Malia and Sasha Obama, daughters of former President Barack Obama, are ambitious young women forging their own paths. However, one career they will never pursue is politics. Their mother, Michelle Obama, ensured they avoided the “messy” world of politics from an early age. During a fundraiser for President Joe Biden in LA, Barack Obama revealed how Michelle repeatedly cautioned their daughters.
“Michelle drilled into them so early that you would be crazy to go into politics. It will never happen,” he stated emphatically. Thus, the Obamas won’t follow in the footsteps of political dynasties like the Bushes or Kennedys. The former president described Malia, 25, and Sasha, 23, as “powerful young women.” Malia is advancing in the film industry in LA.
After graduating from Harvard in 2021, she debuted as a writer-director with the short film The Heart at Sundance 2024. She chose to use ‘Malia Ann’ instead of ‘Obama,’ a decision that sparked both criticism and defense from figures like Whoopi Goldberg, according to HuffPost. Sasha recently graduated from USC with a sociology degree, but her career path remains undecided.
Michelle Obama has been vocal about her distaste for politics, citing the relentless public scrutiny involved. In Barack’s memoir, he recalled Michelle’s reaction when he decided to run for the Senate: “Don’t expect me to do any campaigning. In fact, you shouldn’t even count on my vote,” she allegedly said at the time. Despite this, she did campaign for his historic presidential bid.
The immense pressure and constant need to be “on” during their White House years strained their marriage. Barack admitted that tensions grew as he prioritized work over family. “We were pretty good even when things were tough, we never lost basic respect for the other person,” Barack explained. “We never thought that person was a bad person.
We never said things that would make it seem that you completely disrespect me. It was more, ‘I love you, Barack, but this is driving me crazy.'” He further praised Michelle, saying, “[She] is a remarkable woman. Even if she drives me crazy sometimes, I never thought that there was anybody who I would rather be with,” as per The Daily Mail.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the former First Lady firmly stated, “I’ve never expressed any interest in politics. Ever… I mean, I agreed to support my husband. He wanted to do it, and he was great at it. But at no point have I ever said, ‘I think I want to run.’ Ever.” Her communications director affirmed in 2024 that Michelle has no plans to run for president, despite some Democrats’ hopes.