Transcripts For CSPAN First Ladies Influence Image 20140216

Service. Coming up next, the original series first ladies. Looking at the shell obama. After that, the state dinner with the french president. After that, the cochairs on the election in administration. You come into this house and there is so much to do. So much coming at you that there is no time to think or reflect. Hi, everyone. We are here digging up soil because we are going to plant a garden. I will not be satisfied until every single veteran and Military Spouse who wants a job has one. At the end of the day, my most important title is still mominchief. In 2008, barack obama was elected as our 44th president and he and First Lady Michelle Obama went into the history books as the first africanamerican first couple. One year into a second obama term, the first lady continues her focus on childhood obesity, support for military families, and access to education. Good evening and welcome. Tonight is the final installment in our yearlong series, first ladies influence and image. We finish appropriately with the current first lady, Michelle Obama. We will learn more about her biography and how she has approached the job in her six years in the office so far. Let me introduce you to our two guests who will be with us throughout that time. They are both journalists who have covered the first lady. Liza mundy is a biographer of Michelle Obama. Her 2008 book was called michelle. Krissah thompson is a Washington Post journalist who covers the first lady as her beat. We will start our program with a clip and this is from 2008. Michelle obama in a Campaign Speech talking about her own personal story. All my life i have confronted people who had a certain expectation of me. Every step of the way there was somebody there telling me what i could not do. I applied to princeton cannot go there, your test scores are not high enough. I went and graduated with honors. Wrong. [applause] then i was not supposed to go to harvard. I dont even know why they said that. I can go through every curve and twist and turn of my life and find somebody that was telling me to lower my expectations, set my sights low, i cannot do that. Every time i push passed other peoples limited expectations of me and reached for things i knew i could do and grabbed my seat at the table that others felt so entitled to, what i learned was that there is no magic to these people who feel so much more ready than me. I was just as ready, always just as prepared as anyone at that table. We are going to talk about her biography but we chose that clip because that was before she went to the white house. Both of you were observing her professionally. When you watch the 2008 Michelle Obama, the prewhite house Michelle Obama, and think about her today. How has she grown in the job . How has she changed her approach to the public from what we see in that clip . She has become more optimistic and positive. I have a hard time imagining her saying something quite like that today. She seems to be articulating in that clip something almost like there is something called imposter syndrome when people feel like they are not supposed to be where they are and it takes them a while to get over that feeling. Because maybe you came from a background where youre not expected to be at this place. If she felt any of that, she certainly has gotten over it. She seems very comfortable in where she is. She still is saying some of the same things. I think some of the rough edges have been polished off. When she is talking to young people, she is saying, people did not believe in me at different points in my life, but i showed them that i could overcome and i made these achievements anyway. This line that there is no magic to this. She says that often so that people know she can close this gap between where she came from and where she is. Kids can do the same thing. In your book, you say early on that Michelle Obama once said of politics that sometimes it is like a waste of time and she has become over time her husbands trusted political advisor. When did that transformation happen . She came from chicago which is a city of machine politics, a city that had not been politically just or fair towards africanamerican residents. She had a lot of reason to be skeptical of politics when she was growing up and her family was famously skeptical to the point where barack obama when he confessed to Craig Robinson that he wanted to be a politician, he said to keep that under his hat. She even described herself in 2007 as having been the last one to accept that barack obama was going to run for president. It mustve come during the president ial campaign. Do you agree . I do. There is this idea that she was a reluctant campaigner. I think that she was reluctant to sign on in part because they had two young daughters at the time and thinking about this sort of sacrifices that would have to be made. She had been through a campaign for senate that took them all across the state and her mom had to step up in many ways and help with the daughters. When you think about taking that to the nation, there was a lot to consider. She counted the costs. Then i am told once she signed on, she was all in. It was not that this reluctance continued throughout. What we started this series, we promised it would be from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Obviously, this one is a challenge tonight because it is a sitting first lady and the story has not been told nor has there been some distance in time to judge her legacy and history. Lets spend some time on her biography and how she has used her six years in the white house. We do invite your calls along the way. Here is how you can join in. You can do it by telephone you can find us on twitter firstladies is our twitter address. Facebook is another opportunity. There is already a conversation on facebook about Michelle Obama. We will go to her biography. She was born when and where . She was born in chicago in 1964. It was january 17. What was 1960 chicago like for the Robinson Family . It was a very segregated city. She grew up on the south side of chicago. There were a lot of different neighborhoods, different immigrants, different ethnic neighborhoods. The city was just opening up a little bit so that her family when she was still pretty small was able to move into a neighborhood that had been a white neighborhood. Craig has said that they remember the white families started moving away when families like the robinsons were moving in. They wouldve been aware of that. They wouldve been aware that opportunities were opening up for better neighborhoods, better schools, but at the same time, there was a white flight that was going on that they wouldve been aware of. Father Fraser Robinson born in 1935 and died in 1991. And her mother, marian robinson, whom we all know because she lives at the white house. We dont see her too often but she is part of the first family. We have a clip about Michelle Obama talking about her father. Lets listen in. My father was a pump operator at the city water plant. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when my brother and i were young. Even as a kid, i knew there were plenty of days when he was in pain. I knew there were plenty of mornings when it was a struggle for him to simply get out of bed. But every morning, i watched my father wake up with a smile. He grabbed his walker, prop himself up against the bathroom sink, and slowly shave and button his uniform. When he returned home after a long days work, my brother and i would stand at the top of the stairs of our little apartment, patiently waiting to greet him, watching as he reached down to lift one leg and then the other to slowly climb his way into our arms. Despite these challenges, my dad hardly ever missed a day of work. He and my mom were determined to give me and my brother the kind of education they could only dream of. [applause] when my brother and i finally made it to college, nearly all of our tuition came from Student Loans and grants, but my dad still have to pay a tiny portion of that tuition himself. Every semester, he was determined to pay that bill right on time, even taking out loans when he fell short. He was so proud to be sending his kids to college and he made sure we never missed a registration deadline because his check was late. You see, for my dad, that is what it meant to be a man. Lots to follow up on but lets start with her father and his influence on her