Through all of the attacks lobbed at them by the current president, the Obamas remain wildly popular. Barack Obama left office with an approval rating of about 57 percent, which is more than President Trump can no doubt ever hope to achieve.
Since leaving office, Barack Obama has made a smattering of public appearances, appearing, among other places, as the first guest on late night host David Letterman’s new Netflix show.
Now, his wife Michelle has made her own post-White House return to public appearances, sitting as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this Thursday in honor of the host’s 60th birthday.
Among the topics that DeGeneres pressed her about during her time on the show was the political direction of the country.
It was a marked shift going from the Obamas to the Trumps, with the former committed to advancing the cause of all Americans, while the current president certainly cares for no such thing considering his policy moves.
Commenting on her own feelings about the “scary” direction that the world has taken lately, Ellen asked Michelle Obama for her perspective on what’s going on.
That’s when the former first lady delivered a message that is no doubt crucial for untold numbers of Americans, which also served to remind people just how lucky we were to have such people as the Obamas in the White House for eight years.
As she put it, going forward, we need to be unified and empathetic — but not under the banner of the conniving minds currently occupying Washington, D.C.
She began:
‘The thing I learned in the eight years that I was in the White House is that what we do every day in our lives — the good things that we do every day and we know we do it: we show empathy, we care for each other, you know, we do have a lot in common. That’s what it means to lead with hope, and not fear. And that’s all we have is hope.
She continued, never mentioning Trump by name but roundly repudiating his vision of America, saying:
‘I would just encourage your viewers, the country, to do the things we do every day: to love each other, to take care of each other, to show empathy – and you can’t do that only when people make you feel good or safe. we have to do it all across the board. We have to be an open hearted nation… and that’s the truth of who we are.’
Check out video of the former first lady’s appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show below.
Michelle’s message of unity in the face of all trials is certainly at odds with the message currently promoted by the White House.
Among the examples of this is the fact that earlier this week, during his inaugural State of the Union address to Congress, Trump called yet again for the monument to racism that the proposed U.S./ Mexico border wall would be to be constructed.
For now, we are stuck with the current peddler of racism occupying the White House, with many’s eyes on the 2020 presidential election to see how we can get him out of there.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
