Michelle Obama on hypothetical third Presidential term for Barack Obama: ‘I hope not’

After President Trump’s frequent jokes about changing the 22nd Amendment so he could run again, many liberals have taken on the idea of Barack Obama exiting retirement for one more run at the White House.

Don’t expect Michelle Obama to be fully on board with a third White House run from her husband.

During her appearance on Alex Cooper’s “Call Me Daddy” podcast, the 62-year-old former FLOTUS was asked about the hypothetical possibility of Barack Obama running for a third term in the White House in light of President Donald Trump’s consistent remarks about possibly changing the 22nd Amendment

“The future is whatever we want it to be so if… this is all hypothetical… if Trump does change the law and runs for a third term, hypothetically… Do you think your husband would consider running?” Cooper asked.

Without hesitating, Obama replied, “I hope not. I would actively work against that.”

After Cooper questioned whether Michelle was interested, Obama said she believed eight years is enough time to change a lot and that the country needs a “new vision.”

“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.”

She added, “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. Like, 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.”

Even with Trump’s “jokes” about the potential for running for a third term, many liberals have countered the idea with former President Obama coming out of retirement to run one more time. Still, the former First Lady says her time at the White House is over, and she is not open to launching her own political career beyond the occasional speech or two at the Democratic National Convention.

Last year, Michelle ruffled some feathers during the promotion for her book “The Look.” In a fireside chat with Tracee Ellis Ross, Obama remarked that America wasn’t ready to have a woman as president.

“As you saw in this past election, sadly, we ain’t ready,” Obama told Ross. “That’s why I’m like, don’t even look at me about running because y’all are lying.”

She continued, “Y’all are lying. You are not ready for a woman. You are not. So don’t waste my time. We got a lot of growing up to do. And there are still sadly a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman and we saw it.”

In her chat with Cooper, Michelle clarified her comments somewhat, reiterating that the country still wasn’t ready and needed to do some soul-searching on the matter.

“Let’s not be mad because I made the statement. Let’s look at the fact that we’ve had two really qualified female candidates,” Michelle said, referring to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024. “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 added. “I’d say, ‘Look, why can’t we talk about that? Why are we pretending that that didn’t just happen?’”

However, Michelle wasn’t ready to sign off on the notion completely.

“That doesn’t mean that women should roll up their sleeves and call it a day, you know? she said. “Like we’re still growing, you know? So yeah, I think it’s gonna happen. Are we ready now? I don’t know. Like prove us wrong. I would love that.”