Michelle Obama: 'I've Got a Loud Mouth'

May 22, 2007 — -- No shrinking violet, Michelle Obama, the 43-year-old wife of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told "Good Morning America" that she is a strong, professional woman and that her husband's ability to deal with her is one of the reasons Americans should elect him president.

Called Obama's closest adviser and his daily reality check, Michelle was raised on the south side of Chicago and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law school. Today she juggles a career, duties as a wife and mother of two little girls and the role of campaigner.

Watch the second part of this interview this week on "Good Morning America."

"I don't want to paint some unrealistic picture of who we are so that in the end, when it falls apart and if we haven't lived up to this unrealistic expectation, people feel let down in some way," Obama told anchor Robin Roberts. "This is who we are. I've got a loud mouth. I tease my husband. He is incredibly smart, and he is very able to deal with a strong woman, which is one of the reasons why he can be president, because he can deal with me."

With the landmark run of both Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Obama for the 2008 presidential bid, many wonder who has a better shot at making history as either the first female or first black president. Michelle believes that regardless of race, American voters are looking for connection to a candidate.

"I think that the American people… are ready to have somebody that they can believe in and that they can connect to," Obama said in a two-part interview that began Tuesday. "And I think that if Barack does what he's supposed to do and this campaign is… run well, and he can be clear and articulate in his message… he'll be the next president of the United States and… we will be swearing him in '08."

Obama said that the media has presented distorted images of the black community in America.

"As we've all said in the black community, we don't see all of who we are in, in the media. We see snippets… of our community and distortions of our community," she said. "So the world has this perspective that somehow Barack and Michelle Obama are different, that we're unique. And we're not. You just haven't seen us before."