Michelle Obama speaks out on Barack “reelection” comment

Michelle Obama recalled a “reelection” comment her husband, Barack Obama, made while parenting their daughters in the White House.

Newsweek reached out to Barack Obama’s representative via email for comment on Thursday outside regular working hours.

Why It Matters

Barack Obama, 64, served as president of the United States for two terms from 2009 until 2017. During that time, the Obamas and their daughters, Malia, 27 and Sasha, 24, lived at the White House.

The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution forbids a president from running for a third term. The only president to ever serve more than two terms was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, before official limits were put in place. Despite restrictions, President Donald Trump and his supporters have explored the possibility of a 2028 presidential campaign.

What To Know

On Wednesday’s episode of IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson—a podcast the former first lady co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson—Michelle Obama shared a lighthearted anecdote about Barack Obama’s priorities during his presidency, specifically regarding the safety and upbringing of their daughters.

“Our girls had Secret Service agents until Malia went to college, which we were thrilled about in the teen years,” the Becoming author told listeners. “Barack was like, ‘I’m going to get reelected just so that my girls have Secret Service in the teen years.'”

Michelle Obama emphasized, however, the importance of allowing their children some autonomy and the opportunity to learn from their own mistakes.

“Nobody’s sneaking, doing anything,” she said, noting: “But at the same time, I had to give them enough rope to sneak…you got to learn what trouble is before you run into it, you know? You got to have the baby trouble, the trouble of being at the wrong party at the wrong time. You got to learn how to drive. You got to get a ticket. You got to get through an airport by yourself.”

“The trouble where the ramifications aren’t big enough to ruin your life,” Robinson, who is a father-of-four, agreed.

What People Are Saying

Michelle Obama has been candid on IMO about the challenges and unique pressures her family faced during Barack Obama’s time in office. In May, she revealed she punished Malia for “a whole semester” during an episode with retired soccer player Abby Wambach: “Sometimes, I did overkill on the parenting of trying to be normal…No, she didn’t murder a human. She did teenage stuff. But, you know, every time something happened and they’re teenagers in the White House, I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is a sign, they’re going to be on the street; they’re going to be addicts; and this is really going to mess them up.'”

In June, Michelle Obama remembered calling out her husband when she “thought he wasn’t doing enough” as a parent: “I’d start singing: ‘Cats in the cradle and the silver spoon’ because that song is so profound. ‘When you coming home, [dad]? Don’t know when.’ I was like, ‘You’re going to look up, and the girls will be gone.’ Because there is a little window that parents don’t understand—a time when your children even want to be bothered with you.”

During an appearance on IMO in July, Barack Obama shared his own take on parenting, noting that there appears to be an absence of emotional support for boys: “Those of us with daughters, we’ve got to have good guys out there…not necessarily to get married, but to make sure that what we’re learning isn’t undermined. If you’re not thinking about what’s happening to boys and how they’re being raised, that can actually hurt women.”