'60 Minutes': The personal transition Video

'60 Minutes': The personal transition Video Transcript

>> In 66 days, Barack and Michelle Obama and their 2 daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, will become the youngest first family to move into the White House since the Kennedy's nearly 50 years ago. While the Obama transition team has been working closely with the Bush administration to ensure an orderly transfer of power, the Obama family has been working hard on a transition of their own that began with an emotional election night victory in Chicago.

>> When was the first moment that it began to sink in that you were president of the United States? Do you remember?

>> Well, I'm not sure it sunk in yet.

>> I guess I'm sort of like him, I'm not sure if it has really sunk in, but I remember we were watching the returns and on one of the stations Barack's picture came up and it said, "President elect Barack Obama". And I looked at him and I said, "You are the 44th President of the United States of America. Wow, what a country we live in."

>> How about that?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, then she said, "Are you gonna take the girls to school in the morning?"

>> I did not, I didn't say that.

>> They were--it wasn't at that moment. ^M00:01:14 [ Applause ] ^M00:01:21

>> You made the address in Grant Park and you brought the kids out--

>> Uh-hmm.

>> And at some point you whispered something, can you remember that?

>> I said, "Wow, look at this."

>> How about that?

>> I told him good job, well done. To walk out there and see hundreds of thousands of hard working folks because so many people put their energy and their hopes into this campaign to see the outcome and the emotion. It was a very emotional evening because I think people were ready to take hold of this country and help move it in a different direction and you felt that.

>> The emotion of that night was filled in part by the fact that you are the first African-American ever elected. Do you feel that?

>> There's no doubt that there was a sense of emotion that I could see in people's faces and my mother-in-law's face. And I mean you think about Michelle's mom, you know, who grew up on the west and south sides of Chicago, who worked so hard to help Michelle get where she is, her brother to be successful. She was sitting next to me, actually, as we were watching returns and she's like my grandmother was really, sort of a no fuss type of person and suddenly she just kinda reached out and she started holding my hand, you know, and kinda squeezing it. And you have this sense of what is she thinking for a black woman who grew up in the 50's in a segregated Chicago to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States. I think there was that sense across the country and now you need 2 African-American's I think that--

>> That's right.

>> --I think people felt that it was a sign of the enormous progress that we've made and the core decency and generosity of the American people, which isn't to say that you know, there were a number of reasons that somebody might not have voted for me, but what was absolutely clear was that whether people voted for me or against me. That they are making the judgment based on, is this guy gonna lead us well? Is this guy gonna be a good president? And that was the--that was my assumption walking in and that's how it turned out. That felt good.

>> And what was your conversation like the next morning at the breakfast table with the kids?

>> Everyone was tired--

>> Cause they've been up until midnight.

>> --and they have been up, but we got up and went to school. We went to school lat. Barack you've slept in, you know, so I think we were just back into the routine. I mean that's been--our hopes is just to keep the girls moving. It's like okay, daddy's president elect. Okay, we can get to school by 10 and we got to the school and the folks at the school were excited. Some people were cheering as we--I walk the kids to the class and I remember Melia saying, "That's embarrassing." But you know it was a pretty normal day for us.

>> Yeah. [ Crowd Cheering ]

>> And there have not been many of those. The past 2 years were spent on the campaign trail. And before that, senator Obama split his time between their home in Chicago where Michelle and the girls lived and this very modest apartment in Washington which nearly burned down.

>> Say, you've given up the apartment in Washington that you've stayed in?

>> No. I used to get teased not just by Michelle but by my own staff. They'd say you know, "You're the only senator who has a worse apartment than your 25-year-old staff people." Eventually I think secret service kinda looked at me like you know--

>> It's not [inaudible].

>> --once the building caught fire and the ceiling caved in, I said--

>> But he moved back in anyway--

>> For a while.

>> --after the fire.

>> Shortly.

>> Did you ever stay there?

>> I visited but I didn't sleep there.

>> She insists about a hotel room.

>> I saw it. I saw it long enough to know that I wasn't gonna stay there.

>> Yeah.

>> Is this one bedroom studio?

>> Yeah, it was sort of a one bedroom. It had kind of the vintage college dorm pizza--

>> Community organizer-- [ Simultaneous Talking ]

>> It reminded me of a little better version of the apartment we were in when we first started dating.

>> Yes, which was right near Harold's--right near Harold's Chicken Shack.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. That's when I have the car with the hole in it, yeah.

>> And you could see the sidewalk because they're rusted.

>> So an air conditioning.

>> So that was my side. I would look and see the ground going past and I still married him.

>> That's how I knew she loved me. [ Laughter ]

>> It wasn't for my money.

>> They got their first look at their new home last Monday when the president and Laura Bush invited the Obama's to the White House which has 130 more rooms than that old Washington apartment.

>> What was it like going through there?

>> Oh, first of all, Lauren Bush was just so gracious. She is a really sweet person and couldn't have been more excited and enthusiastic about the tour, so that was wonderful. And her entire team, their team has been working closely just to make us feel welcome. But the White House, it's beautiful. It is awe inspiring. It is--what I felt walking through there was that it is a great gift and an honor to be able to live here and you know, we wanna make sure that we're upholding what that house stands for, but I couldn't help but envisioning the girls running into their rooms and, you know, running down the hall and with a dog and, you know, you start picturing your life there and our hopes is that the White House will feel open and fun and full of life and energy--

>> Sleepovers.

>> --and sleepovers.

