Michelle Obama Interviews Barack Obama on Podcast Debut ‘We Are Each Other’s Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers’
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Who better for Michelle Obama to interview on the debut of her podcast than her husband, Barack Obama? A few years ago, she welcomed the former president, affectionately introducing him as a ‘special someone.’ In the nearly 50-minute episode, the couple reminisced about their different upbringings in Chicago, their early years together, and their time in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Like most Americans, we’ve been spending a lot of time together in quarantine,” Michelle remarked, to which Barack quipped, “You don’t seem too happy about that.” Michelle laughed, “It’s just a fact. There wasn’t a judgment. We’ve had a great time. We’ve had some interesting conversations because these are some crazy times.
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how our views of community shape who we are, our choices, and our reactions.” As per ABC News, Michelle continued, “You know that at the core of everything you have done politically, what I know about you as a person and one of the reasons why I fell in love with you is—” Barack interrupted, playfully asserting, “It wasn’t just my looks?” Michelle affirmed, “You’re cute, you know.
But no, one of the reasons I fell in love with you is because you are guided by the principle that we are each other’s brothers and sisters’ keepers. And that’s how I was raised!” Barack reflected on the atmosphere in the country at the time, both socially and politically, referencing the protests following George Floyd’s murder.
Michelle said, “I know a lot of you are hurting out there right now and are confused and that’s OK. But as I’ve seen, as Barack has seen, we can take that anger, that disappointment, and turn it into something useful. Perhaps, even something hopeful. But we just have to keep having those conversations because once we start the conversation, there is no telling where it will go.”
Further in the episode, Barack discussed his passion for civil rights, stating, “I thought, you know, that looks like hard work but it never looks like lonely work.” Michelle echoed a similar sentiment, saying, “I had this amazing view of the southeast side of the city from my office. I could see the lake and I could see all of the neighborhood that I came from.
And I never felt further from that neighborhood than when I was sitting in that office, working on briefs and cases that had nothing to do with anything that helped a broader group of people outside of myself,” as reported by People magazine. Michelle also shared her hopes for the future generation of community organizers in the country.
“It is much more hopeful, it is much more gratifying, much more effective to live this life as a ‘we,’” she asserted. “And I think as young people listen to this, as they are starting to shape their paths, I would strongly encourage them to think about building lives that are selfless.”
