Why Michelle Obama Does Not Want To Be The Next US President

Former first lady Michelle Obama said she won’t ever run for office, speaking at the the American Institute of Architects' annual convention in Orlando Thursday.

She said during her speech that she "wouldn't ask [her] children to do this again," according to CNN.

The speech in Orlando was the former first lady's first public appearance since leaving the White House.

"It's good to get out of the house," she said referring to her presence at the event, according to CNN. "So far so good –– it hasn't been that long since we left ... it's good to not have the weight of the world upon your shoulders,” the former first lady continued.

Michelle said in her speech she would prefer helping the country as a private citizen rather than run for public office. She said she would also like to continue to focus on working for young girls and women facing challenges with healthcare, violence, education and income inequality.

“It’s all well and good until you start running, and then the knives come out,” she during her speech, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “Politics is tough, and it’s hard on a family. I wouldn’t ask my children to do this again because, when you run for higher office, it’s not just you, it’s your whole family.”

She mentioned to the audience that leaving the White House was difficult for her and her family because her daughters grew up there and it was the place she had lived the longest in her whole life.

The former first lady said her daughters, Sasha and Malia, shed tears as they left the White House in January.

However, Michelle has always made it clear she wouldn’t want to run for office. “No,” she had said last year when she was questioned by Oprah Winfrey if she’d run for office.

“Look, that’s one thing I don’t do: I don’t make stuff up. I’m not coy ... I’m pretty direct. If I were interested in it, I’d say it. I don’t believe in playing games.”

She also mentioned her children and how running for office would affect their lives.

“What people don’t understand is that you run, their lives stop at any age. The next family that comes in here, every person in that family ― every child, every grandchild ― their lives will be turned upside-down in a way that no American really understands. And it’s not for us to complain about it, so you don’t hear complaints. But it is a truth, an actuality, that there is a weight to it.”

Barack Obama said during a joint interview on “The View” in 2012 that the then-first lady, Michelle would make a “terrific” president, but also said jokingly that she might not be appropriate for the job “temperamentally.”

“No, it’s absolutely true,” Michelle then said during the same interview. “It takes a lot of patience to be the president of the United States. I’m not that patient.”

Both Michelle and her husband Barack Obama made their first public appearances this week since leaving the White House. When Barack’s presidency was over and the former first family had to leave, Michelle had an approval rating of 68 percent, which was 10 points higher than that of the former president.