Michelle Obama Gives First Post-White House Speech: 'I’m Back! This Is What Back Looks Like'
Michelle Obama is back doing one of the things she does best—giving compelling speeches. (Or, as she puts it, “I’m back! This is what back looks like.”) On Friday, the former first lady gave her first big speech since she and her husband left the White House behind, and it had all the hallmarks of a classic Mobama address. There was empathy. There was hopefulness. And there was also, seemingly, at least a little shade thrown at the man who took over for her husband.
Obama spoke at the Kennedy Center for the School Counselor of the Year ceremony, addressing the people who are tasked with guiding students through their education during this particular administration. And Obama made it clear she understood that job takes a lot of skill. “Trust me, I know this work isn’t easy, especially right now,” Obama said, according to People. “I know there’s a lot of anxiety out there. And there’s no denying our kids, what they see on TV, the kind of behavior being modeled in public life, that, yes impacts their behavior and their character.” She also brought in one her most iconic quotes from the 2016 election season, telling the assembled crowd, “You all have the power to teach kids what it means to go high when others go low.”
Obama added, according to CNN, “Folks like these up here, you all, you don’t get dragged down by the headlines, by the false claims about our children and our neighborhoods, you don’t have time for that nonsense because you’re out there doing the work. No matter what’s going on right now, out there, all that noise, you know that our young people are the future, and the most important thing we can do as individuals and as a nation is to believe in all of them, to invest in all of them and to build schools and communities worthy of their boundless promise.”
Though this marks the first time Obama has returned to a major stage to dust off her speech giving skills since Trump’s inauguration, it’s not the first time she’s offered up some wise, public words in the last year. During a discussion at the Obama Foundation Summit this fall, the former first lady had some serious advice for all the men listening. “Y’all need to go talk to each other about your stuff because there’s so much of it,” she explained. “It’s so messy. Talk about why y’all the way you are.”
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Related: Michelle Obama Breaks Down That Awkward Gift Moment With Melania Trump at the Inauguration