life. If you look at the obamas as a couple, the interesting comparison is that barack obama did not know his father at all. It seems from what we can see there that for Michelle Obama, her father was a very important influence. Her father was a central figure. Really both of her parents. Her brother describes their childhood as being a time when their parents that a lot of time with them, they were not leaving their kids with babysitters. They built the kids selfesteem and made it seem like they were wonderful people to be around. That kind of confidence infused in their lives. They took family trips, played board games. They knew all their relatives, went to visit, and described a really warm, familycentered childhood. Their dad was at the heart of that. She described him as a pump operator but he was also part of the precinct democratic precinct in the city of chicago. What was his job and how did that influence the families . He was a precinct captain. He would go around in some ways, he was a Community Organizer like barack obama. Neighbors said that he was a joking man and had a great sense of humor. It may be that he genuinely enjoyed being a precinct captain. It may also be that it was necessary to be a precinct captain in order to get that pump operator job because that was the way you would get a city job. The other thought i had about both of her parents is having a good city job meant for them that Michelle Obamas mom could stay home with the children in a way that many women were not able to do so. Africanamerican women have a longer tradition of having to go out to work. I think when she had children, she asked herself, should i be home with my daughters the way my mom was home with me . I think it probably made her fathers job seem all the more valuable to have. I think that is an important point about her mom. She was a stayathome mom but she had a couple of years of Teachers College so she was able to Homeschool School her children before homeschooling was popular in the way that we think about it. Both of them skipped early grades in elementary school. You see some things happening in this family really early that are different. Both children went to princeton and michelle went to harvard law school. Where did the emphasis of education come from . Her parents. They were really clear this was the road to get ahead. Her brother in his book writes about his mom teaching them to read at home and doing math tables and that kind of thing. When they got to school even as early as first and second grade, they were already steps ahead of everyone else and that continues along with their own hard work through high school. Theyre excelling really early on. When Michelle Obama got into a Magnet School that was in a completely different part of chicago, she had to take several modes of transportation to get to her high school and leave really early in the morning. An hourlong bus to school in each direction. During the 2008 your newspaper wrote a big story about the genealogy of Michelle Obamas family, tracing it back to a slave in georgetown in South Carolina. A question for both of you. The arc of the Robinson Family life is the arc of black history in america in ways that Barack Obamas life is not. Can you comment on that and what we see in the Robinson Family and part of the great migration in the 1940s and 1950s and how we should understand their experience . Do you want to go first . You can go, liza, you may know a little more about the family from South Carolina onto chicago and just that arc. We do know that for africanamericans, the fact that her story is rooted in relatives that were enslaved has been a very important and connective to her relationship with the community in general. When you look back to 2008, there were some questions early on about is barack obama black enough . You never heard that sort of thing about Michelle Obama and i think part of that is rooted in the more traditional africanamerican experience. That way she kind of serves as a validator for him in many ways. She definitely did. That was important. What do you want to add about the Robinson Family history . Her familys history is quintessential in that some of her family stayed in georgetown and she has relatives who are still there. There was a train depot very close to town. At least one of her male ancestors, i think it wouldve been her greatgrandfather traveled to chicago because that is where the trains went. He was able to settle in the south side where there was the meatpacking plants and all that industrial labor. There were still a lot of racism and different wage scales for black men and white men but it was better than the south. The Robinson Family was able to establish a very broad and rooted family in chicago so that when she and barack obama were first going out, that was a real epiphany for him. An experience to be in such a rooted family where your uncles were coming around and people were visiting with each other, it was a different family life than he experienced. Adrienne on twitter asks, mrs. Obama is into having children exercise more. I wonder if she played any sports when she was younger. She did ballet in high school so she danced. Her brother writes a little bit about this in his book describing his sister as being very competitive. She wanted to win board games and foot races and that kind of thing. If my recollection is right, it is part of the reason she did not continue let me pause. She said she didnt do many sports in high school and beyond because she was taking the bus back and forth that wouldve kept her at school too late to be able to do some of those afterschool programs. Craig went to a different high school where he was able to play basketball. I thought she said at one point she resisted playing basketball because she was tall and people thought she would be likely to play basketball. And not being able to beat her brother at it, too. The first lady is 511. Do we know when she reached that height . I have a photo of her in ballet and she looked pretty tall. We will take a couple of calls and then learn about her days in princeton and then law school and then meeting the future president. Cathy is in colorado. Good evening. I have been watching the Program Since Martha Washington until now. My comment is that i am a romantic. I see some of the president s and their wives seemed to show a lot of love. For instance, pat and Richard Nixon i think he loved her but he did not show it. I can see it with michelle and president obama that they really do love one another. I think they really do care for one another and they enjoy each others company. That was my comment. I think this is so important for the people of the United States to say these two people love one another and i dont care if youre a republican or democrat, i think it is important that they do show that they do care and dont put on a show. Also, since we have been moving through history with this series, has societys standards changed where we are more welcoming to seeing the personal emotional side of the people of the white house . I think so because of reality television, if nothing else. We are so intimately involved with people that we dont know. In some ways, people feel like they know the obamas because it is on public display. We catch wind when they are on date night. We know they had an early valentines day dinner. The fact that is out in public and people see them warmly touching each other and hugging. Even his campaign at one point sent out a photo of them together hugging one another, both embracing one another and that went viral. There were pieces in newspapers thinking about what it means to see a kind of modern marriage in the white house and considering those ideas. A modern marriage in the white house and an africanamerican couple. You write in one of your articles that valerie was been with the first lady since her early days says they are cognizant of this role model importance that they have. Would you comment on how much of this is a conscious effort . I think it is very conscious, not just for young people who have been a focus of both the president and first lady, but also for families. There were so much talk now about how you do family well in this country. They understand that people are hungry for that information. How do you raise welladjusted teenagers and to have a woman doing that in the white house and giving Parenting Tips. She gave some Parenting Tips the Justin Biebers mother the other day. People want that kind of information and i think it provides us some of that personal connection that this white house has done i would save very well in helping people feel the white house is the peoples house and this is a family that could be the family next door that you could relate to. It is really the first fully social media white house. They have advantages on social media that past president did not so we have seen a lot of them in lots of different forms. John is in houston. This show is great and i called during the helen taft show. After they killed osama bin laden, when they saw the pictures, what was his reaction and her reaction and will they ever release them . Thank you. Either of you know whether or not she had a reaction about osama . If i remembering correctly, that night she went out to dinner with his sister, maybe. We dont know anything about their private reactions to those photos. We do know they were not in the white house. Keith in illinois. