Michelle Obama on ABC's The View - Some Notes and Quotes

Give this woman a talk show of her own.

Michelle Obama was smart to ask for a one-day host spot on ABC's The View instead of simply being a guest. It meant she could sit at the table with the the women and - in an extended version of their regular "Hot Topics" discussion - spend over 30 minutes answering questions, sharing her opinions, and letting us see who she is.

She was poised, comfortable, funny, and honest, and I doubt that anyone watching came away with anything less than a positive impression of her.

Here's a handful of observations and quotes from her appearance - some substantive, some offbeat:

• Michelle shared Barack's advice about being on The View: "Be good."
• Whoopi Goldberg asked about diversity training. Leaning into Michelle, she said, "Folks of our age were the first to be thrust among white folks to talk about diversity." Michelle's response: "The beauty of this show is that this is diverse....You can't have discussions about diversity where I am the only diverse person."
• Joy Behar asked Michelle for her opinion on Hillary Clinton and sexism during the campaign. Did she feel it was there? "Yes, there's always a level of sexism...people aren't used to strong women, "Michelle answered. "We don't even know how to talk about them." She added that Hillary Clinton said she created 18 million cracks on a ceiling, and it's only when women like her step out and take the hits that others like Michelle's daughters will find the impact of sexism lessened.
• Barbara Walters doubted she'd get an answer to her question, but she asked it anyway: Should Hillary be Obama's running mate? Michelle responded, "My answer to this is - the one thing a nominee earns is the right to pick a vice President that best reflects the country. I'm just glad I'm not involved in it."

• Michelle's been put out there as a fashion icon. How does she handle the expectations of looking good? "That's the hard part. Barack puts on his suit and walks out the door...." and Michelle says she spends a lot more time on hair, makeup, what she'll wear, and getting the girls ready as well. She admitted, "It's fun to look pretty...I do a little bit of everything I have some high end stuff," and revealed something that many have been asking about - does she work with a stylist? "I work with a designer in Chicago, Maria Pinto."
• Whoopi on Michelle's positive image as a successful black woman: "Any time you see black folks on the news, they have no teeth. The teeth that they have have gold around them.... you're helping to change a perception....I just want to say thanks."
• Barbara Walters asked Michelle her thoughts on pantyhose (no joke); she told a story about attending an event bare-legged, and being called out on it. Michelle: "I stopped wearing pantyhose a long time ago because they're painful and they ripped. I'm 5'11", and nothing fits me."
• Michelle on balancing family with the stresses of a presidential campaign: "What Barack and I said when he first started this run, we would try to keep our lives as normal as we can for as long as we can...as much as people talk about my role in the campaign trail, I'm home much of the time."
• Whoopi on a recent Obama speech: "Your husband gave one of the greatest father's day speeches of all time, " calling on the black community to step forward and be involved. Michelle stressed government involvement and parental accountability. "He's talked about that before," she pointed out, adding, "It's connected to Barack's own experience....The thing that touches me about that speech is when he says 'The greatest gift I can give is to not be like my father.'" She described her own childhood with an involved father and a mother at home for the children. "Families can look like a whole bunch of things, but kids need that model."
• Michelle's response to the question, "When your husband first said, 'I want to be president,' what did you say?" was remarkably candid: "No, I said Please don't do this... Politics is a bad business. This man was sweet and pathetic...." but she came around in time, explaining, "For this race, it's me taking this selfish hat off. I think about the sacrifice that we have to make, the girls have to make. Once I started thinking about being a mom and a citizen and the kind of President I would like," that's what changed her mind. Michelle acknowledged the loss of privacy is a challenge, and that in local politics, "they don't scrutinize family as much as they do in this race."
• Does Barack take out the garbage? "Mmmm" Michelle commmented.
• When guest Matthew Broderick talked about his young son's impressions of the presidential campaign and said, "He likes for the man to beat the lady," Michelle twisted her face up and mouthed something to the camera, apparently disowning that comment.
• When Matthew commented on how his son likes Obama, Michelle said, "Kids are drawn to Barack. Maybe because his name is easy to say. Some kids call him Baracko Bama."
• When Barbara Walters and Elizabeth Hasselbeck brought up gambling and how they stick to the quarter slot machines, Michelle announced, "My mom has won $17,000 in the slots...It was from the quarter machines."
• In a segment on breakfast: "My protein is bacon. We're bacon people."