This Recording

It’s not often that you say to yourself, especially now if you are Vanessa Hudgens rep, thank God for Glamour magazine.

But these are trying times, and we are looking for heroines.

Your next First Lady?

With SpongeBob on her TV, Lauryn Hill on her iPod, two BlackBerrys in her purse and, she hopes, the White House in her future, Michelle Obama is moving fast. Writer Tonya Lewis Lee attempts to catch up.

I have to admit I was a little intimidated by Michelle Obama when I first saw her. She was standing on the far side of a hotel conference room, and I got the impression of a regal woman who has a model’s height (she’s 5’11”) and a classic, understated chic. But then she came forward, extended an endless arm and broke out her famous million-watt smile. She gave me a big hug—as if we were old girlfriends—and I felt as though I’d known her forever. I guess part of my comfort came from the similarities in our lives. Michelle and I are both lawyers; we both have two children (I have a daughter, Satchel, 12, and a son, Jackson, 10; her girls are Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6); and we’re both married to very public men. My husband is director Spike Lee; hers is Barack Obama, the third black United States senator since Reconstruction and our would-be next president.

Being First Lady was probably not on her mind in 1988, when she met Barack. A product of Chicago’s South Side (her father was a city pump operator, and her mother a secretary) and a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, she was an attorney at the Sidley Austin firm in Chicago when she was assigned to mentor a new summer intern, Barack. Four years later they married. Now, while her husband runs for the presidency, Michelle, 43, does the lion’s share of raising their girls and works as vice president of community and external affairs for the University of Chicago Hospitals. She’s on the road several days a week for the Obama campaign, shaking hands, charming the media, making speeches…and history.

“Closer to My Dreams” — India.Arie (mp3) 

TONYA LEWIS LEE: People seem to think that you are the secret weapon of your husband’s campaign.

MICHELLE OBAMA: I feel so much passion for this candidacy. When we made the decision to get in this race, there was a side of me that said, “Oh, no. This is going to be so personally disruptive—why put yourself through that?” But then I let myself dream about what his presidency would mean [to the nation and the world] and I get goose bumps.

TLL: You once said, “Politics is a waste of time.”

MO: That statement reflects my cynicism about politics, not about Barack. My thought has always been that he has something special to offer the political process, which can be a mean-spirited game. Over the years I’ve become more confident in people’s ability to recognize a good thing.

TLL: Let’s talk some more about your career. As First Lady, would you continue to work at your outside job?

MO: We’ll have to see. My priority will be making sure my family is happy and settled. No one can predict what Americans will need from their First Lady a year from now, so I will be whatever I need to be for the country. My sense is that being a First Lady is a full-time job, but I’ll know more when the time comes.

TLL: What do your girls think of you?

“Won’t Last Long” — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (mp3)

“The Heart of the Matter (Don Henley cover)” – India.Arie (mp3)

MO: My hope and my gut is that I am just Mommy. We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and if Dad isn’t there—because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him. But we cuddle up and we talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?

TLL: One last question, from me. What’s on your iPod?

MO: Oh, gosh. I’m loving Robin Thicke right now. Jill Scott. India.Arie. Love, love, love old school Lauryn Hill. I love good women who can sing, you know?

“Grey Colossal Sunshine” — Faultline with the Flaming Lips (mp3)

They are Faultline. 

“Igloo” — Clear Tigers (mp3)

“The Girl I Loved Before I Fucked” — Arab Strap (mp3)

“Many Rivers to Cross” — The Walkmen (mp3)

“Tears Dry on Their Own (Al Usher remix)” — Amy Winehouse (mp3)

PREVIOUSLY ON THIS RECORDING

Becky stole everyone’s boyfriends.

I saw The Nines last night, the latest John August-Ryan Reynolds collaboration. I will have some very mean things to say about it, and I hope you can still accept me for who I am afterwards.