14 DAY TRIAL // Although Barack and Michelle Obama always put up a united front, coming off as the picture-perfect family where all problems are discussed and then solved, things were not always like that, author Christopher Anderson says in “Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage.” Theirs is a love story that had to prove itself against adversity, which only makes it all the more admirable, the author concludes in the new biographical book.
As Barack Obama was just starting his political career and Michelle had just learned she was having problems becoming pregnant, tension began to appear between them. On the one hand, he was always away on business, on the other hand, she was the isolated wife who wanted a family but couldn’t have one, Anderson says. Eventually, Michelle gave birth to Malia in 1998, but that still wasn’t enough to make her and Barack feel like a family, because he was still too busy to spend time at home.
“You only think about yourself. I never thought I’d have to raise a family alone.” Michelle is quoted as telling her husband during those troubled times. Barack wasn’t happy either, what with Michelle constantly nagging him and not giving him enough space to focus on his problems. “I love Michelle, but she's killing me with this constant criticism.” the President reportedly told his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. “She just seems so bitter, so angry all the time.”
What finally brought the two together, Anderson also says in the book, was hearing that daughter Sasha might have spinal meningitis, which is when they decided to put all differences aside and work together to find solutions to their problems, Anderson adds in the book. He interviewed about 200 friends and family members to write the book, so he can vouch that now, more than ever, the Obamas are truly an example worth of being followed in terms of what a family should mean.
“I think she could have walked at one point. She felt abandoned. The strains in their marriage, they’ve been very open about. During the period when he was in the senate... he said it was a dark time in their marriage. It was angry all the time. Our first non white first family is really the most down-to-earth couples we’ve ever had in the White House. They’re comfortable in their own skins.” Anderson has shared during a recent televised interview.