Michelle Obama
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87 “I can’t breathe”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with Frontline, PBS, posted on the show’s website, but this comment was not included in the broadcast. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/the-frontline-interview-valerie-jarrett.
88 “narrowed to a single”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 186.
89 “The bad food and stale air”: Ibid., p. 4.
90 “more sensible pursuits”: Ibid.
91 Shomon said Barack: Dan Shomon, interview with author.
92 “completely mortified and humiliated”: Barack Obama, interviewed by David Remnick, American Magazine Conference, Phoenix, Ariz., November 2006.
93 “For God’s sake”: Helman, “Early Defeat Launched a Rapid Political Climb.”
94 “It’s hard to look”: Ibid.
95 named for poet Maya Angelou: Michelle Obama, remarks at Maya Angelou memorial service, June 7, 2014.
96 “And at the same time”: Helman, “Early Defeat.”
9 | JUST DON’T SCREW IT UP
1 She walked up: Susan Sher, interview with author.
2 “This is my life”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author, 2007.
3 She told colleagues when: Susan Sher, interview with author.
4 Stepping from a bus: Kenneth Kates and Susan Sher, interviews with author.
5 The heart of her pitch: Rosita Ragin, interview with author.
6 “It’s not enough to be”: Michelle Obama, “Reaching Out and Reaching Back,” InsideOut, University of Chicago Office of Community and Government Affairs, September 2005.
7 “Somebody like me”: Michelle Obama, “Reaching Out.”
8 “who have jobs to protect”: Annah Dumas-Mitchell, “Officials to Contractors: Blacks Won’t Be Cheated,” Chicago Defender, November 29, 2001.
9 In return for his: LaRisa Lynch, “AACA and University of Chicago Hospitals Reach Agreement to Increase Black Participation in Construction Employment Opportunities,” Chicago Defender, December 6, 2001.
10 Minority contracting was: Chicago Transit Authority documents, obtained through Freedom of Information Act.
11 To strengthen the contracting: Joan Archie, via John Easton, University of Chicago communications department.
12 From the 2002 to 2008: University of Chicago statistics.
13 “She would not shy away”: Kenneth Kates, interview with author.
14 “Let’s just look at the facts”: John Rogers, interview with author.
15 “I saw Barack”: Geoffrey Stone, interview with author.
16 “He didn’t seem”: William Daley, interview with author, 2007.
17 “Walking into that lunch”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author, 2007.
18 “It was, gosh”: Michelle Obama, interview with author, 2007.
19 “I’m willing to gamble”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author, 2007.
20 When he added the column: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 100.
21 roughly what he had raised: Federal Election Commission, campaign finance reports.
22 “more out of pity”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 5.
23 “I don’t like to talk”: David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power, p. 152.
24 On the eve: Scott Fornek, “Barack Obama,” Chicago Sun-Times, March 1, 2004.
25 “It’s hard, and that’s why”: William Finnegan, “The Candidate: How the Son of a Kenyan Economist Became an Illinois Everyman,” New Yorker, May 31, 2004.
26 “because she couldn’t figure”: New Day, CNN, June 23, 2014.
27 “the desire to be”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 341.
28 She was certain: Ibid., p. 341.
29 “Work is rewarding”: Rebecca Johnson, “The Natural,” Vogue, September 2007.
30 He did have a guilty: Dan Shomon, interview with author.
31 “Figuring out how”: Cassandra West, “Her Plan Went Awry, but Michelle Obama Doesn’t Mind,” Chicago Tribune, September 1, 2004.
32 “I am sitting there”: Holly Yeager, “The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama,” O: The Oprah Magazine, November 2007.
33 “it didn’t mean he wasn’t”: Johnson, “The Natural.”
34 “The big thing I figured out”: Yeager, “Heart and Mind.”
35 “Don’t sweat the small”: Michelle Obama, remarks at the Women’s Conference, Long Beach, Calif., October 23, 2007.
36 “I just think that’s”: Marian Robinson, unpublished interview with Scott Helman, 2008.
37 “no matter how much”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 340.
38 “Sure, I helped”: Ibid., p. 341.
39 “an important period”: Yeager, “Heart and Mind.”
40 “Michelle’s strength, her willingness”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 341.
41 “We ain’t seen no”: Barack Obama, remarks at Pleasant Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, 2003. Videotape by Bruce Orenstein and Bill Glader.
