In this chapter, Michelle continues to chronicle Barack’s presidential campaign. She states that part of the campaign process included a critical analysis of the presidential candidates to see which candidate had the vigor to sustain a race both as a leader and as the nation’s symbol. Barack’s life was analyzed, scanned and rescanned. His history, social associations, tax returns, and professional choices were all under scrutiny (Obama 227). On the other hand, Michelle states that she had spent the last decade trying to balance between work and family, however, the “axis had shifted” (Obama 228). The author was trying to “balance parenting with something altogether different and more confusing-politics, America, Barack’s quest to do something important” (Obama 228). At some point, Michelle had to take a leave of absence from her work to support her husband and this completely transformed their life.  During the course of the campaign, Michele states that their days had become so planned that they would watch their privacy and autonomy slowly slipping away. Nonetheless, both Michelle and the children had learned to live their lives “more publicly, accepting the reality for what it was” (Obama 230).

The author states that unlike Barack, who was familiar with politics, Michelle was still “learning about public life” (Obama 231). What other people said mattered, and for that reason, she tried to avoid bullies. Confirming Michelle’s fears, someone had edited both Milwaukee and Madison speeches she had delivered earlier in the day down to a fourteen-line sentence “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country” (Obama 232). She was immediately condemned, and she worried that she had sunk Barack’s chances of winning. She was frequently labeled as an “angry” black woman, an alien who had published a paper on race and identity in language that could not be read. Michelle was hurting, and all she could do was blame Barack for putting her in that position.