>> I know that from talking you've--and you've said that this has put a lot of Barack's involvement in politics has put strains in your marriage from time to time. He's about to take over the most pressure-packed job in the world, but he's also gonna be home, right?

>> Oh yeah. He's gonna be--He's got a big office at home now or he will have--

>> Home office.

>> Home office. You know this entire year and a half has brought us closer together as a family and we managed to stay close and become even closer with Barack gone most of an entire 2-year period, and now we get to be together under one roof having dinners together and I envision the kids coming home from school and being able to run across the way to the oval office and see their dad before they start their homework and having breakfast and he'll be there to tuck them in at night and, you know, again there'll be moments of deep seriousness and times of great focus, but you know we'll be together doing it and that--that gives me reason to be very excited.

>> Does your dad do this every weekend?

>> No, he used to.

>> But that's not the only thing that's about to change for the Obama's. When we first met them 2 years ago in Chicago, everything was much simpler.

>> Yeah, my grandfather, he prided himself on being the king of sandwich making.

>> I can remember the first time we went to your house. We were greeted at the door by the girls.

>> Yeah.

>> They were smaller then, couple of years younger, but that part certainly has to have changed. I mean you can't get in the car and drive wherever you want all over Chicago, right?

>> Yeah, I remember the first time we interviewed we just drove down right near your mom's house.

>> Oh, that's right. That's right, you did-- [ Simultaneous Talking ]

>> --your mother's house.

>> Yeah, that's a little harder to do then.

>> You told me that when you went off to Washington and made the decision to live there, when you came back to Chicago you had certain chores that you had to perform. You had to wash the dishes and make your bed. Are you free now on that front?

>> Well I--

>> Certainly there's gonna be somebody else to wash the dishes and make your bed.

>> Yes.

>> You know--

>> If you want to.

>> Sometimes it's soothing to wash the dishes.

>> Since when was it ever soothing for you to wash dishes?

>> You know when I had to do it I'd make it into a soothing thing.

>> The thing you have to remember, Steve, is that--you know the interesting part about this year is that it has slowly transitioned us into this. So, today doesn't feel as normal as it did yesterday if we compared it to the January before he announced. It would seem truly odd, but we have gradually, you know, had more and more changes and I think for us that's helped us get adjusted to it, so today isn't a shock.

>> One of the great joys this campaign is that seeing how the girls have adjusted to this thing. They have stayed their normal cheerful, happy, courteous, curious selves and that was one of my biggest worries and remains one of my biggest worries. When we think about--I know Michelle and I have talked about this a lot. How do we just maintain that precious normalcy in our 2 girls and, you know, 'cause right now they're not self conscious, they're--you know, they don't have an attitude and I think one of our highest priorities over the next 4 years is retaining that. If at the end of 4 years just for my personal standpoint we can say they are who they are, they remain the great joys that they are and this hasn't created a whole bunch of problems for them, then I think we're gonna feel pretty good.

>> How was your life changed in the last 10 days?

>> You know, it's calmed down a bit. I mean we're back into more of a routine.

>> There's still some things we're not adjusted to.

>> Like what?

>> Like--

>> What do you want? What--

>> Me not being able to take a walk.

>> Oh well, you know.

>> No, I have the--I mean those are things that--

>> I don't walk as much as he does, so I guess I don't miss it.

>> Yeah, I mean--

>> Do you wanna go for a walk?

>> I do, I'd love to take you for a walk although it's cold today but--

>> Yeah, I wouldn't go with you.

>> I know. But that's something that I don't think I'll ever get used to. I mean the loss of anonymity, and this is not a complaint, this is part of what you've signed up for, but being able to just wander around the neighborhood, I can't go to my old barbershop now. I've gotta have my barber come to some undisclosed location to cut my hair. You know, the small routines of life that keep you connected, I think, some of those are being lost. One of the challenges I think that we're going to be wrestling, well, it's how to stay pretty normal because--we said this before the campaign and I believe this, I actually think that we are as close to what normal folks go through and what their lives are like as just anybody who's been elected president recently. Hanging on to that is something that's important. Michelle helps on that because she's just a sensible person.

>> I know you've said that your first priority is to be mom in chief?

>> Yeah.

>> You're a Harvard law school graduate yourself and a Princeton grad, you were a high powered executive. How long do you give her knocking around that big house before she starts to put an imprint on the job of being first lady?

>> I think Michelle is gonna design her own role. I think she's gonna set her own path. But here's one thing I know about Michelle. She's serious when she talks about being a mom. That's why our girls are so wonderful. I'd love to take credit for it but this is the one who deserves most of the credit and--

>> Well, the thing we've learned as we've watched this campaign is that people, women are capable of doing more than one thing well at the same time and I've, you know, had to juggle being mom in chief and having a career for a long time. The primary focus for the first year will be making sure that the kids make it through the transition, but there are many issues that I care deeply about. I care about military families and the work family balance issue. I care about education. Both Barack and I believe that we can have an impact in the DC area, you know, in terms of making sure we're contributing to the community that we immediately live in. That's always been something that we tried to do whether it's on our own neighborhoods or in the schools that we've attended. So there's plenty to do.

>> Did you seriously consider sending the girls to public school?

>> You know, we're still in the process of figuring out that transition and what we have asked people to understand is that the decision that we make will be based on the best interest of the girls. We haven't made that decision yet. We want that to be a personal process so--and the people have been really good about respecting that.

>> Who else will be moving into the White House with them? That part of the story, in a moment. ^M00:14:49 [ Ticking Sound ]