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‘I’d Actively Work Against That’: Michelle Obama Shuts Down Third Obama Term Talk

In her latest candid convo, she backs strict term limits, explains our need for younger leaders, and addresses 'that viral comment' about women leading.

Michelle Obama wants to make something crystal clear: her husband’s White House chapter is over. Okay?

​While speaking on the Jan 21. episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, host Alex Cooper pressed Michelle about her feelings on hubby, Barack Obama, running for office again if the term limits were somehow changed.

“I hope not,” Michelle said swiftly in response. “I would actively work against that."

Cooper’s question tapped into the frequent online discussions about getting Barack back in the Oval Office. As of now, this is purely a hypothetical scenario, though there have been rumblings about presidential terms being extended more recently — something the former first lady is very much against.

“We're changing and growing so fast," she said. "This is a hard job, and it requires new energy, new vision all the time. New ways of looking at the world, right? So I do believe that eight years is enough."

Michelle’s feelings on term limits aren’t just for personal reasons, but for the benefit of the country.​

​“People with a new set of experiences, a new set of, a new take on the world. This new generation is coming up. They travel more, they know more about the world, they're exposed in a different way,” she said. “I'm really, really curious about their perspectives on how to fix some of this stuff. Like, we don't have all the answers, and that's okay. That's why we move on."

During the sit-down, Michelle also revisited the viral comments she made last year, when she joked that people should stop asking her to run because the country is “not ready for a woman” to run the country. She told the host that she was being playful but serious about the deeper issue: a long history of skepticism toward women in power.

"We had qualified women and they just... again, if they're not perfect and they don't cross every 't' and dot every 'i,' there's a falling shortness that is happening," she said, referring to Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris as examples of highly qualified women who still faced intense scrutiny. "I'd say, 'Look, why can't we talk about that? Why are we pretending that that didn't just happen?' "

Though she stressed that didn’t mean women should give up on seeking office, adding that she believes a woman will eventually break through — and challenged the country to “prove us wrong.”

Watch the interview below:

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