Michelle Obama initially thought President Obama’s campaign was “crazy,” but her brother helped change her mind.
Michelle Obama wasn’t always thrilled about the idea of becoming the First Lady of the United States. In fact, in a recent episode of her podcast “IMO,” she admitted that she was initially against her husband’s decision to campaign for the presidency. However, the former First Lady revealed that her older brother and co-host, Craig Robinson, ultimately helped change her mind.
“I couldn’t have gotten through eight years in the White House without my big brother,” Obama shared. “We knew Barack was smart and ambitious, but you [Craig] talked me into supporting his run. And [Barack] was smart enough to know that he needed to come to you and sell you on the idea because I was definitely like, ‘nope. No way, this is crazy. We’ve done enough crazy stuff.’”
“Everything happened so fast because Barack went from a State Senator to a U.S. senator, and next thing you know, people were saying this guy should run for President. And you were like, ‘no, not doing it,’” Robinson said, explaining how Michelle wanted her daughters Sasha and Malia to grow up in a traditional household with a father “who would come home from work and play catch, and take them to the park and do all these things.”
When Barack realized he couldn’t convince Michelle on his own, he turned to Craig. “[He] came to me and was like, ‘I can’t get your sister to go along with this [his presidential campaign],’” Robinson recalled. “I think the thing that pushed it over the top was I convinced you not to penalize him for being really good at what he does.”
Beyond winning Michelle over, Robinson understood that Barack needed the entire family’s support before launching his campaign—something else he helped make happen. Once Michelle and their late mother, Marian Robinson, begrudgingly agreed, Craig took on the task of getting the rest of the family on board.
“I said to everybody in our family that this is not just you all doing it. This means all of us are doing it because of the scrutiny you guys would be under, the work you’re going to have to do, it’s going to take a village to do this whole thing. And that was pretty much the discussion that we had that got this whole thing started,” he said.
“And that meant that you put your money where your mouth was. Over the course of the campaign, the mini-campaigns, our time in the White House, I could count on you to be there when I needed you. You campaigned with us. You campaigned for us,” the former First Lady added, explaining how present her big brother was during their political careers. So much so, that he became a go-to person for Michelle and her Chief of Staff, Melissa Winter, when things got tough.”
“I mean, there’s just something about having your foundation in check, like being able to touch base with home in the middle of something hard, scary, and uncertain,” she said, noting how instrumental the support was for the Obama family. “It was always a breath of fresh air.”
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