Michelle Obama Discusses Her Latest Book

NJG Newswire

Jonathan Capehart, co-host of The Weekend news talk show on MS NOW, recently interviewed Former First Lady Michelle Obama, about  her new book, The Look.

Obama, who remains one of the most admired public figures in America, spoke candidly on the book’s theme about fashion but also about a deeper personal story. The Look  features more than 200 photographs and traces her life before, during, and after the White House.

One iconic photo Obama highlighted in the Capehart conversation dates back to June 3, 2008, the night her husband secured the Democratic nomination for president. In the photo, Michelle and Barack Obama share a celebratory fist bump which is reproduced as a caricature on the cover of the New Yorker magazine.

Obama said she found the image unflattering in a way that leaned into racist and misogynistic tropes. In her book, she writes that seeing the illustration marked a turning point, making it clear that she would need to define herself before others did it for her.

“It was a startling moment,” she explained to Capehart, noting how quickly misinformation and bias can shape public perception when left unchecked.

Rather than retreat, Obama leaned in—traveling the campaign trail, engaging voters face-to-face, and sharing her story as a Black woman raised in a working-class Chicago family. Her approach earned her the nickname “the Closer.”

“I focused on who we were as people,” she told Capehart. “Our values, our upbringing, the things that connected us to Americans everywhere.”

Those personal connections, she believes, made a difference. “It’s harder to hate up close,” Obama said.

Looking back, she now sees that chapter as essential preparation. “It taught me early that I have to own my narrative,” she reflected. “That empowerment has stayed with me ever since.”