Rock."

"If he was disappointed in you":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"We always felt": David Mendell,
Obama: From Promise to Power
(New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 95.

"I always say Michelle raised herself": Cassandra West, "Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn't Mind,"
Chicago Tribune,
September 1, 2004.

"It was the greatest gift a child could receive": Michelle Obama, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008.

"the smallest room I had ever seen": Rosalind Rossi, "Obama's Anchor,"
Chicago Sun-Times,
January 21, 2007.

"somehow ... she has managed to commit to memory": Craig Robinson, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008.

"We told them, 'Make sure you respect your teachers,": Lauren Collins, "The Other Obama: Michelle Obama and the Politics of Candor,"
The New Yorker,
March 10, 2008.

"I always resented it": Harriette Cole, "From a Mother's Eyes,"
Ebony,
September, 2008.

"Yeah, she's got a temper": Susan Saulny, "Michelle Obama Thrives in Campaign Trenches,"
New York Times,
February 14, 2008.

"Life's not fair": M. Charles Bakst, "Brown Coach Robinson a Strong Voice for Brother-in-law Obama,"
Providence Journal,
May 20, 2007.

"When we were young kids, our parents divided the bedroom": Craig Robinson, Remarks at the Democratic National Convention, August 25, 2008.

"If you aren't challenged":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"If I can't do it fast":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"The academic part": Desmond Vonner, "Coach Has His Own Campaign,"
Hartford Courant,
February 28, 2008.

CHAPTER
2

"It was back-breaking work": Leigh Pressley, "Building a Rice Empire Was Difficult Work,"
Charlotte Observer,
July 9, 2008.

"In the summers": Dusinberre, William,
Them Dark Days: Slavery in the American Rice Swamps
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 312.

"No region offered such fabulous fortunes": William Freehling,
The Road to Disunion
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 214.

"I am actually so startled": Freehling,
Road to Disunion,
215.

"a seedbed of black culture": Charles Joyner,
Shared Traditions: Southern History and Southern Culture
(Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1999), 94.

"You had the learning in your head": Joyner,
Shared Traditions,
78.

"house boy": U.S. Census Records.

"They pushed their kids hard into education": Shailagh Murray, "A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil,"
Washington Post,
October 2, 2008.

"He was a very proud man": Murray, "A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil."

"A lot of times these stories get buried: Murray, "A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil."

"I am married to a black American": Barack Obama, "A More Perfect Union," speech delivered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 18, 2008.

"An important message": Murray, "A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil."

"There are probably thousands," "It makes more sense to me": Murray, "A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil."

CHAPTER
3

"When [Michelle] applied and came here": Mundy,
Michelle,
50.

"What would happen if": Cole, "From a Mother's Eyes."

"She badgered and badgered":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"focused": Mundy,
Michelle,
55.

"She didn't goof off": Mundy,
Michelle,
55.

"I was sort of a goof-off": Mendell,
Obama,
32.

"just a bunch of kids": Mundy,
Michelle,
54.

"It was racially diverse": Mundy,
Michelle,
54.

"a melting pot": Mundy,
Michelle,
55.

"Willis Wagons": James R. Ralph,
Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993), 20.

"Does everybody here want to go to college?":Yeager, "The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama."

"What's your first choice?": Mundy, Michelle, 58–59; and others.