Michelle Obama Says She Won’t Run for President in 2020

Despite the fact that many polls show her at or near the top of potential Democratic contenders in 2020 (polling even higher than Vice President Joe Biden)…

(courtesy of Zogby Analytics)

…former First Lady Michelle Obama again denied that she has ambitions to seek her husband’s former office on Saturday during a speech at the United States of Women Summit. In response to a question form the audience, Obama said she isn’t interested in running for office, adding that “it doesn’t matter who runs” for the presidency until the US becomes unified.

Obama called the speculation about the Democrats’ 2020 candidate “a distraction.”

“Well, that’s a whole other story because, that’s not the answer either. And when I hear people say, ‘you run,’ it’s part of the problem. We still didn’t get ‘yes we can’ right,” she said, referencing her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign slogan. “It’s not ‘yes you can,’ it’s ‘yes we can.’ And until we get that right, it doesn’t matter who runs.”

She also correctly pointed out that voters across America – especially people of color – put so much hope in Barack Obama…but he didn’t end racism.

“Change starts close to home. So looking for the next person to run … I don’t mean to cut that off, but that’s been our distraction,” she said. “We’re going to wait for the next person to save us. We thought it was going to be Barack Obama, but he didn’t end racism.”

Obama said at a Women’s Forum in April that she doesn’t want the presidency and that she would rather see somebody with “passion for the position” run for office.

Of course, with Hillary Clinton’s historic defeat in the 2016 election is still fresh in the public consciousness, American political dynasties have never been less popular with voters.

…But we wouldn’t be surprised to see Obama recover her “passion” for politics some time between now and the deadline for declaring her candidacy to run in 2020…or maybe even 2024, or 2028.