--- title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office' -President Obama description: President Barack Obama on Friday shut down speculation that First Lady Michelle Obama might pursue a political career of her own canonical: https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-28T15:39:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:01.243Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office,' President Says og:description: "That's one thing y'all can take to the bank" og:url: https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4021 og:image:height: 2262 og:image:alt: Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama 'Will Never Run For Office,' President Says twitter:description: "That's one thing y'all can take to the bank" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=e247f94c-6e11-449f-a524-cc55af641b92&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton [Watch (HLS stream): Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RlLzmirb.m3u8) (2:09)  _Published 2016-10-27. Obama has already campaigned notably for Clinton, but the Winston-Salem rally marks the first time she’s campaigning with the nominee._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 28, 2016 3:39 PM UTC  First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Oct. 27, 2016. First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Oct. 27, 2016. Peter Zay—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 28, 2016 3:39 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Friday shut down speculation that First Lady Michelle Obama might pursue a political career of her own. The First Lady has become one of Hillary Clinton’s most popular and effective surrogates during the presidential race. She has captured audiences with impassioned, emotional speeches at the [Democratic National Convention](http://time.com/4423176/democratic-convention-michelle-obama-star/) and [on the campaign trail](http://motto.time.com/4530580/michelle-obama-donald-trump-comments-sexual-assault/). At a [rally in North Carolina](http://time.com/4548363/michelle-obama-hillary-clinton-north-carolina/) on Thursday, it was Clinton who spoke first and introduced Michelle Obama to resounding applause. Her popularity has led some to suggest she might seek elected office herself, but her husband ruled it out in an interview Friday. “She will never run for office,” President Obama said during a radio interview on _Sway in the Morning_. “She is as talented and brilliant a person as there is, and I could not be prouder of her, but Michelle does not have the patience or the inclination to actually be a candidate herself. And that’s one thing y’all can take to the bank.” He said he and his wife will continue advocating for certain causes once they leave the White House. “We’re going to continue to be very active in issues we care about,” he said, mentioning two of their initiatives, [My Brother’s Keeper](http://time.com/10557/obama-my-brothers-keeper-minorities-race/) and [Let Girls Learn](http://time.com/4260808/michelle-obama-global-girls-education/). “We’re going to be doing a lot of work. We’ll just be doing it a different way.” ## Transcript [00:00] Seriously is there anyone more inspiring than Michelle [00:03] Obama? And [00:09] maybe it's especially meaningful to me because I do [00:13] know something about being First Lady of the United [00:15] States. As our first African American first lady, [00:19] she's faced pressures I never did. [ APPLAUSE ] And [00:25] she's handled them with pure grace. She [00:31] also planted an amazing vegetable garden at the White [00:35] House. And [00:40] I can promise you if I win I will take good care of it [00:44] Michelle. You may have noticed That I have been doing [00:49] some campaigning for Hilary. [ APPLAUSE ] And I know [00:53] that there's some folks out there who have commented [00:56] that it's been unprecedented for a sitting First Lady to [01:00] be so actively engaged in a presidential campaign. [01:06] [ APPLAUSE ] And that may be true [ LAUGH ] But [01:10] what's also true is that this is truly an unprecedented [01:15] election. Hillary doesn't play, she [01:19] has more experience and exposure to the Presidency [01:23] than any candidate in our lifetime. Yes, [01:27] more than Barack. More than Bill. So she [01:32] is absolutely ready to be commander- in- chief on day [01:36] one, and yes, she happens to be a woman. [01:41] Hillary is a policy wonk, and [01:45] let me tell you, when you are president That is a good [01:48] thing. So when you hear folks talking about a global [01:52] conspiracy and saying that this election is rigged, [01:56] understand that they are trying to get you to stay [01:59] home. The voters decide our elections. They've always [02:03] decided. Voters decide who wins and who loses, [02:03] period, end of story. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says","datePublished":"2016-10-28T15:39:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:01.243Z","description":"\"That's one thing y'all can take to the bank\"","url":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","Michelle Obama","flotus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee0ef18776655457/6988abf6fb4eac79ad88fa66/michelle-obama-political-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina","caption":"Michelle Obama Campaigns With Hillary Clinton In North Carolina","creditText":"Peter Zay—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","name":"Michelle Obama ‘Will Never Run for Office,’ President Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Michelle Obama Campaigns for Hillary Clinton","description":"Obama has already campaigned notably for Clinton, but the Winston-Salem rally marks the first time she’s campaigning with the nominee.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RlLzmirb/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-27T21:09:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RlLzmirb.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/","duration":"PT2M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4549148/president-obama-michelle-obama-wont-run-for-office/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```