42 “Freed from worry”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, pp. 5–7.
43 “I am tired”: Lauren W. Whittington, “Final Days for Fightin’ Illini,” Roll Call, March 9, 2004.
44 In a stroke of good fortune: Frank Main, “Hull’s Dirty Laundry on the Line,” Chicago Sun-Times, February 28, 2004.
45 “She understood”: Forrest Claypool, interview with author.
46 “We believe he represents”: Monica Davey, “A Surprise Senate Contender Reaches His Biggest Stage Yet,” New York Times, July 26, 2004.
47 “rhymes uncomfortably”: Scott Turow, “The New Face of the Democratic Party—and America,” Salon, March 30, 2004.
48 “Just don’t screw it up”: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 359.
49 “This guy’s going”: “Dreams of Obama,” Frontline, January 20, 2009.
50 “Michelle sees this happening”: Ibid.
51 a line passed among: Elizabeth Taylor, “There Has Always Been … This Hopefulness About the Country,” Chicago Tribune, October 29, 2006.
52 “It’s the hope of slaves”: Barack Obama, speech to the Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004.
53 “Absolutely the messiest”: Oprah Winfrey Show, January 19, 2005.
54 leaders “who have their feet”: Yeager, “Heart and Mind.”
55 “Barack is not our savior”: Suzanne Bell, “Michelle Obama Speaks at Illinois State U,” Daily Vidette, October 26, 2004.
56 “a waste of time”: Debra Pickett, “My Parents Weren’t College-Educated Folks, So They Didn’t Have a Notion of What We Should Want,” Chicago Sun-Times, September 19, 2004.
57 “I didn’t believe that politics”: Bell, “Michelle Obama Speaks at Illinois State U,” 2004.
58 “I’m as black as it gets”: Elizabeth Brackett, Chicago Tonight, WTTW, October 28, 2004.
59 “Balancing a full-time”: Michelle Obama, remarks to Women’s Conference, Long Beach, Calif., October 26, 2010.
60 “It was never willy-nilly”: Leif Elsmo, interview with author.
61 “The girls came first”: Kenneth Kates, interview with author.
62 she put herself: Katie McCormick Lelyveld, interview with author.
63 “What I notice about”: Johnson, “The Natural.”
64 “If you can, you do”: Haroon Rashid, interview with author.
65 “trying to herd these two”: Carol Felsenthal, “The Making of a First Lady,” Chicago, January 16, 2009.
66 “If I did that even”: James Grossman, interview with author.
67 “Malia is six years”: David Mendell, “Barack Obama: Democrat for U.S. Senate,” Chicago Tribune, October 22, 2004.
68 In yet another lucky: Rick Pearson and John Chase, “Unusual Match Nears Wire: Obama, Keyes Faceoff to Have Place in the Books,” Chicago Tribune, November 2, 2004.
69 “I don’t take all the type”: Barack Obama, interview with author, 2004.
70 “I’m a big believer”: Ibid.
71 “Maybe one day”: Jeff Zeleny, “New
Man on the Hill,” Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2005.
72 She also joined the board: Bob Sector, “Obama’s 2006 Income Drops,” Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2007.
73 “There’s no doubt”: Barack Obama, interview with author, 2006.
74 “tough, smart and connected”: Maureen Dowd, “She’s Not Buttering Him Up,” New York Times, April 25, 2007.
75 “The problem is that”: Michelle Obama, unpublished interview with John McCormick.
76 “We are going to change”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author, 2007.
77 A family doctor: James Madera, then University of Chicago Hospitals president, interview with author.
78 In what would become: Harlan Krumholz, Yale University, interview with author.
79 “We have to create”: Eric Whitaker, interview with author.
80 “People are so used to going”: Laura Derks, interview with author.
81 “I have seen her”: Yeager, “Heart and Mind.”
82 In response, the hospital: James Madera, interview with author.
83 One day, he called: Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, pp. 326–327.
10 | I’M PRETTY CONVINCING
1 “He comes out of nowhere”: Craig Robinson, book-tour discussion, Dominican University, April 27, 2010.
2 “you don’t grow up on”: Ibid.
3 “You will never be hotter”: Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson, The Battle for America 2008, p. 30.
4 “Have you talked to your wife?”: Cynthia McFadden, Nightline, ABC, October 8, 2012.
