First Lady Michelle Obama talks Joining Forces, the joint initiative Obama has with Dr. Jill Biden to recognize, honor and serve military families on the program’s one-year anniversary in an interview that will air Tuesday morning on NPR’s “Tell Me More.”
Obama described how she became interested in helping military families:
“I think I’m probably more typical of the average American who doesn’t have a connection to a military community. You know, because truly one percent of this country serves and protects the freedoms of the other 99 percent of us, so many of us don’t have that connection. Fortunately, Jill Biden does. She’s a blue-star mom.”
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“And it – for me, I just sort of thought, you know what, I don’t know these stories. And if I don’t know them, what’s going on with the rest of the country? But these stories moved me in a way that I didn’t expect, because all these people were proud, resilient. They were handling more than many of us do in a day – over the course of a week in a day. They’re just efficient people.”
She also weighed in on how being in the White House has affected her and her family:
“I don’t have the stressful job. He does. You know, I have the privilege of working on the issues that I choose and the issues that I feel most passionate about. It’s been a privilege. And there are definitely, you know, pressures that come with being in the spotlight, but they are far – are overshadowed by the amount of great things I’ve been able to do and the impact I’ve been able to have. And to be able to do it in the warmth and – of the White House and to do it around people who do care about my kids in a country that has been respectful of my children and their privacy, it has been less stressful than I would have imagined for me. The President’s job is a lot harder.”
