Michelle Obama CLARIFIES Woman President Comments On CALL HER DADDY Podcast | RISING

What this episode is about

Michelle Obama clarified her previous comments on gender and leadership during an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, emphasizing that societal biases still exist which may hinder the election of a woman president, despite having qualified female candidates in the past. She also discussed her personal journey to being recognized beyond her identity as Barack Obama’s wife, highlighting her significant professional accomplishments and the challenges of being in the public eye.

Key takeaways

• Michelle Obama's credentials eclipsed by her husband's presidency reflect society's struggle with women's multifaceted identities.
• In a polarized electorate, the gender bias runs deep, impacting perceptions of female political candidates amid credential debates.
• Obama's dismissal of a nostalgia-fueled third term underlines the importance of fresh perspectives in leadership.
• Dismissing a woman’s accomplishments based on her spouse's status hints at an outdated narrative about gender roles.
• Michelle's candid advice to working mothers about career sacrifice underscores a reality check on parental expectations.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Michelle Obama (Host) · 7 min speaking
• Alex Cooper (Host) · 4 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, The Look, Alex Cooper
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Hillary Clinton, Erica Low, Taylor Swift
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Michelle Obama, Alex Cooper, Hillary Clinton, Jenna Bush

Notable quotes from "Michelle Obama CLARIFIES Woman President Comments On CALL HER DADDY Podcast | RISING"

• Former first lady Michelle Obama making an appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast. Obama was promoting her new book, which is called The Look, which is partially a memoir and.

  about Michelle Obama · at 0:03

• President Trump attempting to quote change the rules and run for a third term. She asked if Barack Obama would consider doing the same thing if the rules were really changed.…

  about Barack Obama · at 2:06

• So, I totally understand that. I think it was a good conversation. I also think when she talked about the woman, I actually had Erica Low, who was a former director for Biden…

  about Erica Low · at 3:27

• That cheats on her, like I don't want her to be my president. And I thought that was so absurd to say that the person that got cheated on is the reason why you wouldn't vote…

  about Hillary Clinton · at 4:14

• Husband's presidency and your role in that. And so, I think that complaint was a little silly. I wanted to get your take though on something else she said in the podcast. We…

  about Alex Cooper · at 5:00

• Said, your dad has the biggest job in the world. So, you'll never not be famous. And you've seen other specifically president's children go through this like Jenna Bush talks…

  about Jenna Bush · at 5:52

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Michelle Obama — Person · Main referenced speaker (interview subject on Call Her Daddy) · 5 mentions · first at 0:05
  Central figure discussed throughout: her podcast appearance, her career credentials, views on women in politics, and reflections on fashion and public perception.
• Barack Obama — Person · Key referenced person (spouse; comparative political figure) · 4 mentions · first at 0:23
  Referenced as the reason Michelle Obama felt her own credentials were overshadowed; also discussed in a hypothetical about a third term if rules changed.
• Alex Cooper — Person · Host (of Call Her Daddy) referenced in segment · 2 mentions · first at 2:02
  Identified as the podcast host who asks Michelle Obama about Trump and a third term scenario, and frames questions about clothing and perception.
• Hillary Clinton — Person · Referenced political example (female presidential candidate) · 3 mentions · first at 1:38
  Used as evidence in the discussion about sexism in voting behavior and the claim that the U.S. may not be ready for a woman president.
• Erica Low — Person · Referenced expert/guest (on another podcast) · 1 mention · first at 3:32
  Cited as someone who echoed the idea that voters may be more comfortable voting for a male candidate (Biden) due to gender bias.
• Taylor Swift — Person · Pop-culture comparison point · 1 mention · first at 3:20
  Mentioned as an analogy for how a high-profile partner can eclipse someone’s independent identity ("becomes Taylor Swift's boyfriend").
  Bring this up with Colin, like a sports athlete starts dating like a celebrity that I know, like Taylor Swift, for example, and he becomes Taylor Swift's boyfriend. And I don't…
• Jenna Bush — Person · Referenced example (president's child identity/experience) · 1 mention · first at 6:00
  Used as an example of how children of presidents struggle to form an identity; referenced as a current TV host discussing her experience.

Books & papers

• The Look — Book · Primary recommendation · 1 mention · first at 0:12
  Michelle Obama's new book, discussed as a memoir and reflection on her fashion choices during her time in the White House.
  Former first lady Michelle Obama making an appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast. Obama was promoting her new book, which is called The Look, which is partially a…

Companies & orgs

• University of Chicago — Company · Affiliation · 1 mention · first at 0:37
  Mentioned as part of Michelle Obama's professional background, where she held a position in community relations.
  Was an assistant to the mayor in Chicago. I ran a nonprofit of 501c3 build a board. I was a vice president for community relations at the University of Chicago Hospitals. I was…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:05 Former first lady Michelle Obama making an appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast. Obama was promoting her new book, which is called The Look, which is partially a memoir and partially a reflection on the role that her fashion choices played in her time at the White House.

