Former First Lady Michelle Obama is beloved by many for her grace, her quick wit, and, of course, her amazing sense of style. But she admits that poised and polished woman we see today is the result of a lot of hard work.
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In a new interview with Jonathan Capehart of MS Now, our Forever First Lady talked about her new book, “The Look,” a colorful coffee table book including more than 200 photographs that celebrate the story of her journey to the White House and beyond, using fashion as a through-line.
During their conversation, Capehart asked Obama about a picture included in the book from June 3, 2008, the night her husband secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in the 2008 election. Obama looked chic in a purple Maria Pinto dress, and she and her husband looked like a loving couple, sharing a fist bump as he prepared to address the crowd.
But what the Obamas didn’t know at the time was that a personal moment between partners would inspire a controversial cover of The New Yorker magazine, which depicted then-Senator Barack Obama in a turban fist-bumping his wife, who wore an afro and a rifle on her back, in the White House with a flag burning in the background. In “The Look,” Mrs. Obama wrote that after seeing that cover, she knew she would need to get ahead of the press and define herself before anyone else could.
“That was one of the more startling moments in my transition from being very much a private citizen to very much a public one, where I understood that without me controlling my own narrative, people’s racism and misogyny would attempt to take over and define me,” she wrote.
During their interview, Obama told Capehart that she decided to meet people where they were, hitting the campaign trail for her husband, addressing intimate crowds, showing voters that a Black woman who grew up in a working-class family in Chicago understood their struggle.
“People nicknamed me the Closer. Because what I was able to do, because that’s what I focused on, was giving life to our story as people,” she said. “Who were we? Not our policies, but who was my husband? What were our values? How did we grow up? The things that connected us to all Americans, regardless of our race.”
Obama says addressing those intimate crowds of often mostly-white voters worked, because it allowed her to form genuine connections with a voting block who didn’t understand her.
“I always say it’s harder to hate up close, because it’s easy to demonize people you don’t know,” she added.
Looking back, Mrs. Obama told Capehart that she is grateful for that on-the-job training.
“I am grateful for that period because it taught me early that I’m in charge of my destiny no matter what, and I have to own it and be empowered to walk in that space,” she said.
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