The first episode of The Michelle Obama Podcast sweetly started with the former FLOTUS thanking her guest for coming to the recording — though he only had to walk downstairs. Former President Barack Obama sat down with his wife on July 29 for a rousing conversation about the importance of community, the origins of their relationship, and the world they wanted to leave behind for their daughters, Sasha and Malia.
Michelle, who runs the voting rights organization When We All Vote, is hopeful for the future after seeing the incredible things Gen Z has done — their political advocacy, their fight for social and racial justice, and their insatiable thirst for knowledge. She’s still worried, though. In the nearly four years since she and her husband left the White House and President Donald Trump took over, a major distrust of the government has grown. “I worry when I hear, I think too many young people question whether voting or politics is worth it,” Michelle confessed on her Spotify show.
“[It’s] partly because they have been told, they have been sent the message every day that the government doesn’t work. They take for granted all of the things that a working government has done in the past,” Barack responded. The Trump administration has undone an untold number of the Obama-era’s more progressive policies and protections, including attempting to end the DACA program and dismantle Obamacare, both of which greatly impact young Americans.
Michelle and Barack’s daughters are part of this generation. Sasha, 19, is about to enter her sophomore year at the University of Michigan. Malia, 22, is a senior at Harvard. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, both girls are living at home with their parents for the time being. On the podcast, Barack looked toward the future and revealed what he hopes he can achieve for his daughters before he dies.
“When you and I think, what’s the inheritance we’d like to leave Malia and Sasha? More than anything, it’d be that they’re living in a country that respects everybody. That encourages everybody, that sees everybody,” the former president said. “Because we know that if we’re not around, and the girls are in a society like that, they’ll be fine.”
Michelle agreed with her husband wholeheartedly. Elsewhere in the podcast, she made a comment that could be interpreted as a very sly dig at Trump. Michelle praised her husband for being someone who understands how working toward progress in the United States isn’t easy. She attributes this to being “a former president who reads and knows history — let’s just take a moment to pause and think about that.”