0:21 Obama says she never wanted people to only think of her as being Barack Obama's wife, feeling that it overshadowed her past accomplishments. take a look.

0:30 I was like, well, I went to Princeton and Harvard. I mean, I practiced law. I was an assistant to the mayor in Chicago. I ran a nonprofit of 501c3 build a board. I was a vice president for community relations at the University of Chicago Hospitals. I was a dean of students. It was like, "Oh, you guys, I all of that just disappeared in the course of this whole election and you now see me as just Barack Obama's wife." So, that made me say, "What? That that quickly my shoes become the most important thing about me."

1:10 The conversation circled back to comments the former first lady made a couple of months ago where she said, "The US is not ready for a woman to be president." Here she was clarifying those remarks.

1:20 There are men out there that were not going to vote for a woman. You know, that's th you you people have had those conversations, right? Let's just be real about it and let's put that on the table and talk about well, what's that about?

1:34 Let's not be mad because I made the statement. Let's look at the fact that we've had two really qualified female candidates. one who was first lady, secretary of state, well educated, you know, my husband beat her, right? People were more comfortable with him as a newcomer, right? And now we just had the for the former vice president. Finally, the host of the show, Alex Cooper, brought up the possibility of President Trump attempting to quote change the rules and run for a third term. She asked if Barack Obama would consider doing the same thing if the rules were really changed. But Michelle quickly dismissed that idea, saying she would actively work against that. This is a hard job and it it requires new energy, new new vision all the time, new ways of looking at the world, right? So I do believe that eight years is enough like you know so and there's so many talented people out there like why why

2:40 would we keep going with the same people. I enjoyed this interview um a lot to unpack here. I think that uh when you sit down and have a long amount of time with somebody I'll start with the one of the first things she said about uh diminishing all her qualifications. Like I had read her memoir about how she'd been successful in her career and Barack was almost like the person who like you know aspired to be like Michelle the working lawyer at the same I believe they worked at the same law firm and she's like why are you guys like forgetting a lot of that and that happens a lot if somebody gets somebody high profile like their whole career kind of goes out the window. Uh, vice versa. I've seen it for men, too. I'll bring this up with Colin, like a sports athlete starts dating um like a celebrity that I know, like Taylor Swift, for example, and he becomes Taylor Swift's boyfriend. And I don't

3:24 know anything about the sport. So, he's like, I'm accomplished in my own right. So, I totally understand that. I think it was a good conversation. I also think um when she talked about the woman, I actually had um Erica Low, who was a former director for Biden, um on our podcast, World of Travel Podcast yesterday, and she said the same thing. she thought that um people would have been more comfortable voting for Biden even in the condition that everybody was accusing him of being in because he was a guy. Um and so there's just some of that that people agree with. I also know that I've had the privilege of being a reporter around the globe from I mean around the country from uh Arizona to Los Angeles to Denver, Colorado, you know, a lot of purple, red and blue states. And I remember when um Hillary was running and we would do interviews with people, one guy told me one time, well, if she's gonna stay with a guy

4:14 that cheats on her, like I don't want her to be my president. And I thought that was so absurd to say that the person that got cheated on is the reason why you wouldn't vote for them for president. I know that's one opinion and a silly opinion amongst millions, but it just goes to show you that there are it's just a fact. There's probably people out here that not voting for somebody because of the way they look or are or their gender.

4:35 I am I uh understand her frustration that her credentials weren't elevated much, but the reality is when your husband's president, like it's going to happen. I mean, it's it's I think it's a little bit of a silly complaint just because he's literally the leader of the free world. Like, I'm sorry. We're not going to talk we're not we're not going to talk about you being dean of students. like, you know, no disrespect, but we are trying to evaluate your husband's presidency and your role in that. And so, I think that complaint was a little silly. I wanted to get your take though on something else she said in the podcast. We didn't play the clip from it, but she was talking about um what advice she gives to young women who have careers and children. And she basically said, "Don't bother putting your career to the side while you're raising children because they'll just grow up and leave you and be

5:22 ungrateful." I was like, "That's really harsh." Um, she she always she talks about her kids in in a funny way. I obviously she loves them, but it's very like it's it seems like a tough love situation. Like she told them like, "You're not." And I have friends like this that are like telling like, for example, they'll tell their little sibling to get out of their room and their mom will be like, "Okay, none of these are nobody's rooms besides mine cuz I own the house." Right. That's just a different way of Yeah. And it's just like, so I think she's very much that person. She wants her kids to try to figure out humility and being humble in the midst of like you said, your dad has the biggest job in the world. So, you'll never not be famous. And you've seen other um specifically president's children go through this uh like Jenna Bush talks about her experience um because now she hosts the Today Show about how she tried

