Michelle Obama is being tipped to follow in her husband footsteps and run as the Democrat candidate in the 2020 US presidential race.
Despite her repeated denials that she has any political ambitions, highly placed Washington insiders believe Mrs Obama’s sky-high approval ratings with voters will prompt senior Democrats to urge her to reconsider.
It follows the huge success of her memoir Becoming, which has topped the bestseller lists since it was published in November. Polls also regularly rate her more popular than Donald Trump.
Her husband Barack’s rise to become America’s first black President began in 2006 with the publication of his book The Audacity Of Hope, followed the next year by his decision to run for the White House.
Pundits say an attempt by Mrs Obama to become America’s first female President could prove more than a match for Mr Trump.
Rumours of another Obama presidential bid intensified when Mike Huckabee, who failed to clinch the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, endorsed a prediction on his website.
‘Now that Michelle Obama has been named “Most Admired Woman” for 2018, it’s time for me to make a prediction for 2019: the former First Lady will toss her hat in the ring for 2020, and she will get her party’s nomination,’ it said.
‘Her PR machine, which has quietly percolated ever since Hillary lost, went full-tilt in September with the November 13 release of her book, Becoming. (One might ask, “Becoming what?” I say, “Becoming a presidential nominee.”)’
But such a move would contradict her memoir, in which she writes: ‘I’ve never been a fan of politics, and my experience over the last ten years has done little to change that.’
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