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Michelle Obama: politics tough, but 'Dad is always going to be Dad'

First Lady Michelle Obama discusses family life, the need for her daughters to have thick skin and her advocacy for American families to eat right and exercise during interviews to promote her new book on the White House garden.

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Ida Mae Astute/ABC/AP
Michelle Obama discusses her daughters, the re-election campaign and her advocacy work on various talk shows this week while promoting her new book on White House gardens. Here, the first lady talks with Brooklyn students and host Robin Roberts on ABC's "Good Morning America," on May 29, 2012 in New York.
  • By The Associated Press

| Washington

Michelle Obama says her daughters are learning that even the kids of politicians have to have a thick skin.

"Politics is tough," the first lady said Tuesday. "That's just sort of the nature of the beast."

But she said daughters Sasha and Malia, at ages 10 and 13, also know that no matter what happens in the November election, "their life is good either way."

Mrs. Obama chatted about family life, this year's re-election campaign and what's not ahead for her — a career in politics — during a round of interviews promoting the release of her new book on the White House garden.

As for the personal attacks that swirl around her husband in a campaign year, the first lady said: "You just sort of have to have a thick skin in this thing. And your kids do too."

Malia and Sasha "understand that their world is secure no matter what," Mrs. Obama said on ABC's "The View." ''They've grown to understand that home is wherever we are. ... And Dad is always going to be Dad. So they're good."

The first lady left no doubt on the question of a political future of her own.

"Those are other people's rumors," she said. "I have no interest in politics. Never have. Never will."

She added: "The one thing that is certain: I will serve. I will serve in some capacity."

Mrs. Obama said her work to support military families "is a forever proposition. They will always need a voice out there."

The first lady offered other tidbits about the Obama family, and her efforts to promote healthy eating and exercise.

—The president isn't much of a griller-in-chief. "He doesn't mind grilling, but I was the griller in our household. ... I love to grill anything," she said in an interview that will air May 31 on "Rachael Ray."

—She doesn't have to worry about deer or other animals nibbling on plants in the White House garden, thanks to "a big fence and men with guns," she said on "The View." There were some pesky birds to contend with, however.

—Her effort to fight childhood obesity "isn't about government telling people what to do," she told ABC's "Good Morning America." It's designed to give families information, support and resources to find their own solutions.

The first lady's gardening book, released Tuesday by Crown Publishers, is "American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America."

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