Michelle Obama: Many billionaires not happy, politics dishonest

Michelle Obama’s first speaking event in Australia drew a sizable crowd to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday, despite ticket prices ranging from A$195 to A$895, raising questions about affordability amid a cost-of-living crisis.

Two weeks before the event, the writer’s A$195 seat was upgraded without explanation due to “a recent change in production requirements,” and empty patches were visible near the front of the venue.

None of this reflected on Obama’s performance, which still lured a large audience on a weekday afternoon. The tour, organized by the leadership-event company Growth Faculty, reaches only Melbourne and Sydney.

Host Annabel Crabb opened by stating she would not ask Obama about current politics because, Crabb claimed, “that is a convention that former first ladies don’t comment on.”

“And what else is there to say? I’m sorry?” Obama responded jokingly.

The former first lady delivered veiled but sharp remarks on contemporary politics. When Crabb quoted former Australian senator Amanda Vanstone saying, “Think of the dumbest guy you know in politics,” Obama interjected: “Everyone, close your eyes. Just imagine! Hmmm.” The applause and laughter nearly drowned out the rest of the quote, which included Vanstone’s observation: “When a woman that dumb can succeed in politics, that’s equality.”

Asked about her catchphrase “When they go low, we go high” in an era when many figures gain from bad behavior, Obama said, “You know those folks aren’t happy. You don’t show up like that in the world and have that not eating away at your soul.”

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She said she hopes to teach children that accumulating wealth is not a measure of happiness. “It is not. I know plenty of billionaires, many of them are not happy people in the world. They’ve got a lot of stuff – but that’s what they focus on, just accumulating stuff.”

“I guess I don’t agree with the fact that they are getting away with all of this and it seems to be fine. It isn’t fine. None of this is fine,” she added. “Nobody’s happy. We don’t feel better. No one is feeling better. I can see that and feel that. So going low doesn’t work … Our economy isn’t better. We’re seeing a lot of injustice and unfairness happening in the world. Our kids are feeling a level of depression. We are worried more about the cost of living. Things are not better. It’s not working.”

Obama said the racist abuse she faced in the White House and criticism of initiatives like healthy-eating campaigns forced her to “build up an armour.”

“That’s what I don’t like about politics,” she said. “It’s not honest. It’s not true … right now, the current administration has just launched an entire initiative around health and obesity. The same administration that criticised me and called me the nanny state and told me to stay away from fast food and get out of people’s menus … it was never real. Understanding that, putting it aside, and just doing the work is what I had to do.”

But she admitted even she sometimes needs to go “a little low” by venting in private.

“Going high isn’t just a public act of stoicism all the time. It is a measure of how we should behave as adults in the real world. You go have your tantrum in the closet, like a real adult,” she joked, adding: “Don’t call yourself a leader and not have the personal discipline to just shut up and think.”

After eight years in the White House and eight years of recovery, the Obamas now focus on spreading the message that there will be a world beyond Trump, through public speaking and their media company Higher Ground, which produces documentaries and podcasts including one hosted by Michelle.

Obama said her dream podcast guest would be Dolly Parton or Elton John. “But I’ve met Nelson Mandela. I’ve met two popes. I’ve met Maya Angelou … I’ve met Stevie Wonder. Prince performed at the White House months before he died,” she added.

“We’ve lived an extraordinary life and have had an opportunity to … be in places that I would have never imagined, as Michelle Robinson on the south side of Chicago. So it’s hard for me to sit here and want more, because we’ve had so much.”

After a second show on Tuesday night in Melbourne, Obama heads to Sydney for two more shows on Thursday and Friday, hosted by ABC’s Leigh Sales.