After a day of touring through Indiana — kissing babies, shaking hands, signing autographs — Michelle Obama, still enthusiastic and upbeat, triumphantly strode into a small room in the basement of Reardon Auditorium. For five minutes, The Herald Bulletin got to know the wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

THB: What is it like to be the wife of a candidate on the trail?

I still see myself as me. So it’s like asking what it’s like to be you, and when I’m on the road and in the campaign, I’m very focused and passionate and I’m thinking about the things that move me, and what I’m trying to communicate.

And then when I leave and I go home, that’s it. I’m Mom. And I’m working on playdates and I’m trying to figure out what to do with (the kids) because they don’t have school on this Friday and I have to travel again.

I’m just wearing a lot of hats. In the end, I’m really thinking about this as a citizen and a mother. What do I want to see in the next leader? And how do I communicate how I feel about Barack and what it is I think is unique about him that I think people really have to know as they make their choices? As you heard, a lot of what I talk about is our upbringing and character and choices because I think that, you know, that’s what the difference is in this race.

THB: You talk about what you feel about the past. What about the future? When you are first lady, what kind of issues are you going to bring out?

I tend to talk about the issues that I’m currently dealing with, and that’s this balance. This family balance that I tend to hear from a lot of women that are struggling with the same things I am.

It’s like, how do you cobble together a career that many people have to have now? How do you do that and still maintain your sanity, and raise your kids and spend the time you need when you’re commuting all the time and you don’t have health care?

And if I’m struggling with it, personally, as a mother, help is around and with resources, I know that most women who don’t have those support systems aren’t managing. It’s taking an emotional and psychological toll on folks, and we have to talk about those issues differently than we have before.

We’ve talked about it in terms of women can and should be doing it all, but we can’t, and we shouldn’t be doing it all. So what do we replace those informal support structures that used to be there — when folks lived in their communities, and they lived across the street from aunts and uncles, and folks just pitched in; when you had jobs in the same neighborhood and you weren’t commuting for hours — and what do you replace those informal support structures with to ensure the family isn’t falling apart in the midst of all this turmoil? What uniquely do women need to make these transitions a little easier?

So those are the kinds of things I want to bring voice to in the role, if I’m so honored to be there.

THB: You’re in a difficult spot because you’re married to Barack, but you’re in favor of women’s issues, too, and Hillary Clinton could be the first woman president.

I don’t see it like that.

I’m looking at the candidates in this race, and there’s no question in my mind, particularly after watching this year, that Barack is the person that we need right now.

There is no sort of doubt or hesitation or feeling that a vote for Barack would be a vote against the issues of women. We need a candidate who’s going to represent all the people, who’s going to have the kind of passion, who’s going to bring a different voice to the table.

As I see this thing, politics is a game that’s been played the same way. If we bring the same people in who’ve been playing the game the same way, then we’re not going to see the results that we need.

We need somebody who’s going to change the game completely, who’s going to think differently about the problems that face folks who bring different skills and values and experiences in life that affect the way we view ourselves and the world, we view one another.

Those are the conversations that are far more important to me than a gender or race of a candidate. That’s where Barack is different — because there are no doubts in my mind. There’s no struggle or tension for me in this race as a woman.

THB: Both you and Barack were raised in somewhat larger, more populated areas. What would you say to somebody who’s in a small town as to how you’re going to represent them and their needs?

Barack and I grew up in cities, but we still lived in cities that were in states. Barack has been the state senator of Illinois, which is a very complicated, diverse state. It’s got a big city, but the vast majority of the state is rural and it’s farm country.

Barack understands those issues and has been representing folks throughout our state as a state senator, as a U.S. senator, so I’m confident.

What we see as we travel around this state is that some of the specific issues are different. How job loss is affecting small towns may be a bit different than what’s happening in big cities. But in certain communities, like in the far southside (of Chicago, where Michelle Obama is from), where steel mills were a huge part of what led to employment in those areas, those jobs are being replaced, and those folks aren’t being moved to other companies in the city.

The pains and challenges are similar. We’re still talking about the need for job creation.

Health care is universal. The problems that face people with health care don’t differ if you live in a city or in a small town. Universal health care is something that we all need because we can’t continue to count on a health care system that can’t sustain itself. We’ve got folks who are turning to the emergency room or they’re ignoring their health conditions completely, and I know this because I work in a hospital, in an underserved community.

And we see folks who should be seeing doctors sitting in the ER, which is costing the entire system more money. That’s happening in small towns all over the place, except they probably don’t even have access to an emergency room because of the distance.

Barack understands these issues. You don’t have to live in a place to know what’s going on. The question is what’s in his heart? Where do his interests and loyalties lie? The balance has shifted, and regular folks are struggling every day in ways that they shouldn’t be. And that’s the kind of fight he wants to fight when he gets to the White House.