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. It is obvious that michelle and barack obama are really good parents. I was appalled with that ad campaign that came out this last election that was talking about that their kids were getting special treatment and this and that. They should have, they are the president s children. How did that affect michelle and how did she maintain and not just go viral on tv after that was done . I think i know what he is referring to. I believe it was the nra it couldve been another organization when we were in the midst of the gun rights debate. I think it was a web ad and not an ad for television asking questions about the president s daughters being guarded by secret service and men that were carrying guns and why shouldnt other young people have armed guards in their schools. I think the president reacted and did not think those sort of ads were appropriate. This brings up an interesting point on just how protected this white house has been of the obama daughters. You do see some very fine lines. There were some companies that tried to create some dolls named after the daughters early on in the white house quickly shut that down. This sort of thing that the daughters are offlimits, it has been pretty true to form. Have to move the story along with farther back in history, there were some president to fully embrace having the children be available, making advertisements out of them so that has been another storyline as our series has progressed. First ladies have handed down advice like Jackie Kennedy heading down advice to Hillary Clinton. She is a successful student at princeton at a time where there were about 90 africanamericans there. One of the things that have stayed with her in politics is her thesis because she was a sociology major. Talk about that the system and how it evolved into a Political Tool for the opposition. As someone who was there on the thought it would end up in the public view and use against her sort of boggles the mind. She was on the campus at a very interesting time. It had opened up to women and africanamerican students to a more diverse student body, but there was definitely resistance and backlash against that. It was a time where a lot of students did not have a lot of experience, having traveled a lot so they were coming to campus and made aware of their difference in the way they had never been made aware of before. Her thesis, talking about the fact for the first time on the campus of princeton she realized she was black seems completely unsurprising to me and yet it is interesting, it was an experiment where she was writing alumni and saying, did you feel more comfortable with why people are black people . What kind of results ability do you have towards the lower income black community . She was working on all these changes and questions that you was asking yourself in the way that seem to be so normal. So many other students of different gender or racial groups or ethnic groups would also be asking themselves on this campus exposed to a lot of different people. You have to figure out what is class and what that looks like it means. How do i stay connected to where i come from a which is very important to me and also move into these opportunities that are ahead of me . Is anything fair game for the highest office in the land . She moves from princeton to harvard to study law. What took her in that direction . I think part of it was if you werent quite sure what you did, you would go to law school. I think for many people at that point, you thought the Civil Rights Act was not that old. You thought you would change the world. There was a pretty strong conformist sort of push to law school at that time. I did interview an administrator who knew her very well who try to talk her out of going to law school. She said michelle did call her and said she was probably right. She chose to go to chicago and get a job at a Corporate Law that specialized in tell the communications law. Telecommunications law. Getting back to what i could do for my community, she did have the opportunity to get into Corporate America work for Corporate Law firm and have access to this kind of a job in a way way your parents did not. Should i take advantage of that opportunity now or should i go back and work on behalf of my community and where i came from . That is something she has wrestled with ever since. We will take a telephone call. Lisa is in portland, oregon. Her brother craig lives here in oregon and i was wondering if you are certain that she and the president will return to chicago . Do we know we are beginning to talk about that. We dont know where they will eventually end up. They talked about perhaps staying in washington right after his term ends because his youngest daughter will still love couple of years in high school. After uprooting their lives to come here, as the president said to fulfill his dream, that some other members of the family will come first and deciding where they go next. I think we can look for their youngest daughter sasha to have quite a bit of input into where they end up in where they will make their way to back to chicago or hawaii or any number of places, we cannot be sure. Ora from georgia. Hi. I have lived in indiana in 2008 and Michelle Obama came to speak. It was a group of us for obama. About 150 of us. She spoke at a high school and everyone in that room had tears. She was amazing. She is amazing. I really enjoyed the series. Ive wanted ever since Martha Washington and thank you so much. Thank you for your call. She takes a job at a big law firm in chicago and it was a fateful decision because she meets a young summer law intern from harvard. Tell the story of how the two of them met. He was a Summer Associate and she was his boss. Probably like modern work place laws would not allow this to develop. In fact, he was taken with her. Her colleagues that i interviewed became aware in the Late Afternoon that they would walk by her office and he would be on her desk and they could tell that something was developing. It did not take too long before they were going out and were smitten with each other. But they did not marry for four years. That is right. He was he had to go back to law school. She was in chicago. He was going back to harvard law. There were several years where they were not necessarily living in the same town. And she does tell a funny story where she began to pressure him. And they were going out to dinner in chicago and she sort of started in on when are we going to get married. For a while, he would say marriage is just a word. Then a ring was delivered with the dessert. She tells the story. That did shut her up. They were married in 1992. Michelle obamas church which would become a part of the political story. The pastor there, reverend Jeremiah Wright. How did his story their story together become important . It becomes an important part of the 2008 campaign. It really speaks to in so many ways this kind of latent question that was always out there. Is america ready for africanamericans in the white house and is america ready for a black president . In some ways, Jeremiah Wright stands in as a kind of charge point for that question. He comes out of a kind of strain of africanamerican pastors and thinking black liberation and theology where there were many radical sermons which were excerpted and lines were taken from them which became a huge political problem for the obamas. He was also a man for a time had