First lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that people are "growing to understand" just how much better off the country is now than it was four years ago.
"We're growing to understand just how much we’ve accomplished," the first lady said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer set to air Thursday evening on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”
The first lady, making the media rounds to coincide with the president's speech to the Democratic National Convention, also spoke to CBS News for an interview airing Thursday evening on "CBS Evening News."
"This country is in a much better place than it was when he took office," she told CBS's Scott Pelley. Unlike most of Obama's senior advisers, who have cautioned the race will be tight up until election day, she said there is "absolutely not" a chance her husband won't win re-election.
Republicans are arguing that voters should ask themselves if they are truly "better off" than when President Obama took office four years ago, betting that most Americans think the answer is no. In recent days, Democrats have been grilled on their answers to the same question. Obama's campaign says "absolutely," but Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley (Md.) over the weekend said "no." O'Malley's stumble, combined with Obama grading his performance in office as "incomplete," has given the Republican presidential ticket further ammunition to say the country needs a "turnaround."
“President Obama can tell you a lot, and he’s good at doing that, but he cannot tell you that you’re better off," GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said at a campaign stop in Ohio on Tuesday. “You really can’t look at the data, the suffering family, or the jobs losses … and honestly say we’re better off than we were four years ago.”
Former President Clinton directly confronted the question in his speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, defending Obama's performance in office.
"Are we where we want to be?” Clinton asked. “No. Is the president satisfied? Of course not. But are we better off than we were when he took office with an economy in free-fall, losing 750,000 jobs a month? The answer is yes.”
Asked if she wished Democrats would address the "better off" question as strongly as Clinton did, Michelle Obama told ABC: "I think that they are."
The first lady went on to list some of the accomplishments she said she touts "nearly every day when I go out on the campaign trail."
"He ended two wars, our economy was on the brink of collapse, we're now consistently creating jobs," she said. "Our grandparents can afford their medicine, our kids can stay on our health care until they’re 26 years old. I could go on and on and on."
Updated at 5:48 p.m.
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