Obama: No way Michelle runs for president

[IDemo]

Source: The Hill

Michelle Obama for president? Not a chance, President Obama said Thursday.

“No!” Obama exclaimed when asked at a town hall in Baton Rouge, La., if his wife would consider running in 2016, since he is term limited.

“No, no, no,” the president continued.

“Let me tell you, there are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and Michelle is not running for president,” he added. “That I can tell you.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/265885-obama-no-way-michelle-runs-for-president

[katsy]

1. YES!

😜

[lewebley3]

2. We need Michelle as governor of Illinois:

[IDemo]

3. Or mayor of Chicago...

[redwitch]

4. Michelle would probably like her old life back.

Love her to pieces, totally understand that she doesn't want the job.

[LittleGirl]

11. +1 n/t

[Blue_Roses]

38. I agree!

She is awesome and I will miss her!

[libdem4life]

5. Aw, that's sweet...so protective. I think Michelle, much like Elizabeth Warren, are two mega

powerful women with important jobs to do. Being President, in effect, forces one to dilute, shift, beg for money...etc. and sacrifice family while doing so. That's not sexist, either.

EW has her place in MA and does it extremely well. I see her in a Cabinet Position some day. MO has done a stellar job as the First Lady and First Mother. Just one look at how those girls are and how that family functions is testament to that fact.

Now, when they grow up and leave home, she could probably do whatever she pleases. But as her loving husband said, not run for president.

[eggplant]

22. I don't think he's being protective.

I think he's relaying an unambiguous message from his wife.

[libdem4life]

23. That too, but it was just in the way he said it...but we haven't heard the last of either of them,

I'm sure, and the country and the party will be better for it.

[eggplant]

24. I agree.

I think you can tell a lot about a President (and family) by what they do *after* the White House.

I'm still lovin' me some Jimmy Carter. We should all be that great.

[libdem4life]

28. That is so true...Habitat for Housing...and other Democratic works...he's been stellar.

I forgot what it was called. Oops

[eggplant]

31. Habitat for Humanity. n/t

[libdem4life]

34. The perils of age. Sigh.

[Chemisse]

32. And about his wife.

He knows her. And the last thing she would ever want to do is run for president.

[Dems to Win]

6. Thank you! President Obama. Thank you! Michelle Obama.

I pretty much hate the idea of a former first lady becoming president. I think this is a terrible message to send to young girls:

"Any girl in America can grow up to become President. All you have to do is find and marry a man who will be President first!"

[Little Star]

7. To me your message is......

If you marry a man & he becomes president you should just sit down & shut up even if it was always been your personal dream to become president.

If you marry a male real estate agent you should just give up your own dream to be a real estate agent. Or a doctor or a carpenter or anything else.

Screw that thinking.

Your husbands ambitions should never deny you yours just because he will usually have an easier time reaching his goal due to the fact he's a man.

This it's a mans world crap has to stop.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

8. WTF?

You don't think BO knows MO's opinion about running for President? Since you obviously don't, why are you trying to pull the women's card on poor Barack who is only answering the question asked about his wife - and HE KNOWS his WIFE!!!

[Little Star]

10. My response was to comment #6

who hates the idea of a former first lady becoming president.

It has nothing to do with BO or what he thinks. Although I do think that if Michelle did want to be president (which I'm pretty sure she doesn't.) Barack would owe her the same support she gave to him.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

13. oopsey! I didn't realize that - sorry!

[Little Star]

14. #1

[Dems to Win]

33. Thanks for the food for thought

You bring up good points. I definitely agree that wives of brain surgeons should feel free to pursue brain surgery.

And note that I most certainly don't want to pass any laws forbidding First Ladies from running for president. I may not like the idea, but Hillary is free to run, as it should be.

It may be unfair that the handful of women who've served as First Lady are people I'd rather not see as our first woman president. But I see the Presidency as more about the country than as the fulfillment of an individual's ambitions.

Look at the question asked of the President. The questioner wants Michelle to be the next president as a way of extending the Obama Administration, of keeping the good times rolling.

I'd prefer that our first female president be elected because the country wants the first term from the capable woman, rather than because the country wants a third term from the same married couple.

[OnlinePoker]

9. A little late in the game to be discussing it, don't you think? n/t

[Ace Rothstein]

12. She's only 51.

Plenty of time to run in the future is she truly wanted to. I think 8 years in the White House has been enough for the Obama family though. 8 years there has to be enough stress for a couple of lifetimes.

[Little Star]

15. I'm pretty sure she wants her former life back....

But if she did want to she would deserve his support. That's all I'm saying.

[OnlinePoker]

16. The question was "...if his wife would consider running in 2016"

Primaries are in 2 weeks. Why would anyone bring up Michelle's name now?