quite a bit of influence on them. President obama when he is in the u. S. Senate, takes the title of his second book audacity to hope, comes from one of the sermons. Reverend wright talked about this idea of not having very much, but hoping and holding on to hope. These are some of the kind of ideas that connected them to him in the church. When this breaks open in the campaign, there is really a large sort of National Conversation about race that began. They were married in 1992. Malia did not arrive until 1998. What was life like for the early couple . They were working very hard. Barack obama helped persuade michelle that she could leave Corporate Law. And she could do something less conventional and more interesting. She did not have to follow a really kind of predictable path. I think that is one thing he did for her. At the same time, she gave him a rooted family. A sense of belonging. He gave her a sense of the possible. What was possible for her. She took a job in the City Government and then a nonprofit called public allies. For that time, he was teaching at the law school and getting involved in politics and they were working very hard and intensely. Is it true in addition to her Community Oriented jobs, she was also serving on corporate boards . I read she served on several corporate boards. She was on some boards. One was a dance company. I am not sure. It would be important in her development. When barack obama starts to move from Community Organizing into elective politics, how supportive was michelle . I have a quote from his book where he was talking about how after sasha was born, michelle would say you only think of yourself. I never thought i would have to raise a family alone. It was a classic marrital argument that happened repeatedly during this time. She was shouldering so much of the weight of raising a family. And supporting the family. This is a difficult point in their marriage. And kind of what he is going to do with his life. And not the first time in the history of first ladies where the political wife is left to really raise the family. A real commitment on the part to pursue this. There have been first ladies who are prayed for their husbands defeat. There have been first ladies who were dragged into the white house against their will. It was not elections in that camp. Not quite. Hi, sandy. Hello. I want to commend you for doing an excellent series. The question i have is probably twofold. The main one is the president ial library. I know that the first lady end their service, will it be in honolulu or chicago . You would be more likely to know. No one knows. We know they have formed a committee to begin to think about the library and where it will be. They will begin soliciting, i guess you would call them bids, from cities. Chicago is on the list. I hear new york. President obama spent time at columbia. Hawaii will put in a bid and there will be other cities that they pass through. There is a sense that chicago makes sense in part because the political start was there and they got to their roots. At this point, it doesnt seem settled. In chicago, there are different locations they hope will eventually get the library. We will fastforward. The bid for the u. S. Senate and coming to washington. The decision to start running for president. How much a part of that decision was Michelle Obama . Was that something the two together strategized . He had to convince her according to the way her brother tells the story. First, barack obama went to michelles brother and had a conversation with him. I think this is the opportunity and i should do this. He says, have you talked to your wife . And barack obama said, i thought you could help me with that. Craig robinson met with his mother and sister and had this idea it was described as paving the way and as a family, they make a decision that this is something they would do. We will go back to the 2008 wisconsin speech. Michelle obama out on the campaign trail. Because another part of the speech contains a section that has stayed with her throughout her tenure in office. Lets listen. [video clip] what we have learned over the year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. [applause] let me tell you something for the first time in my adult lifetime, i am really proud of my country. [applause] 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 not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I have seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic issues and it made me proud. Tonight on our facebook page, people were quoting that line years later. It has stayed with people as their view of how she thinks of american society. Has she talked about what she was saying and what she was trying to say . I think she did. She did soon after talk about that. In fact, at the time, she had said and expressed things in different ways. What happened in that moment was the Political Press had not been paying much attention to her. She was out mostly speaking to grassroots and supporters. I saw her a couple times on the campaign trail. People enjoyed hearing her in part because, unlike the candidates, she was not so strictly message. She spoke from her heart without a lot of notes. At that time, the democratic grassroots found that refreshing. Then comes this moment where this one line is taken from this speech. It begins to define her. The campaign has to immediately snap into action and begin to create a different story around her because one emerges that is not favorable. Any comments on that narrative and how its defined her and the opposition used it to create a narrative about the president . It lined up with they would reverend wright and all sorts of used as evidence that she was unhappy with america. She was talking a lot about that time and she would talk about racial division. She was say there are white students here and black students here and i know what that is like. You need to come together. She would talk about america being isolated. People fighting a war. People at home are going shopping. A sense that there was a coming together that still needed to happen. That is where that was coming from. The campaign kicked into gear after that. That was not another episode like that. During the primary, Hillary Clinton was the rival of barack obama. Will you comment about this interesting relationship of the former first lady and ultimately, she is defeated by this opponent and goes on to serve as his secretary of state and has a first lady that she can give guidance to . How did the relationship work out between the two women . It is interesting because during the 2008 primary, it becomes a dogfight toward the end. They are grasping. It got ugly at some point. You had two really defined camps within the democratic party. The clintonites and obamaites. There was a quetion of whether everybody was going to be able to come together in a very natural way. And this idea that Hillary Clinton would serve as secretary of state in terms of mending those bridges. Early on in obamas term, Michelle Obama goes over to the state department. They have some interaction. They are very warm to each other publicly. That was another moment of coming together. Michelle obama has been a different kind of first lady. In many ways, she relied on laura bush giving her guidance on how things would operate in the east wing. Hillary clinton has an office in the west wing which was different. After the reverend wright controversy, michelle and barack went to nbc and talked to the today show about the issue. We got a chance to see them interacting. We will show a short clip and talk about how they used the National Media to present a portrait of themselves. [video clip] you never sit in there and get upset about these . I never get upset. No. She gets cool and calm. I take the paper and ball it up and throw it in the corner. Of course. There are frustrations. [laughter] she gets protective of me. I love my husband. You do not want anybody to talk poorly about the people that you love. Quite frankly, i think he has handled this stuff. You know, i am so proud of how he has maintained his dignity and his cool and honor. I know youre trying to cut me off talking nicely about you. I get embarrassed. [laughter] but i know. I appreciate that. What can we take away from that . It is always interesting to see them interacting with each other. The sort of playfulness. The way they sometimes pick at each other and joke with each other. They genuinely