now just before the first lady took off
for eastern europe i had the opportunity
to speak to her about some pretty heavy
topics like political attacks on her
family and how she is breaking ground by
keeping her job outside the white house
take a
listen you and the the president are the
first example that i can remember i'm
sure somebody will fact check me on that
of a blended family a blended first
family
uh do you do you think of yourself as
setting an example for the american
people in that way
you know it just happened so naturally
and i think uh
really when joe and i married i mean we
you know our first date i think joe and
i went out together every date after
that it was the four of us and we went
to the movies to dinner on vacation we
got married together
so uh you know it was the four of us so
it just was a natural progression and
you know simone all it takes is love all
it takes is love all takes his life all
it takes is love you are a known as a
fierce defender of your family dr biden
i can vividly remember many times on the
campaign trail where you physically
blocked someone from coming up to your
husband yes i remember a day where i
jumped on the stage with you but you had
already done half the work for me i just
carried them off afterwards i i wonder
how you handle the very personal attacks
on your family in a when it feels like
in a political climate where there seems
to be nothing off limits
well i have to say you know i've been a
political spouse for
gosh over 40 years now and
it never gets easier
you know when you hear someone attacking
your husband or when you for me you know
someone attacking my children
it's never easy it always hurts you know
you think you're going to get stronger
and tougher but when it's your kids
forget it all right dr biden the first
lady of the united states of america and
the teacher you are actively teaching
right now correct yes i believe you are
the first first lady to have a job
outside of the white house
um this is something you did a second
lady as well and a little birdie told me
that when you became the second lady and
you said that you wanted to continue to
teach um someone said oh well first
ladies do not do that obviously you went
on to teach why was teaching so
important to you that you would not take
no for an answer because it's what i did
my whole life it's my career it's what i
love it's my profession and i you know i
told joe when we were elected
when he was elected as vp i said i'm
going to continue to teach and my staff
said you can't do that you can't do that
and i said yes i can
and i will and i did and i did it all
through i mean it's gosh going on 30
some years now that i've been teaching
and then when we were elected when joe
was elected as president
i said the same thing joe when we go in
there i'm going to teach was it even a
question this time around well i think
it was you know well this is a little
bit bigger platform i don't know but
then you know he joe supports me and um
so
i just walked in there and uh and i love
that my students you know treat me as dr
b we never mention politics we don't
talk about the white house i never say
first lady and
that's the joy of the job for me that
they treat me as their english teacher
and
and i love that i i i think it's
fascinating that you were in the
classroom right now and i have heard
from a lot of teachers actually who were
excited about this interview and i'm
wondering what your messages to teachers
right now many of them feel attacked in
this current climate they are navigating
various issues in the classroom and i'm
wondering what's your message to them
right now what would you tell them i
would say that we really celebrate
teachers because look what they did
through the pandemic
you know they did so i mean they taught
in a day you know learned how to do zoom
and they delivered lunches and and they
helped kids and parents with you know
working computers
and we just had teachers of the year at
the white house so
i just i mean i think teachers are
amazing in what they do and how they
connect with kids and now especially i
think with so many kids experiencing
depression and mental illness and
trying to find their social skills again
you know teachers are invaluable because
i'll tell you simone they trust us and
you know they look to us for answers and
a lot of times they may not have someone
to go home to
but we listen to them and help them find
solutions whether it's about life or
whether it's about um
what's going on in the classroom i want
to ask you about your legacy
because i think i know you pretty well
dr biden and i do not think that you
wake up every morning thinking okay how
am i going to build a legacy today no i
don't think you do that but whether you
are trying to or not you are creating a
legacy i think about um other former
first ladies like secretary clinton as
first lady she went to beijing and
declared that women's rights are human
rights uh
laura bush as first lady she championed
literacy literacy yeah what do you want
people to remember about you i don't
know i think maybe um
maybe that i was
independent that i am a working woman
that i'm a teacher and that my career my
independence
was
very is very important to me but not at
the cost of being first lady so
i try very hard to create a balance and
i try to hopefully do my first lady job
well and hopefully do my job this doctor
be well but you know simone as women i
mean we just working moms we have to
figure it out and
every day you figure out how to get
those lunches packed and how to you know
get the books bagged and how to get the
kids up so
we figure it out i think there are a lot
of
young women especially who in hearing
you say that will feel
inspired and i think a lot of mothers
that will just take a sigh of relief and
say okay yes she gets it
growing up i often heard that you you
can't really have it all you got to
choose but i think some people could
look at you and say well maybe you can't
have it all or just or look like it
doesn't mean you have to do everything
perfectly all the time you know some
days are better than others but i think
you know if you give yourself that that
space and and that grace and say well
maybe i can do better tomorrow because
you do have those days that you question
yourself you know did i do this right
for my kids did i say the right thing
did i hurt their feelings
but um you know it all comes back if you
have
love in your heart for your kids you
know and they know that i mean my kids i
feel supported me
every step of the way and that was so
important to me
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you