During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, First Lady Michelle Obama stated that she’s “not having conversations” about running for office. Although supporters of the Obama administration have hoped she would give Donald Trump a run for his money in 2020, it’s a no-go. Michelle and Barack have both expressed the sentiment before, but here, she provides a once-and-for-all answer.
Perhaps people lodged this hope on how the scandal-free Michelle delivered riveting and passionate speeches while supporting Hillary Clinton. Yet despite an insistence that she should run, Obama has flat-out denied these claims. During her chat with Winfrey, Obama said she’s not pulling anyone’s chain, and if she wanted to run she wouldn’t hide it:
“If I were interested in it, I’d say it. I don’t believe in playing games. It’s not something I would do. But it also speaks to the fact that people don’t really understand how [being in the White House] is … I don’t know what they’re talking about. But I’m not talking back.”
Again, this isn’t anything new, as President Obama said in November that Michelle doesn’t have any interest in political office after eight years in Washington. Michelle also told Oprah that she doesn’t want to subject her family to another rigorous four-to-eight years:
“What people don’t understand is that you run — their lives stop at any age. I mean, the next family that comes in here, every person in that family, every child, every grandchild, their lives will be turned upside down in a way that no American really understands. And it’s not for us to complain about it. So you don’t hear complaints. But it is a — a truth, an actuality, that there is a weight to it.”
The Obamas are taking a big break next year, but no one ever knows what the future holds.