Michelle Obama Watch

Posted by Carmen D. All About Race: Even if you’re not going to be in Denver on Sunday, August 24th, you can still satisfy your politics jones for the night with the help of TV One. At 8pm on Sunday, TV One will premiere “In Conversation – The Michelle Obama Interview.” For a full hour, Michelle Obama sits down for an interview with Roland Martin and talks about everything from the secret of her happy marriage to the surprising reason why she decided to support her husband’s pursuit of politics.

From the press release:

Mrs. Obama tells Martin that she spent much of her marriage trying to talk her husband out of politics, but she says her daughters are at the heart of the reason she decided to support his decision to pursue public office – because she recognized that through politics he could make a better world for them.

She tells Martin that a spouse’s role in the campaign is important because it gives a broader insight of who the candidate is.

“So much of who I am is where I grew up,” Mrs. Obama says. She talks about growing up on the South Side of Chicago, her father as a shift worker who had MS, and who believed in sacrificing for his family but never complained. She says both her parents taught her the importance of working hard and giving back.

She also believes voters can see themselves reflected in her and her husband’s working and middle class family backgrounds. She says that black women, in particular, have not had their views and their lives reflected in the larger world, and she is delighted when she hears from black women that they see themselves reflected in her.

When Martin asks about her relationship with her husband, she says they learned back in his days in the state senate how to sustain their relationship, including carving out a regular date night. She says it’s important for her daughters to see their parents’ loving relationship, to see them holding hands, and that it helps them feel secure and loved.

While her own schedule is hectic, she recognizes that the average working family faces much more difficult struggles, with every woman she knows struggling to balance resources. She tells Martin that she passionately wants to give voice to the challenges of working families, especially military families, who struggle with housing, schools, and health matters, many of them barely getting by.

Mrs. Obama tells Martin that it’s truly humbling to be part of the next step in history, but she clearly does recognize that they are part of a historic moment.

“You need to celebrate what [Sen. Obama] represents even if you don’t vote for him,” Mrs. Obama says.

Read all about it here.