Former First Lady Michelle Obama has made it official: she is not running for office.
During an interview with actress Tracee Ellis Ross at the United State of Women Summit in Los Angeles, Obama was asked by an audience member if she was planning on running for political office.
“That’s not the answer either,” she said, referring to people who claim that her campaign might be a boon to liberals. “When I hear people say ‘you run,’ it’s part of the problem.”
“We still didn’t get ‘Yes, we can’ right,” she said, referencing her husband’s famous 2008 slogan. “It’s not, ‘Yes, you can,’ it’s ‘Yes, we can.’ And until we get that right, it doesn’t matter who runs. I don’t think I’m any different from Hillary [Clinton].”
“Change starts close to home,” she added. “So looking for the next person to run… [has] been our distraction. ‘We’re going to wait for the next person to save us.’ We thought it was going to be Barack Obama, but he didn’t end racism.”
During her interview, she also focused specifically on issues that affect women and girls in the United States.
Michelle Obama had, in the past, also denied that she would be entering the political area.
But while she might not be planning a political run any time soon, she continues to be popular with the American people, leaving office with 64 percent of Americans having a favorable view of her–a higher approval rating than her husband.