5 “I’ve got great access to them”: Larry King Live, CNN, February 11, 2008.
6 “They talked about passion”: Craig Robinson, Dominican University, April 27, 2010.
7 “I had a Porsche”: Pete Thamel, “Coach with a Link to Obama Has Hope for Brown’s Future,” New York Times, February 16, 2007.
8 “Well that’s fine”: Craig Robinson, Dominican University.
9 “She was interested in whether”: Gwen Ifill, “Michelle Obama: Beside Barack,” Essence, November 5, 2008.
10 “I was impressed by her”: David Plouffe, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory, p. 12.
11 “No one had good news”: Ibid.
12 “We’re talking about”: Jodi Kantor and Jeff Zeleny, “Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act,” New York Times, May 18, 2007.
13 “but he’s drawn more”: Plouffe, Audacity to Win, p. 13.
14 “the kind of person”: Cal Fussman, “Valerie Jarrett: What I’ve Learned,” Esquire, April 22, 2013.
15 Michelle had said in 1996: Mariana Cook, interview with Barack and Michelle Obama, 1996.
16 “I took myself down”: Ifill, “Michelle Obama.”
17 Michelle had veto: McFarland, Nightline.
18 “The person who was most”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author.
19 “Okay, how are we going to do this?”: Michelle Obama, interview with author, 2007.
20 “I’ve never doubted the mission”: Ibid.
21 “The selfish part of me”: Ibid.
22 “It had taken a little convincing”: Michelle Obama, remarks at the Women’s Conference, Long Beach, Calif., October 23, 2007.
23 “I was really the hold out”: Connie Schultz, interview with author.
24 “Michelle Obama! That’s one”: Kantor and Zeleny, “Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act.”
25 “I’m scared of”: “Obama Hasn’t Smoked in Years, Scared of My Wife,” Associated Press, September 23, 2013.
26 a funk after only: Plouffe, Audacity to Win, p. 59.
27 “Meandering, unmotivated, and hesitant”: Ibid., p. 138.
28 “Barack is the luckiest”: Abner Mikva, interview with author.
29 “Well, I would have to”: Author interview with voter.
30 when the heartland was bearing: Peter Slevin, “Midwest Towns Sour on War as Their Tolls Mount,” Washington Post, July 14, 2007.
31 “I guarantee you”: Michelle Obama, remarks in Rockwell City, Iowa, October 9, 2007.
32 “You can’t just tell”: Robin Roberts, Good Morning America, ABC News, May 22, 2007.
33 “I am married to”: Michelle Obama, remarks in Harlem, June 26, 2007.
34 “There’s Barack Obama the phenomenon”: Maureen Dowd, “She’s Not Buttering Him Up,” New York Times, April 25, 2007.
35 “He’s too snorey”: Tonya Lewis Lee, “Your Next First Lady?” Glamour, September 2007.
36 “Many people I talked to afterward”: Dowd, “She’s Not Buttering Him Up.”
37 “Barack and I laugh about that”: Raina Kelley, “A Real Wife, In a Real Marriage,” Newsweek, February 16, 2008.
38 “What I realize as I get older”: Lynn Norment, “The Hottest Couple in America,” Ebony, February 2007.
39 She began an unpaid: John Easton, spokesman, University of Chicago Hospitals, July 17, 2014.
40 “I am going to be the person”: David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power, p. 381.
41 A consultant to nonprofit: President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, website.
42 Their instructor was often: Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, “5 Things to Know about Grandma-in-Chief Marian Robinson,” People, January 20, 2009.
43 “We just shared all”: Kelly Wallace, “What’s a Hui and Why Michelle Obama Can’t Live Without Hers,” iVillage, November 5, 2012.
44 “It’s just a silent thing”: Yvonne Davila, interview with author.
45 Blanchard was an obstetrician: “Meet Dr. Anita Blanchard: A Doctor with a Mission,” InsideOut, University of Chicago, September 2005.
46 Nesbitt met Craig Robinson: Marty Nesbitt, interview with author.
47 He met Barack: Ibid.
48 “We need you all to be”: Harriette Cole, “The Real Michelle Obama,” Ebony, September 2008.
49 “I believe [he] will be president”: Valerie Jarrett, interview with author, July 5, 2007.
50 “She takes this so seriously”: Melissa Winter, interview with author, 2007.