enjoy being with each other. That more than anything, the idea of family. And this relationship in addition to president obama addressing some of the issues around reverend wright controversy and the speech that he gave on race did much to toss that issue out of the window. John mccain chose sarah palin as his Vice President ial pick. I wonder if that engendered a National Discussion about women in politics. Yes, but not a very coherent conversation. What struck me about Michelle Obama is she did define herself as mominchief. That had a big effect on changing her image. One thing you saw was before the election, her polls were high with the democrats. After the election and the inauguration, her favorable polls with conservative women. Presented herself as a mother did a lot to change her image. And it is something that women of Hillary Clintons generation could not say of themselves. You cannot have a photo of your children if you wanted to be seen as a credible working woman. Too soft. You are not supposed to do that and you were supposed be all there at the workplace. I felt that was like a generational difference between the two women. We will look at the convention where people of both parties who watched and sized up the candidates. They had a chance to see Michelle Obama before this national audience. [video clip] what struck me when i met barack was even though he had a funny name and even though he had grown up across the continent in hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents. And by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. And like my family, they saved so he could have opportunities that they never had for themselves. Barack and i were raised with so many of the same values. Like you work hard for what you want in life. Your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do. [applause] you treat people with dignity and respect even if you do not know them and even if you do not agree with them. What was she doing there . Introducing herself and her husband to the American Public. The guy with the funny name. And really she did a lot of that early on during the campaign. The role of the first lady in the modern campaign has been to humanize the candidate to help people connect with who he is as a person. What he is about and what he is like at home. In her campaign some speech she would talk about he leaves his socks out sometimes and he snores. He is a real guy. And talking about him as a man. I think it was more important because she was also americanizing him, she was confirming he has a funny name. I thought he had a funny name when i first heard of him. And then when i met him, i realized he was just as american. I think she walked the audience through that process. David is watching from utah. Thank you. First off, thank you cspan and the White House Association for this series. I have learned a lot. My question is, i know one of the issues Michelle Obama has been interested in is military families. Do the panelists know where the issue originated from and how she has influenced military families today . Yes, she got involved with the issue of military families really early on during the campaign, she talks about having met, in many cases, women who were raising their families without their husbands who were away at war and being moved by their sacrifices. And wanting to do something for not only the veterans, but their families who were left behind and realizing that like herself, most americans do not have a relative who is serving in the military. She along with joe biden and joe bidens wife, who had children who have joined armed forces, they have done more than visit families and go to bases. She went to the Business Roundtable and spoke to ceos of Top Companies about the need to hire more veterans and their families. And some companies have signed pledges to say how many they would hire. It is a program that is multifaceted. She said she plans to continue it throughout her time in the white house. 2008, election night. The obamas are victorious. We have one of the iconic pictures of the two of them. Can you comment about the significance of that night . Well, you know, they were going to be in history books regardless because they are firsts. It comes the moment when that history is made and you see in the photos the jubilation amongst their supporters there. A very divided electorate. You heard afterwards, many people on both sides of the aisle, who took pride in the country for having at least eclipsed that barrier. And as the president himself said, he thinks people were excited about that. He said Something Like for about five minutes and then they want to know what you are going to do. They faced that pretty quickly this idea that they do not only wanted to be history making for having achieved this really remarkable, you know, feat of being the first but to leave a legacy that is greater than that. Remembering they came in during the 2008 financial crisis. People were wanting them to get to work. We had an interview at cspan with first lady in 2009. She talked about her approach to it. I think every first lady brings a unique perspective to this job. If you did not, you could not live through it. To the extent that it feels natural to me at any level and i never would have thought living in the white house and being first lady would feel natural. It is because i try to make it me. I try to bring a little bit of Michelle Obama into this. At the same time, respecting and valuing the tradition that is america. They reached out to laura bush for ways in which they might emulate the approach she took to the role of first lady. Lean onto some of that knowledge. It is a significant Michelle Obama had not been a governors wife. She did not have the experience of setting up shop in that way. She had to figure out how to do that. She got help there. Nancy reagan came in and they had lunch. I am told some of Nancy Reagans advice was to have a lot of state dinners. She talks to those who knows as she prepares for this role. She went out to visit cabinet agencies which was an unusual thing for first ladies to do and homeless shelters and meeting with local officials. We have an article that you wrote about another thing she did which was unusual was that she really lived in washington, d. C. You have a story called Michelle Obamas washington, over the course of her first term. All of the areas that she visited and went out to work in and made speeches and went to restaurants. How does that differ from other first families in this town . It was interesting because she made this place home. I was able to talk to her. She visited the agencies and went out to restaurants with girlfriends and her daughters being in school here. Shes at soccer games and catching shows at the local theaters. Getting to know the place outside of politics. That is not only rare for first families but for political families in washington in general where you folks jetting back to their home states every weekend. The idea of spending time in washington is almost like bad for your political life. She made a concerted effort to get to know this place and this city and town. As i was putting the list together of all of the places she had been, i had colleagues saying she has been to more restaurants in town than i have. She has not allowed the white house to be as Martha Washington said, Something Like a prison. The idea that you cannot get outside this bubble. She found ways to do it. Including visiting places like target in the suburbs. Is she alone in doing things like that . Are they able to sneak away . I sometimes, for her in terms of being alone with her family, it means leaving washington. Going to camp david or someplace where she can walk around and not to be the target of people. Other modern first ladies have done similar things. Laura bush went antiquing and would check out the shops. The idea that you have to find some way to maintain a life outside of just the structures of the white house. Bill clinton would go running. Not so much Hillary Clinton. I felt like the clintons had a presence in washington as well. The media really has covered the first lady extensively. We have graphics of the number of magazine covers that have been done on her. You wrote a book. There were lots of books coming out about Michelle Obama in various parts of her life. Is there Something Special about this first lady . There is intense interest at the beginning. I think a willingness to engage