Barack Obama made it to the White House thanks, in large part, to his brother-in-law.
Craig Robinson, the brother of Michelle Obama, had to persuade his sister to let her husband run for the office of the leader of the free world.
“I couldn’t have gotten through eight years in the White House without my big brother,” she told Robinson on the first episode of their new podcast, “IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson.”
“You talked me into supporting his run,” she continued. “And he was smart enough to know that he needed to come to you and sell you on the idea.”
Obama won his first term as president in 2008 and would be re-elected in 2012 before finishing his second term in 2017. Michelle Obama was not initially into the idea of her husband running for president, calling the idea “crazy,” but Robinson noted how his brother-in-law’s profile had surged, as he went from state senator to U.S. senator to a person many pundits thought should run for president.
The Obamas’ two daughters, Malia and Sasha, were young girls at the time and Robinson said his sister supported her husband being a parent who came home from work and spent time with their kids, something that a president can’t always do.
Obama told Robinson that his wife didn’t support his plans to run, so Robinson stepped in and told him how he could turn the tide.
“I said if we can get Mom on this, our mom, Marian Robinson, if we can get her onboard for this, which she was not onboard for it, we might have a chance to get Miche on,” Robinson said.
“And then I said, ‘Let me talk to Miche.’ And that’s when I came and talked to you and just gave you your advice that you had given me back, pretty much, about following your passion and doing the things you love.”
Robinson, who has worked as a college basketball coach in his career, then used an analogy from the sport to make his case.
“But I think the thing that pushed it over the top was I convinced you to not penalize him for being really good at what he does,” he said.
“And that would be like a guy who is fighting to get to the NBA, and he makes it, and because the travel is messed up, his wife says, ‘No, I don’t want you to do it,’ and it just wouldn’t be fair. And I talked to you and Mom at the same time, and both of you sat there reasonably mad and said I was right.”
Robinson was also able to put into context what a campaign meant for their entire family.
“And then I said to everybody in our family that this is not just you all doing it,” he said. “This means all of us are doing it because of the scrutiny you guys would be under, the work you’re going to have to do. It’s going to take a village to do this whole thing and that was pretty much the discussion that we had that got this whole thing started.”
and Craig Robinson at Portland International Airport on July 24, 2012. Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
Obama said Robinson’s insight played out while he became a vital resource for them during the campaign and her husband’s eight-year tenure in the White House.