All of the late night comedy shows taped their Tuesday episodes before the polls closed on Election Day, so that meant that CBS’s Stephen Colbert had plenty of time to talk with former First Lady Michelle Obama on The Late Show about her new book on fashion. While gushing over the fashion choices of a former first lady may seem like an odd choice for a comedy show, it was somehow worse than that, as the duo hyped the idea that Obama’s sense of fashion allowed her to get ahead of her allegedly racist critics.
Colbert described the book thusly: “It is called The Look. It is about your style and the soft power of fashion. And, you know, American culture as a part of our soft power. And fashion is a part of our culture.”
He then asked, “How did you wield it?”
At first, Obama replied, “Ooh, carefully, thoughtfully, strategically.”
Colbert sought a more elaborate answer, “When did you realize that it was something to wield? That it actually was a power?”
Obama never explicitly called her critics racist, but it was clearly implied as she answered:
I think right away. I mean, the campaign was beautiful, but, you know, I felt the politics of it fast. I learned a lot of lessons about what I had to look out for. And how quickly people were willing to take my story and distort it. So, I knew very quickly that I had to control every aspect of how I showed up in the world. It was a race to let the country learn me for me before they learn this other crazy woman that they were talking about, the angry bitter black woman that was a terrorist and a danger to her country, and didn’t love her country. And how I showed up in the world played a huge role in just reminding people that we're normal people. Yes, we’re black. But we bleed red, and we love red, white, and blue. And a lot of that went into thinking strategically about how I showed up every day.
If Obama tried to use her sense of fashion as a political asset, over the years she has had a willing partner in the country’s news media, which has constantly helped the Obamas perpetuate the fiction that their critics simply don’t like seeing black people in power.
Here is a transcript for the November 4 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
11/4/2025
11:56 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: It is called The Look. It is about your style and the soft power of fashion.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Yeah.
COLBERT: And, you know, American culture as a part of our soft power. And fashion is a part of our culture. How did you wield it?
OBAMA: Ooh, carefully, thoughtfully, strategically.
COLBERT: When did you realize that it was something to wield? That it actually was a power?
OBAMA: I think right away. I mean, the campaign was beautiful, but, you know, I felt the politics of it fast. I learned a lot of lessons about what I had to look out for. And how quickly people were willing to take my story and distort it. So, I knew very quickly that I had to control every aspect of how I showed up in the world. It was a race to let the country learn me for me before they learn this other crazy woman that they were talking about, the angry bitter black woman that was a terrorist and a danger to her country, and didn’t love her country. And how I showed up in the world played a huge role in just reminding people that we're normal people. Yes, we’re black. But we bleed red, and we love red, white, and blue. And a lot of that went into thinking strategically about how I showed up every day.