the public outside of the Traditional Press corps. And the magazine covers are one example of that. Everything from vogue to essence, such a broad spectrum. The media has covered the first lady extensively. We have the graphics of the number of magazine covers that have been done on her. It was highly competitive. There were lots of books coming out about Michelle Obama. Is this the way that will be for first ladies . Or is there Something Special about this first lady . There is intense interest. You are speaking to them in a personal way, in the same way that she is on urban radio and talking to people directly. One thing i want to ask both of you, this is pretty tough stuff, the covers of womens magazines, and social media, you are both journalists who want to cover this woman and white house, how helpful have they been to you . Part of that is bypassing the traditional media. When i was writing my book, they were not accessible. They were being very careful about her public image. It was after the, does she like her country . Episode. They were being careful and not making her accessible. I had to find other ways to report the story. Heres another clip that demonstrates the obama administrations approach to the Entertainment Media to help leave us with an impression of the first family. [applause] thank you. Welcome to the white house, everyone. I am honored to introduce this years nominees for best picture. This is my midlife crisis. I could not get a sports car. They would not let me bungee jump. You went for the hair. [laughter] woooo [applause] take it from me, eating the right foods can help make you a better athlete. I was wondering if you can do more pushups than i can do. It depends on how your back is. I know youve got these back issues. [applause] 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. 21. 22. It has been fascinating, since television arrived in the late 1950s, you mentioned Jacqueline Kennedy and her tour of the white house, to watch how the political campaigns have used this medium to communicate with the public and portray and image. How is this white house doing . How is the public receiving it . It is fascinating to look at the way that she is collapse the space between pop culture and politics in the public in the way that she has operated in that, creating videos that go viral on youtube. She is on instagram. She is not just on instagram, but she is posting photos and really engaging in a way that captures kind of the public imagination. It is not doing that through the filter of the mainstream press. Youre constantly cultivating an image and being very present in the lives of everyday people. And she is a popular figure. I dont know everyones phone numbers now. But she is one of the most Popular Figures in the democratic party. To have her be such a public presence, with a team like the miami heat, and the basketball thing that got shared around so much, is an interesting and strategic way to look at her public image. I want to do two things. I want to look at some of the key events that have happened during the president s terms of so far. We also have a graphic that compares the president and the first ladys. Lets take a look at key events in this presidency, which included the 2008 financial crisis and all the permutations thereof. The iraq and afghanistan wars. The 2010 election, which brought the republicans in. So many aspects to that story, including the closing of the government, and the debt ceiling. Osama bin ladens killing. This is how research has tracked the president and first ladys approval rating. You can see the president story has been one of coming down over time. The first lady has been higher and consistent along the way. Michelle obama 68 , 66 , fairly consistent. To what do we owe that . The management and intending of her public image. The approach to the media. The fact that the family does seem to be flourishing. It is and remains a very appealing family tableau. And the issues that she has chosen. They are not hard issues. The lets move campaign. Theyre in the lines with literacy and traditional first lady issues like that. The question i have for you is regarding mrs. Obama and dr. Biden. It seems they work so well together. Do mrs. Obama and mrs. Biden go out and socialize together . That is an interesting question. I wrote a piece about dr. Biden during the 2012 campaign, and so got to talk to some of her staff and see her. She made the point that they work well together. They are friendly, but they both have very busy lives, and so the idea that they are sort of socializing and hanging out regularly, that just does not happen. In addition to being the Vice President s wife with comes with some official duties, she teaches at a local community college. She is an english professor. Often when she was traveling during the campaign, she would be grading papers and that kind of thing. I think that idea that they are just enjoying one anothers company does not happen very often. She was able to continue to pursue her career, but that is so far something the first lady has not been able to do. You mentioned that she chose noncontroversial issues, including eating well and the lets move campaign. Someone argue with you about that. From facebook comments, it is controversial. We have clips of her talking to young people at the white house. These were students brought in from washington dc, and it happened with a cspan event from a competition. One of the students did a documentary about lets move, and mrs. Obama met with students. Lets watch a little bit of that. Having the platform of the white house is really helpful in getting attention to stuff. When i do something, camera show up and people tend to watch and write about it. Sometimes they write about more than what i am wearing. [laughter] i think that it is my job to help shine the light on things that are already working. That is one of the reasons why i chose this is my initiative. I also think that one of the reasons the way that i think we can move this effort one of the reasons i think we can be successful is that it does not require, i dont believe, and others may have struggled more, it does not require whole scale changes in your life. The beauty about kids is that you are young. Your metabolisms are healthy, which essentially means that want to start moving and eating right, you guys change really quickly. You are growing. And everything is working right. If we make some little changes, get you guys moving more. A little less tv. We take out sugary drinks. We make School Lunches better. We get you guys educated about what to eat. These are things we can get under control. And does not take a whole lot of legislation to get it done. You do not have to rely on people passing stuff to move this along. The sugary drinks were a problem for people and the School Lunches. A lot of money is tied up in the food industry. There is also some strategy and how you address these issues. People say she is a part of the nanny state and telling kids what she cannot eat. In the video she talks about not needing to pass legislation. But she was supportive of the legislation that changed School Lunches, which in some corners has been a bit controversial. There were big changes, aside from some teenagers making videos about not having as much junk food, people are trying to figure out how to implement these things. There is support in some corners, and not so much in others. We have a photograph. This is part of the white house grounds. As the first lady wrote her gardening book, which made the New York Times bestseller list, the proceeds of the book are going to a foundation that is supportive of the garden. There will be money there for it even after the obamas are gone. There used to be animals grazing. Right. I think that was the wilson administration. The other part that we dont see, the influence she had on the president , what is known about how she has been able to move him in a direction on causes that matter to her, from a public perspective . She is pretty progressive. Their family talked about samesex marriage before he came out in support of it. She was for it. It was a family conversation in the stump speech before the Vice President came out for samesex marriage. She was talking about not discriminating against people because of who they love. That line was in her speech. It did not generate a lot of headlines. She has made it clear where she has been on that issue. During her time in