Michelle not running for presidency, says Barack Obama

Washington, Jan 15: Michelle is not and will not run for presidency, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said, quickly adding that the First Lady would continue her work on issues like obesity even after they demit the office next January.

"No," Obama said emphatically at a townhall meeting in Louisiana. "Since you can't run again for another term, is there any way that we as a group can talk the First Lady into running?" an individual who identified himself as Greg Gavins asked Obama.

"No. Let me tell you, there are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and Michelle is not running for president. That I can tell you," said the president whose second term ends on January 20, 2017.

Obama's "no" was followed by a big applause from the audience. "But you know what? The First Lady, though, the work she's done around reducing childhood obesity; the work that she and Jill Biden have done on military families and making sure they get support -- I could not be prouder of her.

"And I am certain that she's going to be really active as an ex-first lady. Not only is she going to be a very young ex-first lady, but unlike me, she looks young," he said.

"I was looking at a wedding picture -- actually, we found the old video from our wedding. We've been married 23 years now. So my mother in law had been going through some storage stuff and found our wedding video. I popped it in. And I looked like a teenager. I realized, boy, I sure have aged.

But she looked identical," he said. "Well, I am proud of her too, because most importantly, she's been an unbelievable mom, which is why my daughters have turned out so well," Obama said.

PTI