6:06 to like fight and claw to find her identity. You'll see this um with Hillary Clinton's kid and Bill Clinton's uh daughter. You know, she talks about this a lot as she public speaks. I think it's hard to find your identity and so part of Michelle protecting her probably as as adamantly as her Michelle's mom which was the kid's grandmother protected Michelle while she was in the White House and living with them. I think that probably passed down in just like a generational thing where she's like I just want to try to give my kids the most amount of normaly. So I'm not going to try to make them feel like celebrities in any way. I'm going to still work and show them what hard works look like so they can emulate this when they realize that everything doesn't just get handed to you on the platter because your parents were famous and that could deter them into, you know, being like mediocre. I know her one um I

6:50 think Sasha wants to get into film producing. You don't want to be a mediocre film producer. You might as well knock it out the park. You're Obama's kid. So, yes, you have the access, but like now go really do something creative. You got to work hard at that. The other uh interesting part of the interview was when I uh the host Alex Cooper was asking Michelle Obama basically about clothing and how women are perceived and she said, you know, if I'm going in for a job interview and I think wearing like a slinky dress will have the interviewer like like me because I'm a woman, but maybe I want to wear the suit because I want to be perceived as more professional. Like what should I do? And uh Michelle basically said, "If you need to pay your bills, then wear whatever you think is going to get you the job."

7:33 It's kind of funny, but uh I think um sometimes there's these conversations about like politicization of women's fashion and what have you. Yeah. And I understand that for men it is easier because they have a smaller range of options.

7:48 Robbie told me he has four suits in rotations, which I get it. But I do think, you know, how you present yourself and the way that you dress and and you know, the way that you style your hair or whether or not your nails are done does convey a signal to people of how much you care about something, the way that you um are trying to behave in a certain situation. Like I do think that appearance matters. And to kind of chalk that up to politicization, like you wouldn't wear, you know, pajamas to a wedding, right? try to convey a certain level of respect depending on the situation that you're in. And so I think sometimes that conversation gets reduced to well women are are being unfairly judged because they wore this and that and whatever.

8:29 But I do think you know the way that you present yourself has value. Sure. And I agree with that. I think that uh you have to come in looking the part and part of that speaks volumes before you even open your mouth. And so I was always taught that and I completely agree with you. But I think where it starts to go left and why it's frustrating for women is because when you are completely professional in the way that you feel and that you you showed up full suit, but somebody thinks your hair is unprofessional, which is why we're arguing about the crown act right now. Or somebody thinks well then we get into this nuance of like what someone else's gaze thinks is professional. And if you are wholly by most standards looking as professional as you need to be and being judged by the shoes you came in with it, that's got to be frustrating for somebody who is credentialed and prepared for the opportunity or the hairstyle that you

9:11 have. It's like what is professional maybe needs some expanding. Um because people are more creative these days. We have a slew of professionals that are online making more than probably you and I that are completely professional, right? I mean I don't know might make a lot of money but they do too in one deal. And it's just like well they're considered professional too. They obviously are business people collecting this hopefully collecting and paying their taxes and everything. So we have to just expand our definition of professional and not be clutching our pearls so much. Do you think Michelle still wants to run for president or is thinking about it

9:41 still? I think she never did. Yeah. Well, she said that. I don't know if I buy it.

9:44 I don't think I I just think that she's so over, you know, I went to her book tour when she first put out her first book after the presidency after uh Barack was uh president a second time and I was at Barlay Center and she you could feel uh the way that she was frustrated about having to, you know, the whole go high thing and and just like have decorum in the office. She really was constantly being attacked and ridiculed like any public figure is and some praise as well. But she was just like I'm done. You know, I don't I I really felt the sigh of relief of like I don't have to uh you know be standup person because my husband is trying to accomplish something. And sometimes you do that, you know, when you're married or with a life partner like you just do stuff for them like they have this big job you got to like help them have success in it. And she was like, "Okay, we're done." And so I hope he stays out

10:33 of politics. why she doesn't want him to run a third term and I'm certainly not getting into it. So, I believe her because of that feeling and expression she had at that Barlay Center.

10:41 Yeah, I would I would want to be far away from it, too. Yeah, I don't blame her. All right, we have a lot more to talk about on Rising. Stay with us.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Michelle Obama CLARIFIES Woman President Comments On CALL HER DADDY Podcast | RISING"?

Michelle Obama (Host), Alex Cooper (Host).

What is "Michelle Obama CLARIFIES Woman President Comments On CALL HER DADDY Podcast | RISING" about?

Michelle Obama clarified her previous comments on gender and leadership during an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, emphasizing that societal biases still exist which may hinder the election of a woman president, despite having qualified female candidates in the past. She also discussed her personal journey to being recognized beyond her identity as Barack Obama’s wife, highlighting…

What is mentioned in this The Hill episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, The Look, Alex Cooper, University of Chicago, Hillary Clinton. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Michelle Obama CLARIFIES Woman President Comments On CALL HER DADDY Podcast | RISING"?

The episode runs 11 min; the transcript is about 2,294 words in 21 timestamped sections.

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