Michelle Obama Calls The White House "A Really Nice Prison"

According to the NYPost, the first lady calls the White House a “really nice prison.” Michelle Obama shared her feelings with her predecessor, Laura Bush, in Tanzania after ABC moderator Cokie Roberts noted that the nation’s first first lady, Martha Washington, likened her role to that of a “state prisoner.” There are prison elements to it,” Mrs. Obama conceded.

“But with a chef,” Mrs. Bush interjected. “I always joke that we have probably the best jobs in the world because . . . our husbands, who have to react and respond to crisis on a minute-to-minute basis, they come into office with a wonderful, profound agenda, and then they’re faced with reality,” she said. “On the other hand, we can work on what we’re passionate about.”

“You can’t complain,” Mrs. Obama agreed. “But there are definitely elements that are confining.”

She joked that, as their husbands engage in crucial world affairs, “people are sorting through our shoes and our hair . . . whether we cut it or not.” Their wives spoke at a new event, the African First Ladies Summit, which attracted 10 first ladies from the continent. Mrs. Obama said it’s better to be the spouse of a president than to be the president. ,

“We take our bangs and we stand in front of important things the world needs to see,” Mrs. Obama went on. “And eventually people stop looking at the bangs, and start looking at the things we’re standing in front of.”