Don’t be fooled. In the promotional interviews for her new book, The Light We Carry, Michelle Obama insists that the book is simply her personal “toolkit” about how she deals with the challenges of “uncertain times.” No, The Light We Carry is not a self-help book. It is Michelle’s crafty attempt to position herself to be the Democrat nominee for president in 2024. In fact, it is Michelle’s second autobiography, a follow up to her wildly successful 2018 memoir, Becoming. As it would have been awkward for Michelle to write a second self-promotional autobiography entitled “Becoming Part II,” the new book is released under the ruse of a self-help guide. 

So why would Michelle release a second autobiography disguised as a self-help book? Michelle told an audience at the Obama Foundation in 2018, “Barack and I don’t do things incidentally, there’s a strategy.” I am convinced The Light We Carry is part of Michelle’s strategy to become president in 2024. I chronicle Michelle’s real story in my book and film of the same name, Michelle Obama 2024: Her Real Life Story and Plan for Power.

The Light We Carry is an all-autobiographical 10-chapter book, recounting stories chronologically from Michelle’s childhood through the White House years. The main difference from Becoming is that now Michelle paints herself as even more of a victim throughout her life. Along the way, she suggests a few life lessons based on her experiences in life, real and imagined.

The goal of The Light We Carry is the same as Becoming: to strengthen her appeal to women and minorities, key Democrat party voting blocs. In the first five chapters of The Light We Carry, Michelle recounts her journey from Chicago to Princeton University. In Chapter 6, she writes about meeting Barack at her Chicago law firm, going to Hawaii the first time, and their marriage. Chapter 7 is “Meet my Mom” about how great it was having her Mom living in the White House with them. Chapter 8 is about Michelle’s group of friends while she was first lady. Chapter 9 is the White House years and her being a Black first lady, and a lot of talk about daughters Malia and Sasha. The final chapter culminates in a highly political offering called “Going High”, a discussion of Michelle’s political “motto” which is “when they go low, we go high.” Michelle unveiled this saying in a 2016 campaign speech after going low on Donald Trump with a vicious attack excoriating Trump for alleged behaviors she either exaggerated or pulled out of context.

The ability to have regular folks identify with a politician is the major ingredient for electoral success. Michelle Obama, despite her immense popularity, has little in common with average Americans, and almost nothing in common with minorities, despite her being one. In order to become a successful candidate for president in 2024, these are the obstacles she must overcome. Her books and book tours are designed to do just that. Michelle timed the release of The Light We Carry to just after the midterm elections. As with Becoming, the roll out includes another sold out promotional nationwide stadium tour. On each stop, Michelle is interviewed by a celebrity host and wows her adoring fans with stories of her life. To kick off the book tour, Michelle Obama appeared right after the midterm election on the ABC news show 20/20, where she was interviewed by Obama superfan Robin Roberts.

The one hour interview was nothing short of a 2024 presidential campaign advertisement, hitting all the necessary buttons — personal, pop culture, and political. The interview was conducted at the Obama’s huge empty home in Chicago, in which the Obamas haven’t lived since 2008. The Obamas now live in a ritzy Washington D.C. suburb when not at their $12 million home in Martha’s Vineyard, the ultimate status symbol of the liberal elite. The oceanfront mansion, as well as the one under construction in Hawaii are a thumb in the eye to the rising-sea-level activists.

In the beginning of the interview, Michelle justifies writing her new book by claiming that due to the uncertainty of Covid-19 and “the insurrection,” people turned to her for an answer to the question, “How do we get out of this mess?” Michelle then discusses her own personal struggle with her “fearful mind.” The example she recounts is her anxiety about helping Barack decide whether or not to run for president. Although she tries to portray herself as a mere humble bystander to her husband’s politics, Michelle was deeply involved in promoting his political career since the time she was the treasurer in his 1995 Illinois state senate campaign. Michelle also describes her more prosaic fears such as walking to her grade school and going to the Ivy Leagues. Michelle offers, “I want young kids to understand there is hope on the other side of fear.”

The second part of the interview deals with Barack and Joe Biden. Of Barack she says, “That’s my dude.” Michelle mentions that she and Barack celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary by re-creating their honeymoon. To identify with voters, she describes their day-to-day life as “pretty average” and that she and Barack are now “empty nesters”. As for her daughters, Michelle is “proud of them trying to be impactful in the world.” Michelle uses her daughters to remind the audience that her biracial husband is essentially Black. “Barack learned how to be a concerned Black father,” she insists. As for Biden, Michelle is as always the loyal Democrat foot soldier repeating approved talking points. She says without meaning it, “I think he’s doing a great job” and “He’s doing the best he can under the circumstances.” When asked if Biden should run again, Michelle parrots other Democrat politicians, “You know, I…I…I…we’ll have to see.” She then adds “It’s a personal decision he and his family have to make”.

As the interview progresses, Michelle tries to establish herself as just a regular person with regular girlfriends: “All my life I have relied on a solid group of women who keep me grounded who remind me who I am.” The problem is that for this segment, Michelle is joined by four of her “regular friends” — Black female celebrities, all of whom Michelle met while she was the First Lady. The women sing Michelle’s praises, emphasizing her commitments to health, friendship, and being kind. They lay the foundational assets of a future president: she doesn’t do anything halfway; she’s the most punctual person they have ever met; she has very high standards; and is extremely competitive. They also mention more everyday people stuff like exercising and overcoming menopause.

Then the interview is all political. Roberts asks, “are you concerned about political anger and violence?” She answers faithfully, “We have to stay high even when it’s hard.” Roberts then prompts Michelle with, “What is your message to people struggling?” to which the polished politician answers, “Keep the bigger picture in mind, keep pushing forward.” To appeal to older women voters, Michelle claims she learned to knit from watching YouTube videos and details it as therapeutic; she then shows off two sweaters in progress.

In wrapping up, Michelle aims for the younger minority voting demographic. Three teenage non-White female superfans of Michelle — two Black and one Hispanic — are invited to a surprise meeting with Michelle. They cry and tell Michelle how much she helped them through tough times due to their reading of Becoming. Michelle hugs them and tells them she is proud of them. One girl tells Michelle she was inspired by her story of being racially profiled by her high school counselor regarding her Princeton University application. (It was phony: the counselor who “profiled” her was a Black woman!)

Michelle has for years been faithfully following Barack Obama’s successful formula to launch her 2024 campaign for president. Much like Barack’s “Project Vote”, Michelle founded a voter registration organization called “When We All Vote.” Michelle was the keynote speaker at the 2020 convention for the Democrat nominee, Joe Biden, as was Barack for John Kerry in 2004. Finally and most importantly, Michelle mirrored Barack’s blueprint of basing his candidacy on his personal story, his best-selling book Dreams from My Father, with Becoming. The follow-up autobiography, The Light We Carry, and the accompanying tour are perfectly timed to softly launch Michelle’s “everyone keeps asking me” candidacy for president next year. No Democrat would dare defy her, and no Republican will know how to attack her, not even Donald Trump.

Hollywood film director Joel Gilbert is president of Highway 61 Entertainment. Among his many films are political documentaries including The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America; Trump: The Art of the Insult; There's No Place Like Utopia; Dreams from My Real Father; Atomic Jihad; and Farewell Israel: Bush, Iran and the Revolt of Islam and the new film and book MICHELLE OBAMA 2024: Her Real Life Story and Plan for Power.

Image: White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.