While speaking at a "South by Southwest" music and film event in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama shared she will not run for the presidential spot herself in the future but that she was going to miss something about her White House duties after leaving next year: interacting with youth every day.
"The young people in this country keep me inspired, because I see myself in them," she said.
Obama, 52, was at the event to discuss the Let Girls Learn initiative, which aims to break barriers for the 62 million girls around the world who are not in school today, more than half of whom are adolescent. The SXSW music conference assembles the global music industry and organizers believe the event offers the perfect platform to celebrate Women's History Month, as the First Lady provides her call to action to support girls' education.
She said she wouldn't consider running for U.S. presidency, citing her two daughters and that it's "not so easy being kids, the daughters of a president." Although, she was quick to state her daughters handled it was grace and poise, but that "enough is enough."
"I will not run for president. No, nope, not going to do it," she said.
The lawyer indicated a desire to be free from partisan controversy while still serving the public, saying she wanted to "impact as many people as possible in an unbiased way," reports CNN.
Rumors once floated, notably spread by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, of Michelle running for Senate from her home state of Illinois.
She pursued a range of causes during her time in the White House, particularly children's health initiatives, and she said she would continue to do so after the end of President Barack Obama's term, perhaps even more successfully "without the constraints and the lights and the cameras" that surround the White House, reports CNN.
"There's a potential that my voice could be heard by many people who can't hear me now because I'm Michelle Obama, the first lady," she said.
"There are so many ways to impact the world. You don't have to be president of the United States to do wonderful, marvelous things," Obama said at a panel discussion on empowering women at the festival, according to Reuters.
President Barack Obama appeared as part of a keynote conversation at SXSW Interactive on March 11 and First Lady Michelle was the opening keynote at SXSW Music on Wednesday. This year was the first time in the 30-year history of SXSW that a sitting President and the First Lady have participated in the event. The Obama's term in the White House ends during January 2017.
