The Final Interview With The Obamas (Full Interview) | PEN | People

we survived and we're here so this is it the last time that People magazine will sit down with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House to sit down with them at the White House for their final print interview as president and first lady it was just great to sort of see the arc of this historic journey we talked about what is going to be next for them how they're feeling about the transition to the next president and what life has been like for them living in the White House for the last eight years they talked to us about everything from watching their girls grow up in that fishbowl but also the relationship that the president developed with his mother-in-law and what Michelle really thinks of his dad jokes I try to cut the cheek she's been cutting up that's a queen Michelle and Italian Sacha with your jokes that drove them away here it is people at the White House with the Obamas the final in [Music] here we are in the White House the Red Room just a little bit longer mrs. Obama you famously said last summer I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves and I watched my daughter's two beautiful black young women head off to school waving goodbye to their father the President of the United States do you have that thought in your mind on the day you moved in oh no no that's too deep no you're moving in the day you're moving in you're frantic you're trying to figure out where are the bathrooms and what does this door lead to I mean the chaotic nature of the transition for the family I mean it's smooth but at the same time it's very surreal and you don't have time to reflect or think about the meaning or the magnitude of what you're doing until months after you've lived in that house so maybe that thought happened by the summer maybe it was summertime I started when they were actually out on the lawn playing but that's it's it's a whirlwind coming into this this life from a relative state of normalcy when that symbolism hit you it must have been it must have been a very powerful moment for you yeah yeah I mean you know there are so many surreal powerful moments you know watching my mother transition into this house knowing where she comes from from a working-class even poorer than working-class upbringing to seeing her standing on the Truman balcony and representing this country is the first grandmother I mean for me those moments are just as surreal as watching the girls go through it because her life was vastly different than anything I could have imagined let alone what we've experienced here with her in the White House my first interview with Michelle in 2007 her mom was there and you know we included her in our photo shoot that day with the girls so People magazine has always had a kind of special relationship with Marian Robinson how has that experience living with your mother-in-law it bonded you in a way that you didn't expect what I love my mother-in-law first of all she protects me for Michelle so if you know Michelle's mad at me or something she'll be like he's a nice boy stop it and thanks mom but but we were already very very close I where she was invaluable was providing continuity and perspective for our girls because as great a mom as Michelle is and I try to do my best as a dad to have that intergenerational relationship for for them to be with their grandma the same way they were on 74th and Euclid in the Southland South Shore neighborhood where her mom's house and where Michelle grew up and and to know that even though you're in this different environment there's a there's a continuity there and you know it was also fun to see her discover things because his Michelle said she grew up in a much more restricted time and place and I think for a lot of African Americans of a certain generation and they didn't allow themselves always to dream big about what they might experience and sometimes Michelle's mom's instinct is to well I I shouldn't do that you know and so Michelle be well we're going to Rome to and the Vatican to meet the Pope well okay suddenly she's there and she's looking at the Sistine Chapel and she's having an audience with you know holy see and and it's magical for her and she is loving it so in some ways you also get a sense of of how much progress we've made through her eyes and and through the experiences that she's having during this administration there was a huge vegetable garden planted during this administration Girl Scouts were sleeping on the South Lawn there was hip-hop dancing the White House has been so much fun with her to attend I think one of the most enduring legacies of the Obama presidency is that the president first lady went out of their way to make this high office the highest of offices truly accessible to every American and every American child so while it's always been a cliche anybody can grow up to be president I think that they actually put faces to that I've been here for many outside-the-box activities including sleeping on the South Lawn with the Girl Scouts you've cleared out the furniture at hip-hop classes in these rooms was it a conscious decision that you were going to make the White House fun accessible in some way that it hadn't been before and what was the one idea that was brought to you that you finally said no that's too crazy oh we do that yeah I've done a lot of stuff so I'm not sure that there have been any limits to your crazy probably something I can't even but yeah it was a conscious effort I mean we've talked about wanting this to open this house up as wide as possible and to make sure that that folks feel like this is their home folks who normally wouldn't gain access to to these walls you know it's important for young people in particular our kids kids of all backgrounds of every race and every socio-economic background to feel like they have a place in the nations house and to do that you have to do things that make them feel comfortable as well and if it's hip-hop dancing well let's do it you know if it's a sleepover on the South Lawn with the Girl Scouts didn't let's do it let's give it a try let's breathe some why into this place and it also helps that we have kids you know I mean we think about what activities they would love to see here we know what kids won't know what our girls want to do and it's helped get them to be willing to go to some of the things with us a few things help you as time went on they're all like you noticed this year you barely saw the rain but that's what teenagers know I think that's right early on there was this notion that if you break traditions and do things a different way that somehow the dignity of the office or the the reverence in which this has held somehow is changed and we never bought into that you [Music] hi friend Obama and Michelle except live from Brooklyn are you gonna have a big party before you if so sadly we are going to have a big party before we leave office but I'll be honest with you it's going to be after your bedtime it's going to be kind of a grown-up party but if you want to come and see some of the Christmas