Becoming

Michelle details her resentment of Barack’s political career in the buildup to his presidential campaign, showing a raw honesty about the hardships of political life on the Obama family. Though Barack has always been driven by ambition to help change the world, Michelle remains content making changes in her own relatively small sphere in Chicago, and her goal has always been to prioritize family life. Barack’s ambitions aren’t a bad thing, and Michelle tries to paint them in a fair light: “He spoke so often and so passionately of healing our country’s divisions, appealing to a set of higher ideals he believed were innate in most people” (226).

However, Michelle also candidly describes the impact of Barack’s goals on her and the girls: “On nights when Barack was in Washington, I lay alone in bed, feeling as if it were me against the world. I wanted Barack for our family. Everyone else seemed to want him for our country” (223). Almost anyone reading Michelle’s book will already know that Barack goes on to successfully campaign and serve as the United States President for two terms; the result of the story is not in question. Yet Michelle still manages to build a sense of suspense in other ways, by revealing unknown elements about the strain of this decision on the family. Readers know that Barack will be elected, but they cannot know how this decision will impact his relationship with Michelle and their relationship with their daughters.

Once the campaign begins, Michelle gives her support to Barack but has difficulty believing he will win, due in part to the systemic racism she has witnessed firsthand: “The scrutiny of Barack would be extra intense, the lens always magnified. We knew that he couldn’t afford any sort of stumble. He’d have to do everything twice as well” (233). Michelle is not alone in this cynicism, noting that “plenty of black folks couldn’t bring themselves to believe that my husband had a real chance of winning” (233). However, Barack—an eternal idealist—believes that this division between people can be overcome not just on a small, community-wide scale, but for the entirety of the United States.

He builds his campaign on the premise of “Change” and the idea of uniting the country across party lines and across racial and economic divides. Detailing Barack’s campaign across Iowa and his eventual win of the Iowa Caucus, Michelle illustrates how she gradually begins to take on Barack’s vision and believe that change is possible. Michelle witnesses firsthand the idealism and enthusiasm surrounding Barack and the way people unite around him: “On one of the coldest nights of the year, a record number of Iowans had fanned out to their local caucuses, almost double the turnout from four years earlier” (247). Many of Barack’s supporters include young voters who have remained previously unengaged in the process, but who believe in his vision for the world. Seeing the change that Barack inspires, Michelle also finds herself changing, veering from skepticism and irritation about the process into hope that all of their hard work will pay off: “Maybe, I thought to myself, everything Barack had been talking about for all those years really was possible” (248). The power behind Barack’s campaign seemingly has a life of its own, making believers out of some of its most ardent critics, including Michelle.

Despite this, Michelle still faces numerous obstacles on the campaign trail, particularly the heavy criticism she undergoes. While Michelle acknowledges that there is always a level of scrutiny on the candidate and the candidate’s family, she faced a much higher level than many for being so involved. Part of this is because Michelle is educated and involved, not just content to be a smiling face in the background; however, part of the criticism comes from the fact that she is a black woman. Michelle takes on the double standards faced by women in politics, comparing her treatment to that of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton: “The easiest way to disregard a woman’s voice is to package her as a scold” (267).

Michelle faces even more obstacles as a black woman, and the media treatment of her reflects this. Michelle’s words, her posture, her height, her facial expressions, and even her college thesis are picked apart for hidden clues that try to trap her into the stereotype of a radical, anti-white, angry black woman. Michelle describes being “painted not simply as an outsider but as fully ‘other’” (263). The criticism lobbied at Michelle rarely addresses her race outright, but she recognizes the hidden subtext underneath that tries to paint her as different from the typical white audience as possible so that people will be afraid to vote for Barack: “The message seemed often to get telegraphed, if never said directly: These people don’t belong” (263).

Michelle candidly admits that these criticisms hurt her, especially because she never chose to run for office and often feels blindsided by these attempts to cut her down. However, Michelle decides to take control over what she can, insisting on support from Barack’s team to help her relay her message better in front of the large crowds. Michelle also uses the platform of the 2008 Democratic National Convention to speak up for herself and tell her side of the story, rather than allowing others to dictate the way she is seen. In doing so, Michelle subtly fights back against these racist criticisms by taking control of her own narrative.