Michelle Obama by David Colbert Page A

of different backgrounds. Being the boss, she was able to do that in her own way, which didn't emphasize being nice or politically correct. "Real change," she explained to the
New York Times,
"comes from having enough comfort to be really honest and say something very uncomfortable."
    Michelle stayed at Public Allies for four years. The Chicago office became the strongest in the country.
Michelle had built a board of advisers who could carry it into the future and raised funds so successfully that she left behind enough money to run the office for a year. A dozen years later, no other director has matched that. As Public Allies's Paul Schmitz said, "She built it to last."
    Her own future, however, had become much less certain. While she was at Public Allies, Barack was frustrated by his own career. Although he was at a law firm that handled a lot of community service work, his cases hadn't led to the sweeping changes he hoped to achieve. He had decided it wasn't enough to ask judges to interpret the law his way. He wanted to write the laws in the first place. That meant he had to run for political office.

8. BRINGING UP BARACK
    Barack wanted to begin his political career by running for the Illinois State Senate. It was 1995, and he was about to turn thirty-four. Michelle was thirty-one and eager to have children. Barack's decision scared her. She knew it would take a lot of his time. Also, the capital of Illinois is Springfield, which can be a three-hour trip from Chicago. She'd be left home alone when he had stretches of business in the capital. Going into politics would also mean Barack would give up the possibility of a good salary at his law firm. By now, Michelle was used to Barack's lack of interest in money, but she still knew they would need it to raise children comfortably.
    In the end, however, she supported him. She wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but she knew from how hard he worked to convince her that it was the thing he wanted.
    Barack ran in a district that was safe for a Democrat. The person who was giving up the position, Alice Palmer, was leaving only because she wanted to run for the U.S. Congress. After winning the election in November 1996, Barack was sworn in with the rest of the Senate in January 1997.
    His political career had begun. With it, problems had also begun for Michelle and for their marriage.
INVISIBLE MAN
    When Barack was in the Illinois State Senate, the Democratic Party was in the minority. Barack did not have the influence on public policy that he had hoped to have. Being a first-year senator, he had little influence even within the Democratic Party. It was frustrating.
    Michelle had just started a new job herself, at the University of Chicago. Her presence there was a sign of how far the city had come. When she was growing up, the university, despite being just a few blocks from her home, was a separate world. It didn't seem to notice the community around it. "I grew up five minutes from the university and never once went on campus," she recalled to reporter Holly Yeager. "All the buildings have their backs to the community. The university didn't think kids like me existed, and I certainly didn't want anything to do with that place." But the university wanted to change. By this time, Michelle's work for Public Allies had made her known throughout the city. The university wanted her, badly. It created a new position for her: associate dean of student services and director of the university community service center. Her job was to encourage students to volunteer in the community, and to show them how to do it. Once again, she was inside an institution that had contributed to conflict in Chicago when she was growing up, and she was helping to change it.
    As always, Michelle was determined to do a good job. Although she supported Barack's political ambitions, she could not give him all her time or attention. If anything, Michelle had to demand more of these things from