photography: courtesy BarackObama'08;

Michelle Obama

The Saturday Evening Post: As a Harvard-educated lawyer, hospital vice president, community leader, and mother of two young girls, you lead such an active, involved life. Your husband refers to you as his “rock.” How do you successfully juggle so many roles?
Like the thousands, of women that I’ve met across the country over the last 19 months, I wear many hats – I’m a wife, a professional, a daughter and a sister, a best friend, and most importantly, I’m a mom. It’s a constant struggle, trying to juggle jobs and raise kids, often feeling like when I’m with the kids, I’m shortchanging work. And when I’m at work or on the campaign trail, I’m shortchanging the kids. This type of guilt is something that I know working mothers from all over the country can understand.

And Barack understands it too, because he grew up with his single mother who struggled to support their family, and his grandmother, who helped raise him. She worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank, only to hit a glass ceiling. He’s got two sisters who are working and raising young girls, and he sees me, his wife, juggling work and family responsibilities each day. But Barack and I also know that, as working parents, we’re lucky. We’ve got the resources and support we need to hold our family together. I’m particularly lucky, because I’ve got the greatest resource anyone could have – my mother – who lives nearby and helps watch my daughters during this campaign. But we know that so many working moms and dads we meet aren’t so fortunate.

Barack knows that it should be easier for parents in this country to raise their kids and do their jobs – that’s why he’s running for President. He knows how hard the women of this country are working, and the anxiety so many women are feeling right now, as our country stands in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in generations. That’s why, as President, Barack is determined to change Washington, so that instead of just talking about family values, we actually have policies that value families.
Were you hesitant at first when your husband approached you about his running for president?
When Barack first brought the idea of running for president to me, my first reaction was “Absolutely not,” because I thought politics was a mean, rough business. And the last thing in the world I wanted was to turn my girls’ lives upside down. I couldn’t bear the thought of them being in the public eye, watching their dad be criticized on national TV, having him be away for weeks on end. But then I took off my “wife” hat and put on my “citizen” hat and I thought about the world I want my girls to grow up in, a world where they can dream without limits and achieve without a glass ceiling ever standing in their way.

It was then that I realized that if that’s the world I want for my girls, then I had to do my part to ensure that someone like Barack would be president. That’s why I’m on the road, doing everything I can to support my husband’s campaign, because I believe that helping Barack become President is the best investment I could ever make in my daughters’ future – and in all our children’s futures.
You are very candid about the challenges you have faced in life such as growing up in a one-bedroom apartment protected by a burglar-proof, wrought-iron door and secured windows. What is your message to others who began life in humble surroundings?
Neither one of my parents graduated from college, yet they both worked hard, and sacrificed so much to send both of their children to Princeton. That same determination, work ethic, and value of a hard day’s work was passed onto me and my brother Craig growing up. Our parents taught us to aim high and work hard to those goals, and not to let anyone or anything stand in our way. And that is my message to my girls, and others, regardless of their background.
What are the guiding principles in the Obama household?
Despite coming from such different backgrounds, Barack and I both grew up in loving households with strong values that have become the guiding principles in our family. Honesty, independence, hard work, and compassion, are the most important lessons that we’ve tried to pass along to our girls.
Why do you devote so much of your time to giving back to the community and encouraging national service and volunteerism?
One of the major themes of Barack’s campaign is that we all have a stake in each other, and that we’re all in this together. I’ve always thought that it’s the responsibility of all people to invest in the communities that need it most. Very early in my career as an attorney, I realized that I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing, and I wanted to return to the South Side of Chicago, where I grew up. I wanted to give back to the community, so I started the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps national service organization that trains young people for careers in public service. After Public Allies, I worked for the University of Chicago, where I developed the first community service program at the hospital. I believe that leadership comes from the bottom up, and that all people have the potential to lead, and I wanted to help folks from the community realize their own potential to lead.

And this goes back to the world that I want for my girls, I want them to live in a society that instills service in their communities and their father, Barack understands this tremendous value. From his days working with middle class families in the South Side of Chicago as a young man, Barack has always believed that in the face of all odds, people who love their country can change it. That is why, as President, he will implement a National Service Plan which will work to create new opportunities for Americans to serve and tackle our national challenges. His plan will encourage military service, expand service programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, and build service into education.
Do you feel you have been successful in involving people in their communities and doing something positive for others?
I’m most proud of my work at Public Allies. There, I was able to work with young people to cultivate their leadership skills, and help guide them into careers of public service, where they could then serve their communities right where they lived. Since then, Public Allies has developed hundreds of young leaders in partnership with scores of local nonprofit organizations – more than half of our alumni have gone onto careers in public service.
What are key issues that are near and dear to your heart?
As a working mom, the issues and policies that support working women and their families,– like equal pay, tax fairness, paid sick leave, education and universal healthcare – are very important to me. I don’t see them as political issues, they’re personal. They’re the issues that I hold in my heart every day.

That’s what this election is about for Barack and for me: the families who are doing everything that we ask of them, and many are doing more on top of that. And all they’re asking for in return is a government that understands what’s happening to their families. They’re not asking for the government to solve all their problems or give them free handouts. These working families are just asking for a government that wants to find some real ways to help. And that’s why Barack Obama and Joe Biden will implement policies that make it easier for working parents to raise their children, policies that strengthen the middle class and create new economic opportunities for women and families.