The Saturday edition of Good Morning America on ABC previewed an upcoming 20/20 interview with former First Lady Michelle Obama. If the preview is anything to go buy, it is more of a fan experience for Robin Roberts than an actual interview as she hyped “the saying she made famous.”
Host Janai Norman set the table, “Now to an ABC News exclusive. Our Robin Roberts sitting down with Michelle Obama for a 20/20 primetime special. The former first lady about to release her new book, The Light We Carry, and first on GMA we have a sneak peek of their conversation where Ms. Obama talks about the motto that became her rallying cry. Check it out.”
In the clip, Roberts not only echoed those sentiments, she took the fawning to another level, “For nearly two decades the world has watched Michele Obama campaign for her husband, make history as the first black family in the White House and motivate many through the saying she made famous.”
A clip of Obama at the 2016 DNC was then shown of Obama declaring, “Our motto is, when they go low, we go high.”
The idea of taking the high road is not at all an original thought nor does it acknowledge the fact that for eight years, critics of her husband’s policies were branded as racists by people that include the current president of the United States.
Roberts ignored all of that to ask, “You devote an entire chapter on something that's become your motto. When they go low, we go high. Why did you think it was important to spend that much time talking about it?”
Obama eagerly accepted the praise, “Because everybody asks me that and it is probably one of the biggest cup holder, quotes on a t-shirt. I hear it on TV as “Michelle Obama said ‘when they go low—’”
A montage of clips from various TV shows and social media were then shown of people repeating the line or the sentiment behind it. After that was finished, Obama added:
And in the letters that I get people are asking, especially in these times, how do you stay high when it feels like the world is in a low place? Do we still go high? And so I take a moment to address what I always mean by going high. That going high is not a motto. It is an action plan. It is not passive. It doesn't mean you sit on the sidelines and accept what is.
But you have to turn your rage into reason. Change doesn't happen on just emotion alone. So going high means having a plan, being strategic and so, yes, we must always go high.
Maybe one day Democrats will actually do that, but that day will probably be the same as when Roberts asks real questions.
This segment was sponsored by Discover.
Here is a transcript for the November 12 show:
ABC Good Morning America
11/12/2022
9:10 AM ET
JANAI NORMAN: Now to an ABC News exclusive. Our Robin Roberts sitting down with Michelle Obama for a 20/20 primetime special. The former first lady about to release her new book, The Light We Carry, and first on GMA we have a sneak peek of their conversation where Ms. Obama talks about the motto that became her rallying cry. Check it out.
ROBIN ROBERTS: For nearly two decades the world has watched Michele Obama campaign for her husband, make history as the first black family in the White House and motivate many through the saying she made famous.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Our motto is, when they go low, we go high.
ROBERTS: Mrs. Obama sharing the meaning behind her rallying cry in her new book, The Light We Carry.
You devote an entire chapter on something that's become your motto. When they go low, we go high. Why did you think it was important to spend that much time talking about it?
OBAMA: Because everybody asks me that and it is probably one of the biggest cup holder, quotes on a t-shirt. I hear it on TV as “Michelle Obama said ‘when they go low—‘”
GROWN-ISH CHARACTER: When he goes low, I'll go high.
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY CHARACTER 1: If we stoop to their level we are no better than they are. They go low, we go high.
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY CHARACTER 2: Yeah, eyes, nose, throat.
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY CHARACTER 1: No.
YOUNG GIRL: Our motto is when they go low, we go high.
OBAMA: And in the letters that I get people are asking, especially in these times, how do you stay high when it feels like the world is in a low place? Do we still go high? And so I take a moment to address what I always mean by going high. That going high is not a motto. It is an action plan. It is not passive. It doesn't mean you sit on the sidelines and accept what is.
But you have to turn your rage into reason. Change doesn't happen on just emotion alone. So going high means having a plan, being strategic and so, yes, we must always go high.
NORMAN: Turn that rage into reason. We all like that. The 20/20 primetime special Michelle Obama: The Light We Carry airs Sunday, 10:00, 9:00 central right here on ABC. Loved her first book Becoming, she writes about growing up in Chicago.