decorations we'll see if we can be in touch the President and mrs. Obama have always been really relaxed and open and so while they've always been very careful about guarding Sasha and Malia's privacy they're also proud parents who can't help themselves but tell funny stories about the girls or get weepy about thinking about them going off to college they're both very very proud of their daughters Sasha and Malia they feel like despite the incredible strange life that the girls must have had these past eight years that they have really succeeded in giving them some normalcy and and stability and discipline that they really believe that both of their daughters are great kids and and now great young women will your daughters miss living here or are you are they really ready for some some more normalcy than this place provides well but look they're ready to get out just out from their parents house the fact that their parents house is the White House may add to it but Emily is she's going off to college she's she's a grown woman and I know that you know well legally she's still our baby but Sasha you know is on her way and I think there's a sentimentality but this place that they've had so many amazing experiences and the people here the staff are part of the family I think it is different for them than for most kids in that when they leave they won't be able to come back home in a lot of ways and I know Mele is spoken about that that maybe she regrets the fact that she won't have that home base in the same room that you know they love their rooms and what they've made memories in there so that's that's over with but there they look better they're ready to yeah they're ready to get get out of the nest yeah I we don't think they're ready but they certainly earlier now for eight years you as a twosome have lived under an intense pressure that few people can understand what effect did that have on your marriage yeah it's definitely brought us closer I mean the brach talks about this all the time I mean before we moved here he spent most of our marriage particularly with young kids commuting in some way shape or form when he was state senator we stayed in Chicago and he commuted back and forth from Springfield and Illinois and then he became a u.s. senator because I had a profession we stayed in Chicago he commuted back and forth so it wasn't until we moved to the White House that we were together seven days a week that we could have dinner together that he had time to coach the girls teams and you know go to all the events you know yes the job you know carries its stresses for sure you know I always say that nobody knows what it feels like to wake up and look at the morning paper and know that every headline good or bad is your responsibility wherever it's happening in the world there is a there is a weightiness there is a heaviness to that that no other person even in the administration really understands so there's that and when you feel that burden you know you really have to fall back on the normalcy and the love of your family you know I think probably some of the best moments for Barack is when he could come up on that elevator come to the second floor sit down at the dinner table and have no one care about anything he does you know at all I mean literally I just talked over talked around he'd be the last four oh by the way dead oh yeah what did you do uh yeah they are usually getting up and leaving but by the time it gets to me I did have an interesting conversation with Prime Minister thanks Owen so I gotta go do my homework sorry but that is a grounding you know it experience um and our travel together you know I mean we've you know I wish we could have done more I mean there was a lot of divide and conquer you know I could travel when the girls were on vacation but the trips that we did take as a family or ones that we'll remember for the rest of our lives and their trips that you don't take they're not normal family vacations and those experiences have definitely brought us together in ways that we wouldn't have if we weren't here well and I also think that watching Michelle as first lady has just increased you know my awe and respect for her because in some ways she had to adapt to both a life that she might not have chosen for herself but also there's no blueprint for being first lady and to see her and her team be able to shape the culture and have such an impact on our military families and on health and wellness and you know be at once really impactful on policy but also fun you know it it's fun when you see your spouse shine and she's shown you [Music] i President Obama and this is Obama - shake up and I'm five years old and I wanna know who tells more jokes oh gosh the president tells more bad jokes I I will say this Jacob Michelle is actually funnier than me mainly because she teases me but I can't tease her I think that's fair so she makes a lot of fun of my ears oh they're so big she talks about how gray my hair has become so white she talks about how slow I talk oh god he's slow I can't say anything about her and she gets mad new you can't so I guess she's funnier when we were going to the White House to interview the President and First Lady I was so curious how they felt about the last election you know nobody had fought harder and more vocally for Hillary Clinton then Michelle Obama had felt like you went out on an emotional limb really in this small campaign what was an election night like for you I went to bed yes she did I did um you know I I tend not to you know I don't watch debates I don't like to watch the political discourse I never have I barely did with him you know I just you know once you do what you can do you know then you rest easy it's it was in the hands of the American people I think anything that I felt about the election I said and you know I and I stand by this is this is our democracy and this is how it works and so we are ready to to work with the next administration and make sure that they are as successful as they can be because that's what's best for this country I think it's worth noting that you know her mrs. Obama's mantra through the campaign was when they go low we go high I think they've stayed high and that's I think how they want history to remember them and the closure of their administration look I think that as I've said subsequent to the election there are deep differences in vision between ourselves and the incoming administration but ultimately we're all on the same team seeing the two of you come to the White House eight years ago you know it was it was a symbol of just how far we've come as a culture then during the election and since the election there has been so much misogyny and racism and bigotry in the cultural discourse a lot of people feel like we've taken a huge step back do you feel like we've taken a step back look but people always ask he always seems so calm and I tell people now part of its been born Hawaii whether it's really good you can always take take a plunge into the ocean so that'll show you add but also I'm somebody who never believes the hype when things are going good