[Ace Rothstein]

18. I completely missed that.

Makes sense now.

[FailureToCommunicate]

17. Well, okay then. How about Vice President? Her campaign speech at Villanova sure had

me thinking SHE'd be great on a future ticket.

Bernie/Michelle 2016 !

(too soon?)

[Gore1FL]

19. Good!

Political dynasties suck for our country.

[tabasco]

20. Our loss.

She'd be a great president!

[SheilaT]

21. The idea that Michelle Obama would run for any office

is simply a fantasy. We've been here before, with other candidates in public life.

Not gonna happen. Ever. Michelle Obama, a very intelligent and talented woman, will probably be very happy to do whatever in the world it is she wants to do (teach? return to practicing law?) after January 20, 2017.

It's like this: Either you have the drive to run for office or you don't. Just being married to someone who has been elected doesn't pass that drive on to you. Nor does being the child of an office holder.

Remember a few years ago when Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg threw her hat in the ring for the Senate seat in NYS? And how truly dreadful she was in the very short time she was out there? That's because she's not the kind of person who runs for office.

Similarly, Chelsea Clinton's recent attempt to speak out on behalf of her mother's candidacy went so very badly not just because she was telling some obvious untruths, but because she simply isn't that kind of a person, one who runs for office, of campaigns on behalf of someone else.

While Michelle Obama might well be able to hold her own in the public sphere, I rather doubt she has any desire to do so.

[groundloop]

25. Agree.... I'd support Michelle in an instant if she ran, but I sense no desire whatsoever to do so

After seeing how her husband was treated, all the disrespect and hatred thrown at him, I can't believe she'd ever want to subject herself to that.

[SheilaT]

29. It's more fundamental than that.

Either a person has the desire to run for office, or not. Very few spouses move from being the spouse of someone who's been elected to office, to running herself. It always has moved from a male to his wife, the rare times it's happened. Sometimes the spouse makes a good or decent office holder. Sometimes not.

Hillary Clinton, it is clear to me, was always a very ambitious person. She was willing to subsume her own ambition to her husband's, not an uncommon thing for someone her age. But when the chance to run for office on her own occurred, she jumped at it. She ran reasonably effective campaigns, although both were against extremely weak opponents. What she mostly had going for her was a lot of people still liked Bill. And weak opponents.

So in 2008 when she ran, it seems that neither she nor any of those around her understood that a national campaign was something totally different. She lost. It's my opinion she only did as well as she did was because so many women would really, really like to see a woman in the Oval Office in their lifetimes. I wouldn't mind it either.

So she took the Secretary of State job, bided her time, and by 2015 set out running once again, even more convinced that she'd go straight to the nomination without a single bump along the way. Surprise, surprise. Feelings against her ran high, and now she's apparently tanking.

But enough analysis of Hillary. Michelle Obama, is apparently a totally lovely person. I have not had the privilege of meeting her, but maybe someday I'll be that lucky. But the qualities that make her what she is are probably not qualities that would make her a good candidate of any kind. And if she did decide to run for office, she'd be faced with much of the same criticism that Hillary Clinton got, of simply trying to parlay her husband's office into one of her own. Not a good thing.

And, I suspect, and far more to the point, she has lots of better things to do.

[madokie]

26. Too beautiful of a person

both physical and mental to have to go through what it would take to run for President. She has been an awesome First Lady, one I'll always look up too and love with all my heart.

Her husband was enough to ask of that family, he is my favorite President of all time.

[CoffeeCat]

27. The Obama's need to decompress

for a few years on some tropical beach. Given the malarkey they have endured for eight years, they deserve peace, family time, joy and happiness. Not another round of torture!

Besides, Bernie will be handling things from here on out!

[Calista241]

30. I love Obama's sense of humor. Gonna miss it.

[libdem4life]

36. Me, too. But I think Bernie has a very wry sense of humor that will increase as he

becomes more comfortable in the limelight. Obama got better and better as time went on.

[justiceischeap]

35. If anyone has paid attention to MO, she never really wanted BO to run for President.

She's whole heartedly supported him because she loves him but I think she's biding her time to get out of the White House. She probably wants to get back to her career.

[libdem4life]

37. Elizabeth Warren's family made it clear they did not want her to run. Who knows why?

Who cares?

[davidpdx]

39. Michelle Obama doesn't want to run for or be president and I can totally understand that

There will be so many good causes she can get involved in as a former first lady once they leave the White House. There is always a possibility she may want to start her own organization as well.

If I remember correctly their 25th wedding anniversary is in 2017 and I'm sure they'd like to take a trip somewhere for that. It will be nice for them to be alone together after so many years of having the press follow them.