First lady Michelle Obama delivered an emotional blow to festival goers at South by Southwest’s annual music, media and film event in Austin, Texas, when she told the crowd on Wednesday why she will not follow in her husband’s footsteps and pursue the Oval Office in the future.
“I will not run for president. Nope. Nope. Not gonna do it,” Obama said during her keynote address about the Let Girls Learn global education initiative.
Although it wasn’t the first time Obama has gone on the record to say she will not seek executive office, the audience let out a collective sigh following her response to a question from actress Queen Latifah. The first lady cited two reasons behind her decision.
“I’ve got these two young people at home, and being the daughters of the president, just think of that. Come on young people, not so easy. They’ve handled it with grace and with poise, but enough is enough,” said Obama, referencing 17-year-old Malia and 14-year-old Sasha.
But the first lady also explained that she plans to have just as great of an impact away from the White House as she now has in her current role.
“Sometimes there’s much more that you can do outside of the White House without the constraints and the lights and the cameras and the partisanship. There’s a potential that my voice can be heard by many people who can’t hear me now,” Obama said. “I want to be able to impact as many people as possible in an unbiased way to try to keep reaching people.”
The 52-year-old did not indicate what she will do after January, though the Obamas announced earlier this month they will continue to reside in Washington, D.C. until their youngest daughter finishes high school in a few years.
“I don’t plan on slowing down any time soon. You talk about your 30s being good. Your 50s, woo. Phenomenal and I expect to go into my 60s blazing. Trying to be as fly and as healthy as I can,” Obama said.
The SXSW drew nearly 85,000 attendees last year and is the largest music festival in the country.
