Interview with the First Lady

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One of the other big changes is that, for the first time in something like a decade, your husband is now working in the same city, always, that you live. What's that ... what has that change been like? What was the effect?
It has been the greatest single benefit of this for us as a family. It means that we see each other every day. And that hasn't happened for most of the kids' lifetime, right, because it's not just this position. He was a state senator; had to run for that seat. The state senate is in Springfield; it's a five-hour drive away. Then it was the U.S. Senate. There was the campaign in between there. The U.S. Senate is in Washington, D.C. — well, I'm telling you the obvious — and on and on and on. It's been all of their lives that it's rare to have Dad at home for dinner, to see him in the mornings before you go to school, to have him there when you go to bed at night, to just be able to have the casual conversations that happen about life at dinnertime.

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And then there are weekends where we're always together. He is traveling today, but he was gone overnight, and it's rare that he's gone overnight. It's just really rare, because he can go and do whatever he has to do and be back. The same thing for me. It's rare that, if I travel during the day, that I'm not back before dinner, because when you have Air Force One, you can do that. [Laughter.]

And if the kids really, really need to see him, they can. They're free to ... they're free to walk in. They're welcome wherever they want to go around here — and anytime. But they don't always care to be bothered with seeing him, because they see him all the time. That's been terrific. It's normal. It's more normal than we've had for a very long time.

What's been hard about him being the President of the United States? I mean, it's an enormous amount of pressure, especially these first three months, been a rough ... in any historical frame.
It's just watching the person that you love deal with some of the toughest problems in the world. But the beauty of my husband is that he is capable and competent. I don't worry about him. I rest easy that he's in the White House. So it makes it easier for me, because I figure I can turn it off; he can't. And knowing that he can't, that there probably isn't a minute that goes by that he's not worrying, thinking, dealing, mulling something around in his head, that there's no real time that he can be down. And just knowing how stressful that is on a person, that's a tough thing to watch.

But he handles it so well that he even gives me a sense of calm, that I don't worry every day, but I just know that it's there.

So what do you tease him about now?
What do I ... oh, I've got all the things that I tease him about. It's the same stuff — his basketball, his, you know, his habits. I can't think of the ...

The household chores are easier now.
Yes, no, that's off the table. [Laughter.] He does have Bo-walking duties. He does the last walk.

Every day?
Most days.

What time is that?
That's usually right before bed, it's like 10:00 p.m. We sort of handle Bo like we did the kids. I'm the early-morning person, and he covers the — you know, once I go to bed I don't care what happens. Just make sure the dog doesn't have an accident. [Laughter.]

My girls want to know if he's destroyed anything yet [Laughter.] eaten a shoe or ...
Oh, no, no. He's been ... although he's getting to the point where he can be naughty, like he can ... like you walk in the room and it's like, "Where'd you get that sock?" But he sort of knows that he's not supposed to have it, so he doesn't completely destroy it. He just kind of puts it down and walks away ... [Laughter.] "You caught me."

But we have lots of doors, so we're really good about closing the doors so that there's like a limited area that he can get to. We're pretty much ... if he gets something, it's your fault. So we just ... I just make it a point to close my closets.

And I told the ... I tell the girls, I said it's on you if Bo eats Tiger or Blankie, which are two beloved characters in the household. It's on you, because you've seen him ...

Tiger and Blankie?
Tiger and Blankie.

They're stuffed animals?
They've been members of the family for a long time. [Laughter.]

You be careful how you refer to them.

I'm sorry. [Laughter.]
So I just sort of told them, I said, "You've seen what he does to stuff. He's a puppy. He doesn't know the sentimental value of your things. And if you leave your stuff somewhere, it will be destroyed, and there's nothing I can do about it." [Laughter.] "So you can either close your door ..." and they close the doors, religiously.

This is a life lesson.
That's right. [Laughter.] It's none of that sort of ... and don't cry about it either. [Laughter.] So he's been good. But we try to set him up for success.

Another life lesson.

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