Stop Nominating Michelle Obama to Run for Office
It’s not on the former first lady — or Black women— to fix the nation’s problems
In a post-election interview for Vulture, filmmaker Michael Moore suggested that Democrats would have scored a more decisive victory against President Donald Trump if they’d run former first lady Michelle Obama as his opponent:
Nominate Michelle Obama. Draft her for the good of the country, and tell her we’re really sorry, because we know how much you don’t want to do it.
Though complimentary in spirit, Moore’s remark underscores a pervasive—and toxic—tendency among White liberals in the U.S. to place the implicit burden of the nation’s democracy on Black women’s shoulders.
To be sure, Black women have played a critical role in recent Democratic victories—not least of which was the 2020 election. But as Los Angeles Times staff writer Erin B. Logan succinctly put it back in August: “It’s not the role of Black women to scrub the floors of American politics.” And that includes Michelle Obama.
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