51 Shaken, she also made: Peter Slevin, “Michelle Obama in Iowa Accident,” Washington Post, October 9, 2007.
52 “He has natural political”: Pete Giangreco, interview with author.
53 “If you had asked me which”: Jobi Petersen Cates, interview with author.
54 Through Burns and his small-town: Peter Slevin, “A Tiny Iowa Paper and One Very Big Name: Obama,” WashingtonPost.com, January 3, 2008.
55 “It’s Iowa or bust”: Plouffe, Audacity to Win, p. 17.
56 “I’m a fourth-quarter player”: Chelsea Kammerer, interview with author.
57 not “ready to elect a black president”: Peter Wallsten and Richard Faussett, “For Black Skeptics, Obama Cites Iowa,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2008.
58 “Had he married a”: Remnick, The Bridge, p. 502.
59 “Michelle is not only African American”: Allison Samuels, “What Michelle Means to Us,” Newsweek, November 21, 2008.
60 “Ask yourselves, of all the candidates”: Michelle Obama, speech in Orangeburg, S.C., November 25, 2007. “Jena justice” refers to a sequence of racially charged incidents in Jena, Louisiana. A white prosecutor’s decision to charge five black Jena High School students with attempted murder in the December 2006 beating of a white student led to protests by demonstrators who argued that the charges were excessive and represented a pattern of unequal treatment of black residents. Authorities later filed reduced charges. Five students pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple battery. One student pleaded guilty to second-degree battery and received jail time. Mary Foster, “Jena 6 Case Nears Conclusion,” Associated Press, June 25, 2009.
61 “There’s an emotional exhaustion”: Jackie Norris, interview with author.
11 | VEIL OF IMPOSSIBILITY
1 “The Obamas could not possibly”: Gwen Ifill, “Michelle Obama: Beside Barack,” Essence, November 5, 2008.
2 “because of their race
or gender”: Alec MacGillis, “A Margin That Will Be Hard to Marginalize,” Washington Post, January 27, 2008.
3 “The Clintons are disturbing”: DeDe Mays, interview with author.
4 “In the past week or two”: Michelle Obama, Obama campaign letter, January 24, 2008.
5 “If she thinks we’re being”: Lauren Collins, “The Other Obama: Michelle Obama and the Politics of Candor,” New Yorker, March 10, 2008.
6 “My girl’s tough”: Melissa Winter, interview with author, 2008.
7 She was a recent political: David Axelrod, interview with author.
8 “Power concedes nothing”: Michelle Obama, speech in Estill, S.C., January 2008.
9 “My fear is that we don’t know”: Michelle Obama, speech in Hilton Head, S.C., January 2008.
10 “Well, let me tell you something”: Ibid.
11 Barack earned 78 percent of black: David Plouffe, The Audacity to Win, p. 163.
12 “I know what I will be telling”: Ally Carragher, interview with author.
13 “freedom … equality …”: Will.I.Am, “Why I Recorded ‘Yes We Can,’ ” Huffington Post, February 3, 2008.
14 “I look at my life”: Michelle Obama, speech in Hilton Head, S.C.
15 “This nation is broken”: Michelle Obama, speech in Estill, S.C.
16 “You reach the bar”: Ibid.
17 “That little girl started to cry”: Michelle Obama, speech in Hilton Head, S.C.
18 Katie McCormick Lelyveld’s phone rang: Katie McCormick Lelyveld, interview with author.
19 “To think your country”: Hannity & Colmes, Fox, March 8, 2008.
20 “We’ve grown up and lived”: Michelle Malkin, “Michelle Obama’s America—and Mine,” Augusta Chronicle, February 21, 2008.
21 “Hope is making a comeback”: Michelle Obama, speech in Madison, Wisc., C-SPAN.
22 “The army made it easier”: Colin Powell, My American Journey, p. 62.
23 “No one who was there”: Paul Schmitz, interview with author.
24 “expressing a feeling that”: Timuel Black, interview with author.
25 “That was vintage truth”: James Montgomery, interview with author.
26 “What she meant” Burton wrote: Michael Cooper, “Comments Bring Wives into Fray in Wisconsin,” New York Times, February 20, 2008.
27 “What she meant was, this is the first time”: “Obama Defends Wife’s Remark on Pride in Country,” Associated Press, February 20, 2008.