Former First Lady Michelle Obama has said she is “terrified” over the outcome of the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Speaking on the On Purpose podcast with Jay Shetty, Obama said the prospect of the election is keeping her up at night as she continues her support for President Joe Biden, who is likely to face off against Donald Trump in the November 5 poll.
“What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter,” Obama told Shetty.
“Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted.
“The fact that people think that government — ‘eh, does it really even do anything?’ — and I’m like ‘Oh my God, does government do everything for us, and we cannot take this democracy for granted.’
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“And I worry sometimes that we do. Those are the things that keep me up.”
Her comments come as candidates in the race ramp up their campaigns, with polls showing Biden and Trump are neck and neck in the contest for the White House.
While she named neither in the interview, she took a swipe at prospective candidate Trump.
“The tone and tenor of the message matters. We can’t just say what the first thing that comes to our minds,” she said.
“That is not authenticity to me. That’s childish, and we see childish leadership right before us — what that looks like and how that feels, where somebody is just base, and vulgar and cynical in a leadership position,” she told Shetty.
She also lamented over voter apathy, saying: “Are people going to vote, and why aren’t people voting?
“Those are the things that keep me up, because you don’t have control over them. And you wonder: ‘Where are we in this? Where are our hearts?’”
Obama has been firm in her support of Biden in the upcoming election along with her husband, former president Barack Obama.
Biden served as vice president during both of Obama’s terms, from 2008 to 2016.
