For eight years, Michelle Obama watched every word. In her memoir, she's done with that.

By Connie Schultz
November 9 at 3:49 PM

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and the author of “ .?.?. and His Lovely Wife.”

As first lady, every word Michelle Obama uttered and every action she took received advance scrutiny for signs of potential damage to her husband’s presidency. Now, freed of the constraints of the White House, she is ready to tell it as she sees it. Her new memoir crackles with blunt, often searing observations about politics, race and gender in America. Its title, “Becoming,” reflects her journey from modest beginnings on the South Side of Chicago to an incessant spotlight on the world stage.

Though her life has been full and large, Obama is still figuring out who she wants to be. For the first time in two decades, she is allowing herself to explore her own ambitions separate from the rest of her family. She writes that her little girls, Malia and Sasha, are now “young women with plans and voices of their own.” Her husband is “catching his own breath” after eight years as president. “And here I am,” she writes, “in this new place, with a lot I want to say.”

“Becoming” is a political spouse’s memoir like no other, and I say that as the author of one. Obama doesn’t waste time naming every person who helped to elect her husband. This is her book, not his. She also cites, by name and deed, some of those who offended her. This is not an act of revenge but rather a clear sign that she is unwilling to pretend none of that mattered. Good for her.

Life in the public glare has left Obama’s distaste for politics as strong as ever. “I’ll say it here directly: I have no intention of running for office, ever,” she writes. “I’ve never been a fan of politics, and my experience over the last ten years has done little to change that.”

During those 10 years, though, she learned a lot about herself and her marriage, and about America. She admits to insecurities and missteps. She acknowledges her many firsts as a black woman, and this fuels a sense of urgency in her writing. She wants to ensure that other black women get the chances she’s had.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/for-eight-years-michelle-obama-watched-every-word-in-her-memoir-shes-done-with-that/2018/11/09/e2df2e54-e388-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html