Barack Obama says won't take position in Biden's cabinet, quips 'Michelle would leave me'

The former US president Barack Obama recently revealed that he would not take a position in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet because he fears his wife, Michelle Obama would leave him. In recent days, Obama has done a series of interviews timed to the release of the first volume of his memoir, “A Promised Land,” which will be available November 17. In an interview to promote his memoir, the 44th President made the remark and made it clear that he has no plans to take a position in Biden’s cabinet. 

While speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, Obama was asked what advice he might have for his one-time vice president, Biden. He said that the 46th President-elect doesn’t need his advice and added that he will, however, help him in any way that he can. Obama also said that he is not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff. 

The interviewer Gayle King then jokingly pressed him and his response was clear cut. Obama said that there are somethings he would not be doing because Michelle would leave him. He added, “She’d be like, what? You’re doing what?” 

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Meanwhile, Biden, who has worked under Obama from 2009-2007, is preparing to become the 46th president in January. The Obamas, on the other hand, already have enough to occupy their time as it is, not least through establishing a charitable foundation and fulfilling a production deal with Netflix. As mentioned above, Obama is also set to release his new memoir in the coming days. 

Obama’s book revolves around the 44th President's childhood and political rise, before diving into his historic campaign and first four years in the White House. In the book, the country’s first Black President also confronts the racist politics of Trump, suggesting his 2008 election opened a wave of bitter and divisive turmoil that furled Republican’s obstructionism and ultimately changed the party. 

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Obama backs Biden’s active campaigning 

In the same interview, Obama also backed his active campaigning of Democrat Joe Biden, his former US vice president. He also said that the circumstances in the nation warranted his public criticism of his successor, something that former US presidents usually refrain from doing. 

“It is not my preference to be out there," Obama said. “I think we were in a circumstance in this election in which certain norms, certain institutional values that are so extraordinarily important, had been breached. That it was important for me, as somebody who had served in that office, to simply let people know, ‘This is not normal.’”

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