WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama is challenging assertions she's forcefully imposed her will on White House aides and says people have inaccurately tried to portray her as "some kind of angry black woman."
Mrs. Obama told CBS News she hasn't read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often drew her into conflict with President Obama's top advisers.
"I never read these books," she told CBS's Gayle King in an interview broadcast Wednesday. "So I've just gotten in the habit of not reading other people's impressions of people."
In the book, Mrs. Obama is said to have occasionally bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life in the White House.
In the interview, Mrs. Obama said, "I love this job. It has been a privilege from day one."
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"Now there are challenges," she added. "If there's any anxiety that I feel, it's because I want to make sure that my girls (Malia and Sasha) come out of this on the other end whole."
The Kantor book portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs. The book, titled "The Obamas," describes Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House, while labeling her an "unrecognized force" in pursuing the president's goals.
Neither the president nor his wife agreed to be interviewed for the book.
