Lopatkacomp1interview

Interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/15/eveningnews/main3838886.shtml http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/03/michelle-obama-today-show_n_447255.html http://www.lhj.com/style/covers/barack-and-michelle-obama-the-full-interview/ (CBS) **//CBS News anchor Katie Couric//** //interviewed the woman who knows Barack Obama best - from policy to personality. Michelle Obama gets personal about her husband, their kids - and herself. What follows is the complete transcript of the interview. Segments of it ran on the [|CBS Evening News] and the [|Early Show].//


 * Katie Couric**: It's been about a year since your husband decided to go for it and run for President. How would you describe the last year?


 * Michelle Obama**: You know, it's been a whirlwind. When you think about what he's been able to put together in less than a year, I mean, we went from the beginning of this thing where there was an inevitable candidate. As far as the polls and the pundits were concerned, this race was over. And then you sort of start building an organization and raising money and meeting people and having conversations.

And it's just the momentum has continued to grow over the course of this year. And what has been just completely heart warming is to see that people are really hungry for something different. And I'm not trying … to be too political about that. I mean, truly people … want something different for themselves and for their lives.

And people are … feeling the pressure of the ever-increasing gap. They're worried about their kids and they're worried about their health and the challenges … are similar. It transcends race and political party. I mean, people are serious about moving this country in a different direction. And that makes me feel good to know that, you know, I'm not alone in my frustration. It's been a good year.


 * Couric**: I was gonna ask you … do you sense a frustration in people? Because you look at the approval ratings for the president and they're quite low. But the approval rating for Congress [is] even lower.


 * Obama**: Yeah. Yeah, no, people are frustrated. I mean, I think they have a sense that there's something broken in our politics. And it's taken a little while because I think Americans are patient. And they give people a chance. And folks don't like fundamental change.

The Power of Women
** LHJ: ** Upstairs at the press conference, you were introduced as a power couple. //Ladies' Home Journal//'s motto is "Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman." Could you each comment on what that phrase means to you? ** Michelle Obama: ** Well, for me, I think of all the things that women are capable of balancing -- even starting as young children. We have two daughters, and when I think about the complexity and level of detail of their thought and their emotional empathy -- people do note that there is a difference in girls in that respect. And I think that begins to arm us with the tools to be able to juggle all that we have to juggle. Those skills turn out to be pretty amazing resources that can and should be harnessed in society for the benefit of many. So for me, I think about our ability to balance, and to structure, and to move and to coordinate in ways that I don't think men can do. [They both laugh.] ** LHJ: ** Senator, does this call for a rebuttal? ** Barack Obama: ** No, no, no. Being married to Michelle, and having these tall, beautiful, strong-willed girls in my house, never allows me to underestimate women. But also, I was raised by a single mom, and my grandparents. And my grandmother was a remarkable woman. When my grandfather was off in World War II, she worked as a Rosie the Riveter, essentially -- while she was raising my mother. When they moved to Hawaii, she got a job as a secretary, and with never more than a high school education, ended up being the first woman vice president of a bank in Hawaii. She was the primary breadwinner for the family for a pretty long time. And so I've been raised understanding that women are able to do everything that men can do, and some things that men can't do. Part of it is also my mother's profession. By the time she was 40, her main work was around women's development issues internationally. I remember very early on her explaining that the best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it's educating its girls, if women have equal rights -- that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused and illiterate, then they're going to fall behind. I apply that idea when I think about what we need to do here in the United States as well. And that's why it's so important for me to make sure that my policies are speaking to the needs and concerns of women. ** LHJ: ** We've seen women be a powerful voting bloc in this campaign. Do you both feel that the women's vote, per se, is critical? Or is this election now not the male vote or female vote, but more about policy, geography, and party? Characteristics: Question and answer form One question at a time One topic at a time One interviewer Criteria: Usually asks questions about a big event or topic The responder usually answers the question fully with a lot of emotion