and doesn't despair when things don't work at your way the truth of the matter is that when I got elected there was still racism and misogyny and anti-gay sentiment in America well what it signified was that for the majority of Americans we have made enormous progress I think that in the wake of this election those same elements are still there but it doesn't negate all the progress that's been made but this is a big complicated country it always has been history doesn't move in a straight line at zigs and zags and it goes backwards and forwards and and culture is a complicated thing it's organic and and and so you can never just say alright we're finished with that that's kind of done now let's move on to the next thing the the battle to be vigilant in on behalf of kindness and courtesy and tolerance and fairness and equality that's a day-to-day thing that each of us are responsible for and I remain hugely optimistic about the trend lines partly because our kids and their generation and you meet with them you know you talk to Malia and Sasha the idea that you discriminate against somebody because they had a different sexual orientation they it's crazy to them and and and I should know just so that this doesn't look like it's a select sample and I've gone to college campuses and met with college Republicans and they think that would be crazy too it's not just a partisan issue and so that that generation right behind us and I believe each successive generation as long as we're doing our job of being good models for it they're going to move this country for it in a better direction proudest moment or what your what the future holds for the Obama family who they're so I'm so many proud moments I mean I could say one week we survived and are superb we're here our kids our kids aren't crazy there's that there's that our kids are crazy but all that the work that I know that our my team has done on the initiatives I mean it you know when I came in we we talked about not wanting to just do symbolic things that we wanted to move the needle on the issues that we took on and I think that we can say that we have on every single issue whether it's getting more attention around the plight of our military families and rally in the nation around it we change to help change the culture around how our kids eat and how we move we're seeing graduation college graduation rates and high school graduation rates go up and we're going to if you talk about the future we're going to keep tackling those issues you know we're going to rest a second we're going to take a breather you know as I told all of our staff here it's time for us to tap out for a second people need time to refresh and to reflect you know I mean this is what these interviews are saying what we haven't had time to do is reflect on this and before you can really you know push off hard on the next part of the the journey of your life you've got to kind of see what just happened and understand it and know how it's affected you and we're going to do that and we have to be very conscious about doing that because they're already calls and requests to come and speak and travel and do things and if we're not careful we can be just as busy as we we are this week and a month from now so I want him to sleep you know and want to travel a little bit just for fun you think absolutely it was back to be maybe a little bit more of an activist ex-president now that you know we have this uncertain future agenda I would have been active no matter what happened in the election because I'm only 55 years old and me puttering around the house you know doing Sudoku is michelle's me but it would not be good I would drive yeah we'd all be unhappy yes so couple of things like point out number one in terms of pride I am serious about the how proud I am of my daughters and they are they are just really good people separate and apart from them being my kids and I'm admittedly biased but if you talk to people who have met him or known and are little less biased I think they'll say that they're kind smart thoughtful kids that treat everybody with respect and that's something you always worry about I could not be prouder of my wife as I already said I think she has been extraordinary in this job even as she's also held our family together and and made it work so well I could not be prouder of my team everybody here worked really hard and did a good job this time I will say I thought that the president seemed weary and in some way he seemed more soulful then I've I've seen him in the past and I think you did see the toll of the election and I also noticed a fierceness to mrs. Obama's talk about her husband well I have to say because I don't want to leave this interview without saying how proud I am of my husband because all that he just said is because of his leadership and the example that he said not just as a president but as a human being it's a father he has been a role model to millions of people from all backgrounds and no one can dispute that you know I don't care what party you belong to when you think of father when you think of a good husband somebody with strong values all the things that people say they admire most in people and want in a leader Barack Obama has been that and more smart the smartest still the smartest person in the room and the country is better for it as a result of him and and excellent bad jokes I think but she she actually ride a try to catch she she's been cutting up that's a tree Michelle and Malia Sasha with your jokes that drove them away you know but my you saw my nephews of the turkey right tour and they love my jokes okay we're talking about the great thing about a people interview is you can sit down with the president and you can talk about the big issues you know but we also look at them as human beings and because it's people they feel comfortable talking about what it has been like to be married in the White House and what it has been like to raise two daughters in the White House we do peel back the layer to the essence of the person what are they like as parents what are they like as husband and wife what are they like as people that just everyday living with them is something that we could uniquely do and because of the relationship with them I think they feel comfortable telling us that story so they've been really generous with their kind of personal lives and and People magazine and that's been a privilege [Music]

Channel: PeopleTV

Views: 3,261,176

Rating: 4.7703652 out of 5

Keywords: obama, politics, interview, barack obama, michelle obama, funny, donald trump, comedy, russian hacking, president obama, michelle obama interview, barack obama interview, barack obama final interview, obama final interview, white house final interview, obama family interview, People, people magazine, news, celebrities, rumors, style, magazine, time, celebrity news, celebrity gossip, entertainment, gossip, celebrity, famous, Hollywood, celeb, celebrity (media genre)

Id: iH1ZJVqJO3Y

Length: 27min 11sec (1631 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/Jackie_Happy]

That title lmao...did they pass?