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" Age: 44 Hometown: Chicago Michelle&amp;#039;s Family: Husband Barack, 47; children Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 How do you balance being the wife of a presidential candidate and a mother to two small children? &amp;quot;My daughters are my first and foremost priority. Because Barack is away so much on the campaign trail, from the start he and I decided we would build my schedule around the girls to make sure they stay happy and healthy. So I&amp;#039;m only on the road campaigning a couple of days per week, and mostly only on day trips, so that in the evening I can hop back on the plane to head home, where I&amp;#039;m greeted by two beaming little faces. That way, the girls never really feel that I&amp;#039;m gone and are able to maintain a sense of normalcy.&amp;quot; What&amp;#039;s been most interesting for you on the campaign trail? &amp;quot;The roundtable discussions with working women have come to be my favorite and most meaningful campaign events. These conversations really reinforce for me that, no matter our race, age, party, socioeconomic status, or hometown, we&amp;#039;re all so much more alike than different: We all love our families and our country, and we all just want to make the world we live in a better place. Women everywhere are engaged in similar juggling acts of balancing work and family, trying to fix problems in their lives that we don&amp;#039;t do nearly enough to address in Washington. It&amp;#039;s been so rewarding to get the chance to talk about Barack&amp;#039;s plans that will really address the needs and concerns of women trying to keep their families healthy and financially secure, and to use these conversations to help inform his policies.&amp;quot; Who provides childcare when you&amp;#039;re campaigning? &amp;quot;My mom lives nearby and takes care of the girls when I&amp;#039;m away. They know that if Mommy and Daddy can&amp;#039;t be there, they have Grandma, and we all know there&amp;#039;s nothing better than Grandma! She has been the strongest source of support all of my life, and I&amp;#039;m so grateful for her love and compassion throughout all of the wonderful chaos of this campaign. She&amp;#039;s our family&amp;#039;s rock.&amp;quot; What type of mother would your daughters say you are? &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;d say I&amp;#039;m a hard worker who expects them to always put forth their best efforts and above all, not to let anything stand in their way. I encourage them to be independent and free-thinking, and to take the lead on things like making their beds and getting school work done without being reminded. They would also definitely say that their Mommy loves to cuddle and play with them! The most precious part of my day is when the three of us snuggle up together in bed to share stories and chat about what&amp;#039;s going on in their lives.&amp;quot; What&amp;#039;s your busiest time of day? &amp;quot;The morning. I get up between 5 and 6 a.m. to get the girls ready for school, prepare breakfast, clean up, and put myself together \u2014 it&amp;#039;s bags flying, arms reaching, feet shuffling, and little voices saying &amp;#039;Mom!&amp;#039; We&amp;#039;re out the door by 7:30, and on days when I&amp;#039;m campaigning, I&amp;#039;m on a plane by 9.&amp;quot; What would you do with an extra hour in your day? &amp;quot;I would spend every moment of it with my family.&amp;quot; How do you and Barack stay connected? &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re very good about it. We talk on the phone every day, no matter what. And neither of us goes anywhere without our Blackberries, so we chat throughout the day, even if it&amp;#039;s just little notes between campaign events.&amp;quot; How do you spend family time? &amp;quot;We love outdoor activities, like riding bikes and swimming. If the weather&amp;#039;s bad, we curl up on the couch and watch a movie or read a book. Barack and Malia have read all of the Harry Potter books together out loud.&amp;quot; You&amp;#039;ve said you negotiated an agreement in which Barack gave up smoking in exchange for your support in the campaign. How else is health important to you? &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s true \u2014 that was one of the conditions for Barack to run! A proper diet and regular exercise have always been important to me, for both the physical and mental benefits. I try to hit the gym for an hour three or four times per week, which helps me keep up with the hectic campaign schedule \u2014 and makes up for some of the campaign snacking! On the road, I talk to a lot of women about the importance of their well-being; we women often put ourselves last on our &amp;#039;to do&amp;#039; lists, and we need to take better care of ourselves.&amp;quot; Do you have a guilty pleasure? &amp;quot;Yes. French fries!&amp;quot; What would it mean to you to be the first African-American First Lady? &amp;quot;My thoughts go straight to my girls and how it would affect their lives and how they view the world. Regardless of who wins the election, they will grow up in an America where having an African-American president is normal. The confidence that this campaign will instill in their minds, and in the minds of children across the country, is something that I&amp;#039;ve always hoped for.&amp;quot; What issues would be most important to you as First Lady? &amp;quot;At the top of my mind is finding ways to support military families and working mothers. I&amp;#039;m also very interested in national service. I ran an AmeriCorps program in Chicago, working with young leaders to help communities, and I&amp;#039;d very much like to expand on that work by opening the doors of Washington, D.C., to folks working on community activism, like what Barack did in Chicago 20 years ago.&amp;quot; Regardless of what happens in November, what are your hopes for our country? &amp;quot;My dream is one that we all share as Americans: to live in a country where all children go to good schools, where we have an economy that rewards hard-working people, and where affordable, quality health care is available for everyone. That is the America that I hope my girls \u2014 and all our children \u2014 will inherit from us.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/life/interviews/a4245/michelle-obama-interview/>