Michelle and Barack Obama. PHOTO | COURTESY
All the first black First Lady would have preferred was a conventional family life, with Obama having a regular job and playing a more active role being a husband and a father to their then two young girls Shasha and Malia.
If Barack Obama’s wife Michelle had her way, her husband would have not only made history as the first black President of the United States, but would have not gone past a junior Illinois senator, his book, A Promised Land reveals.
All the first black First Lady wanted was a conventional family life, with Obama having a regular job and playing more role being a husband and a father to their then two young girls – Shasha and Malia, with a routine – juggling between work, home, and their weekends spent with a circle of trusted friends and extended family.
According to Obama, Michelle “hates politics” and all the intrusions it can impact on private family lives. But Obama, whose father was a Kenyan, had a parallel, ambitious plan – to occupy the most powerful office on earth.
Obama, who was by then the only black senator, a position that Michelle tried to stop him from contesting in the first place, has laid bare his frustrations in the book, as he tried to convince Michelle that he had what it takes to be the 44th US President, and that he was not just doing it for ego and power, but to change American politics, break the chain of prejudice and be a living billboard of change that would inspire a generation of young children from disadvantaged communities that they too can be something.
But Michelle, who was already practising law in Chicago, could have none of it.
From family members, close friends and colleagues, Obama widely consulted to gauge his potential to run for president as pressure pilled on him to contest after his electric performance as a key speaker at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s convention that abruptly shifted national and global media focus on him as a potential voice and symbol of change. Michelle became the most difficult to convince, introducing deep- seated tensions in the then young family.
Intrigues, mediations
“As the summer wore on, though, the chatter began to seep through the cracks and crevices of our home life. Our evenings and weekends, appeared normal so long as Malia and Shasha were swirling about. I felt the tension wherever Michelle and I were alone. Finally, one night after the girls were asleep, I came into the dent where she was watching TV and muted the sound,” Obama wrote.
“You know I didn’t plan any of this,” I said, sitting down next to her on the couch. “I realize we have barely had time to catch our breath. And until a few months ago, the idea of me running seemed crazy.”
He continued: “But given everything that’s happened, I feel like we have to give the idea (running for president) a serious look. I have asked the team to put together a presentation. What a campaign strategy would look like. Whether we could win. How it might affect the family. I mean, if we were ever going to do this -”
Michelle cut me off, her voice choked with emotion.
“Did you say we?” she said. “You mean you, Barack. Not we. This is your thing. I have supported you the whole time, because I believe in you, even though. I hate politics. I hate the way it exposes our family. You know that. And now we have some stability…even if it’s not normal, not the way I would choose for us to live…and now you tell me you are going to run for president?
“I didn’t say I am running, honey. I just said that we can’t dismiss the possibility. But I can only consider it if you are on board. If you don’t think we should, then we won’t. Simple as that. You get the final say,” Obama replied.
“If that’s really true, then the answer is no,” Michelle said. “I don’t want you to run for president, at least not now.”
Before Obama could answer, she had gone into the bedroom and closed the door.
In subsequent months to follow, Michelle would arrange meetings with their family friends to try to talk sense into his husband to drop his presidential bid.
Obama would even reach out to a circle of family and friends, including Michelle’s brother, Craig Robinson who was also Obama’s personal basketball friend and aide, to talk to her, but all in vain.
Yes we can
“But don’t expect me to do any campaigning. In fact, you shouldn’t even count on my vote,” Michelle had earlier told Obama, who was trying to put up a campaign for US Senate, which he eventually won, becoming the first black in US Senate.
Considering being president was even far-fetched for her and posed a potential threat to their young family and their dwindling finances.
“You have said that there are a lot of other Democrats who are capable of winning an elections and being your president. You have told me the only reason for you to run is you could provide something that others can’t. Otherwise it’s not worth it. Right?” Michelle said. “So my question is why you, Barack? Why do you need to be president?”
“Why me?” That I might be able to spark a new kind of politics, or get a new generation to participate or bridge divisions in the country better than other candidates could,” Obama responded.
“But who knows? There are no guarantee we can pull it off. Here is one thing for sure, though. I know that the day I raise my right hand and take the oath to be president of the United States, the world will start looking at America differently. I know that kids all around this country – Black kids, Hispanic kids, kids who don’t fit in – they will see themselves differently, too, their horizons lifted, their possibilities expanded. And that alone…that alone will be worth it”
Two years later, November 2008, Obama would surprise the world by beating US former first lady Hillary Clinton in Democratic Party primaries and flooring war veteran and Republican candidate John McCain to be inaugurated 44th US President and the first black person ever with direct African and Kenyan lineage to be President of the United States.