the white house, it was this moment where she was with the first lady of mexico, they were in the school i think they were in the suburbs and there is a young girl who was in the audience. They were having a conversation about something related to Healthy Eating. She raised her hand and said, what should i do . My mom does not have papers. That was a gripping moment. It is hard to imagine that there werent conversations back at the white house about this encounter. Liz from delaware. Thank you for the program. I have been enjoying it. I would like to ask how Michelle Obama interacted or felt about her inlaws. I know family tends to be important to them. I was wondering how much they met with each other. Thank you so much. On twitter, they asked the same question. That is a really good question. And i cannot answer it at length. They did meet. She would not have met Barack Obamas father. We have a picture there. I do not know a great deal about the relationship. I do not think it was close. Do you . I do not. Im not sure about how much time they had to spend together. Tomorrow night they will have a state dinner at the white house. We have asked in each program about being a steward of the white house. How has mrs. Obama approached life in the white house . What has she done for the mention, and how has she done it differently . We talked about the garden a bit. That has been a signature. It seems to be the part that she is most excited about. We see her regularly going out for this kind of ceremonial planting, harvesting, and being out there with children, but also using the house. She referred to it as the peoples house. This idea that people who have never been to the white house should be welcomed in, and what are ways to do that . The kind of bring in a people who have never been there before. You see School Children coming through for workshops. When there is a celebrity giving a musical performance, there will be a workshop earlier in the day with students from local schools, so this idea that you can use it as a third spates, or third space, or in some ways, a community center, i think is a little fresh and different. For number of years, in the beginning of it the administration it was closed because of the financial downturn. Restrictions were happening. There a different interface than previous administrations. We have only 15 minutes left. You mentioned that after the election, once it was won, she spoke about issues she would be more involved in. One of those is clearly going to be education. We have a clip from a historically black college where the first lady talks about education is important. In many parts of this country it was illegal for black people to get an education. Slaves caught reading or writing could be eaten within an inch of their lives. Anyone, black or white, who dared to teach them could be fined or thrown into jail. And yet, two years after the emancipation proclamation was signed, the school was founded not just to educate africanamericans and teach them how to educate others. It was in many ways an act of defiance, and eloquent rebuttal of the idea that black people could not or should not be educated. Today, more than 150 years after the emancipation proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of separate but equal, when it comes to getting education, too many of our young people cannot be bothered. Today, instead of walking miles to school, they are sitting on couches for hours playing video games and watching tv, instead of dreaming of being a teacher, lawyer, or business leader, they are fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper. What can we expect in the years ahead . I was there when she gave that speech. I dont know if you could hear the applause clearly there. It was very well received. In addition to the Healthy Eating and military families, there was connectivity that you could see that she had with these audiences where she was talking about issues around education. It became clear to her staff, so they planned to develop this issue of education as one that she will be focused on, most closely on the students, working with the department of education. To reinforce to high school students, particularly those who are early in their high school years, they need to be preparing themselves for college. Going to the my new shove it. Ship little aspects of it. Just last week she was at a seminar where they were talking about Financial Aid forms. She has done a video where she shared some of her experience when she first got the princeton. She did not have shoes long enough for her bed. These kinds of things, the idea that she knows what it feels like not to be completely prepared for the process, but that you can go through it anyway, that you can be successful, and really, again, this idea of role modeling these things, and saying there is no magic here. That is the message. Portland, oregon. You are on. I want to say to the host and guests, that my family and my mother are really enjoying the show. I have a quick question. Former Texas Governor ann richards and Barbara Jordan said that women have a double standard. I think that Michelle Obama exemplifies going about her own purpose. I want to say this is a great show. Is there possible consideration for a Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama ticket in 2016 . They wonder whether or not the first lady has political ambitions of her own. People often ask that. They draw the parallel between her and Hillary Clinton because theyre both lawyers. I am interested to hear what you think. I do not think she will run for office. Hillary clinton had a passion for policy early on. You may disagree. It is interesting. She has said emphatically many times that this is not something she is interested in. Some politicians say that, and you know in the back of their mind that they will run. But she is expensive about it. She says she doesnt have the personality for it, that she is too impatient for running for office. You get the sense, especially in the way that we are talking about messaging, and the way that she enjoys connecting, going through the rigors of dealing with the Political Press would not be something she would enjoy. I think that she will be making an impact after the white house. She will stand public life somehow. Definitely. On twitter they want to know how is she changing the role of first lady that first ladies will emulate or model . The way that she is engaged with entertainment and popculture has been, in some ways, ground breaking. As a reporter who covers her, when i saw her at the oscars, it was like a head turning kind of moment. What is the first lady doing on the oscars . Her staff talked about it later. She loves the movies. And the idea that you could do it. And that there was an invitation. Maybe some of these folks in hollywood would come and support her programs to help give. So really getting outside of the strictures of politics. I think that that is a trail that she has blazed that may be there for other first ladies. We looked at the approval ratings. High 60s. But she has had some criticism. She has used some phrases, as a surrogate for her husband. What are your comments about how she is approach that . She did make a comment about sometimes they write about something other than what im wearing. But she has cultivated the public image of being fashionable. She is quite interested in her clothes, as well. I think, every now and then, there has been a misstep in terms of taking expensive vacations at a time when someone is really suffering. She has not had to do much to animate folks who dont like her. We looked at the poll numbers earlier. The favorable and unfavorable rate have been steady. About 1 4 of the American Public does not like the first lady. That is not uncommon. You hear from them on issues like the Healthy Eating. When she shows up on the oscars, there are folks who are, why is she everywhere . It has not been a universal lovefest. That is for sure. You write in your book, and this is sort of the behindthescenes, and how she organizes the staff around her, she has had some turnover. You write that she is a better boss than employee. She likes to be in charge, and she doesnt like her time to be wasted. I think, i dont think that would surprise anybody. We dont see that person a lot, but i dont think it would surprise anybody. She does have a forceful and charismatic personality. When she was in high school, she was terrified of public