Michelle Obama's rebuttal: I'm not 'some angry black woman'

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

The video: On Wednesday morning, CBS News aired a taped interview with Michelle Obama in which the first lady took issue with the unflattering portrayal of her in New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's "explosive" new book, The Obamas. (Watch the clip below.) The first lady, who told CBS' Gayle King that she hasn't read the book, denied allegations that she clashed with former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary Robert Gibbs, and tried to bully her way into West Wing business. "'I guess it's just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here," she said. "That's been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced [his presidential bid], that I'm some kind of angry black woman."

The reaction: I applaud Mrs. Obama for taking a stand, says Judith Howard Ellis at The Washington Post. "African American women often are portrayed as walking volcanoes, ready to spew on the nearest human rock. Enough. Black women, and all women, for that matter, are entitled to be authentic and upfront." C'mon, says Don Surber at the Charleston, W.V., Daily Mail. The first lady simply proved that she's a "person who, when cornered, tosses out the race card." Ugh, says RT.com. No wonder Mrs. Obama is "annoyed" with the media. Too many writers wrongly portray the first lady as some "power-hungry force" who rules the White House like a "tyrant." Enough already. Watch Mrs. Obama's rebuttal: