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A few days ago, Page Six had an interesting item about Michelle and Barack Obama’s future living arrangements. They’re living in a posh part of Washington right now, as their younger daughter (Sasha) finishes high school. I think Sasha graduates next year? Probably. And once that happens, the Obamas want to get out of Washington. There’s been a lot of gossip about where they’ll end up, whether it will be Hawaii, LA, Chicago… or even New York. Page Six says that the Obamas are “eyeing an apartment in a historic building in Manhattan.” The apartment is on the Upper East Side and close to Gracie Mansion (the mayor’s residence). The apartment would likely cost tens of millions of dollars. You can read more about it here.

I bring up the Obamas’ adventures in real estate because the Obamas are pretty rich now. They both scored lucrative book deals, and both are making money on the lecture circuit, likely getting $400K or more per speech. I don’t think Michelle is doing that many paid speeches though – whenever we hear about her, she’s usually making appearances at conferences for women’s issues, and I doubt those conferences have that kind of major money to spread around. This week, Michelle appeared at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, where she was interviewed by Shonda Rhimes. Some highlights from the conversation:

Life with her husband as president: “For the last eight years, we had a standard of ethics, a lot of constraints. What it means to have a commander-in-chief that actually upholds the standards of the White House,” Obama joked as the audience cheered.

Women have to be all things to all people: “We as women feel like we have to be perfect all of the time. We worry too much about that. Women, minorities, the bars are different. We experienced that over the last eight years. The bar just kept moving. We’re seeing that now, quite frankly. The bar is just—,” Obama abruptly stopped, laughing as she lowered her hand further down.

How kids are handling the changes this year: “I think they’re more open in ways and less tolerant of obvious inequities. This generation will look at what is happening now in the world and say, ‘This doesn’t feel right,’ because they know what they were taught. They’ve been raised with an openness. Many kids today only know that Barack Obama was their president. They grew up only under hope and opportunity. I think now they will be less tolerant and feel some of what is happening now as what they intrinsically know is not what they were taught.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Michelle just continues to talk about Trump without even saying his name. Part of my immediate post-election depression was the thought of how certain people felt about Baby Fists Trump becoming president – I still choke up when I think of Khizr Khan and I still choke up when I think of how Michelle must have reacted. So… on one side, I’m happy that she’s okay, that she’s able to get out bed, that she is still optimistic about the country and our future as a nation. On the other side, I wish both Obamas would come out and be honest about how much this f–king sucks, you know?

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