speaking. She had to work on the courage to give public speeches when she was running for office. Boy, she has really grown into a role where she is so comfortable having fun and giving speeches. She has found the spotlight. Lets take a call from jackie who is watching us in texas. Thank you so much for taking my phone call. I have two questions. Which first lady do you think Michelle Obama is most similar to . The second question is if you could arrange for Michelle Obama to have dinner with any of the first ladies, which one would it be and why . Those are great comments, as we close the Michelle Obama program and close up the series. Do you have a response for her . She gets compared to Hillary Clinton. I do not think she is like Hillary Clinton. She gets compared to jackie onassis. I think in some ways the glimmer and the harnessing of culture i would make more of a comparison there. You can kind of compare them because there is some jackie and the cultivation of the image and family. And you can see a little bit of laura bush and being able to maintain the popularity, being popular with the base. She was also popular fundraiser with her party. Hillary clinton is a more difficult comparison. But i think that Michelle Obama is ambitious in her own way, just as Hillary Clinton clearly is. You can take slices of the modern first ladies. I think Michelle Obama told cspan that it is the modern first ladies that she related to much more than some of the other first ladies who seemed sort of like pages of a history book. Lets listen to the first lady talk about the role. This is from our 2009 interview. It is an evolutionary process. You grow into this role. My sense is that you never get comfortable if you are always pushing for change and growth, not just in yourself, but in the issues that you care about. Youre never done. There is never a point time were you feel like, i am now here, and i can do this the same way all the time. It is always changing. You never know what it is going to be one day to the next. You have to be flexible and fluid, and open to evolve. And on the evolution again, we are kind of coming full circle. On her time that she has left, what can we expect . The Education Initiative is going to be paramount. It is interesting because i do think that 2013 felt like a continuation of the first term, so this idea of whether things will be much different in the next few years, you have a ready seen her be busy about building this new program. But she has also said she is going to continue what she has been doing. I think we may have seen the Michelle Obama that we are going to see. I do not think she was stray very far. There will also be the sending of a daughter to college, which i think will be significant, as a family. I dont know if we will see much of that. We were talking earlier. To be 16, the older daughter this year. How you learn to drive in the white house as a teenager . It would be interesting to watch. Think theyre reported about her life after the white house. She is representative of very many women. Their careers may peak later because of the child rearing time. She has been in an intensive child rearing period. I think when she comes out of all of this she will reenter the workforce in a very significant way. This marriage is about taking turns. Maybe we bush see her turn come up. From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, one of our early colors mentioned the White House Association. They have written the biographies of all of the first ladies and helped make this special Edition Available to you throughout the year. They also provided the materials and research that we did to produce this series. I want to say thank you to them and to some folks along the way. Those interested in preserving american history. To our two guests tonight, thank you for helping us understand more about the life of Michelle Obama. And a first ladies concludes on monday evening. We will look at the different times that the first lady served in and held the role developed, and which first lady will did the most influence and stood out in terms of their public image. Will be looking for your comments live on cspan and cspan radio. With our series we are offering a special edition of ladies ofthe first the United States of america. And it includes comments from noted historians. It is available on cspan. Org. Thewebsite has more about first ladies, including a special section called welcome to the white house. It follows the life in the executive mansion during the tenure of each of the first ladies. Cspan. Org firs tladies. Tonight on cspan, the white house dinner for the french president. The new cspan. Org website gives you access to an Incredible Library of incredible events with more added each day through cspans coverage of history, politics, and nonfiction books. Thousandre than 200 hours of archived video. Is all searchable and viewable on your desktop. Omputer, tablet or smartphone just look for the search bar at the top of each page. It makes it easy to watch what is happening here in washington and find people and events from the past 25 years. It is the most comprehensive Video Library in politics. On tuesday, president obama and the first lady hosted a state dinner for french president , francois hollande. This was the seventh visit posted by the administration. We will start with the arrival, including bradley cooper. He it also includes sacramento mayor kevin johnson. This is three hours long. Ambassador Charles Rifkin and susan tolkien. Mr. Mark kaplan and catholic volokh. Mr. Rachel robinson and mr. Norman siegel. Cameras clicking] [ambient chatter] mr. And mrs. Ken ehrlich. [sounds of camera clicking] chatter] mr. And mrs. Richard plepler. Mr. Keith smith. Mr. Burton smith. Ms. Edith windsor. [ sounds of camera clicking] Roberta Kaplan and mrs. Rachel levine. [inaudible] mark icing. Mr. And mrs. Goldman. Duggal. Nd mrs. Raj mr. And mrs. Chuck smith. [speaking french] i am the token french member of the u. N. Delegation. I am happy to celebrate. Mr. And mrs. Jewell benenson. Joel benenson. Kentucky. Ernor of mrs. Bashir. Mr. Steve clemons. Mr. Andrew oros. What is the French Connection . You just get it by looking good. Ok. [ambient chatter] do you parlez any french . Z any french. Rle mr. And mrs. Steve holland. The secretary of transportation and mrs. Anthony fox. [camera clicking] mr. And mrs. Joseph blunt. Brams. Norable stacey a she is doing an incredible job. My name came from france a long time ago. I think the french are way cooler than we are. And they certainly have better gossip. [inaudible] ms. Julia louis dreyfus. Dreyfus. Am louis mr. Jonathan levine. Mrs. Emily levine. Ms. Bonnie porta. The governor of tennessee. Mrs. Barbara schmidt and mr. Richard smit schmidt. Mr. Randall kaplan. Oui. Oui. Mr. Gary simon. Mr. And mrs. Randall stephenson. The honorable Elijah Cummings and dr. Maja cummings. Glad to be here. We just love the country. We came to support france. Ms. Joanna coles and mr. Peter got one godwin. We just brought it and it shattered. We heard there is no dancing. [inaudible] im about to find out, i think. This is jewelry from sydney in chicago. I am hoping this isnt too fluffy. Thank you. Mr. Ara aprikian. Mr. John luddy. Ms. Elizabeth strickler. The honorable tod stern and ms. Jennifer klein. Mr. And mrs. Caleb baloo. Mr. Andrew tobias. Ms. Marie brenner. The honorable Edward Randall royce and mrs. Royce. [inaudible] you want toanything say about the day and how things are going . Enjoy the evening. Mr. And mrs. Lee saunders. Bill and jane stetson. The honorable daniel gray. Ms. Janique sealey. The honorable mr. Karen in and leslie euro and kiernan. Mr. James crane. Mr. Frank skinner. Aleman. Nifer bado ms. Rebecca shaw ms. Beth shaw. Mr. And mrs. Ken fraser. Ms. Sarah smiley and commander dustin smiley. The honorable tina chen. Mr. And mrs. David stern. Mr. Robert mailer anderson. Ms. Andrea bernstein and mr. Tom bernstein. Mr. Laura ross and mr. James ross. Medina. Eo mr. And mrs. Irwin jacobs. Mr. Jason collins. Mr. Brunson green. I am just hanging out and having fun. Thank you. The honorable Patrick F Kennedy and ms. Elizabeth swope. The honorable victoria newland. And dr. Robert kagan. Mr. Raymond maguire. Ms. Rachel mccreary. Mr. Bruce muller. Mosler. The honorable kathy rummler. Justice elena kagan. And mrs. Stephen cole there. Colbert. The honorable jay carney and ms. Claire shipman. The honorable gene sperling. Mr. Rick sperling