what you see later in the presidency is her being honest about her views in big new ambitious way. it had the feeling of michelle obama saying in public what she said in private which i think was not always true. she plugged into something so deep and transformative for her, it became transformative for millions of americans. her passion was her platform. she spoke openly about civil rights and issues of racism. no longer can we be barred from university or hotel or arrested for sitting at front of the bus or forced to use a separate bathroom or water fountain because of the color of our skin. ishows a level of courage ifou re african-american person in public life, a lot of people tell you, lay off the black stuff, makes people uncomfortable, don t talk about civil rights, don t mention slavery.