Michelle's focus as First Lady: work/family balance, military families, national service

USA Today: Michelle Obama: 'I don't want to be a distraction'
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY


(Josh T. Reynolds/USA TODAY)
"I'm no different from Hillary (Rodham Clinton) or anyone else who has been a political target. There is strategy involved. It's not personal," Obama says.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Michelle Obama has two potentially conflicting goals as she campaigns for her husband, Democrat Barack Obama: She wants to stay true to who she is and to keep the focus on issues, not her. "I don't want to be a distraction. I want to be a part of the solution," Obama told USA TODAY in a 27-minute interview Thursday. She said she hopes to help make America a place where "more hardworking people feel they can carve out a life that makes sense for themselves and their kids."

As first lady, Obama says, she would focus on helping people balance work and family; on the particular struggles of military families; and on expanding national service — "near and dear" to her heart, she says, because she once ran a service program.

Obama, 44, a lawyer, hospital administrator and mother of two girls, vaulted onto the Republican radar screen in February when she said that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." The Tennessee GOP and other conservatives seized on that remark and others, such as her description of the U.S. as "just downright mean," to portray her as negative and unpatriotic. Barack Obama says they're using his "feisty wife" to try to scare voters.

Michelle Obama says her "proud" comment was about high participation in politics. "It was taken out of context. Obviously I am proud of my country," she says, and bats away the idea that she generates an unusual level of controversy. "I've had to clarify points that were misconstrued. But they're usually the same couple of points," she says, and adds: "I'm no different from Hillary (Rodham Clinton) or anyone else who has been a political target. There is strategy involved. It's not personal."

This summer Obama is leading discussions with voters worried about jobs and the high costs of gas, health care, tuition and child care. At a session here last week, she criticized current leaders for telling Americans that "if your world is fine," don't worry about anyone else....

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