Former First Lady Michelle Obama cheered the results of the 2022 midterm elections with "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert on Monday, saying it showed most Americans are "reasonable, decent people."
Democrats secured the Senate and prevailed in several tight races across the country while Republicans failed to produce the anticipated "red wave." The liberal late-night host celebrated the outcome as proof the GOP's "fear" messaging didn't work.
"One of the things that gives me hope about this midterm, this makes three elections in a row, three cycles in a row, where that pure fear message failed," he remarked to Obama. As the audience clapped, she cheered, "Yes, America!"
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Obama warned that certain leaders had "preyed" on Americans' fear. She suggested the Democrats' messaging won because it appealed to unity and decency.
"[I]t reminds us what already know is that most of us are reasonable, decent people, regardless of political party," she declared.
Drawing from portions of her new memoir, the former First Lady called for unity and finding "empathy" with each other.
"We’ve been so disconnected from each other, we get our information from each other from the media," she argued.
We have to find a way to find empathy again for each other so we’re not blaming one another, not demonizing one another," Obama added.
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Heading into the midterms, Obama told Americans to vote because our democracy was under attack.
In an Instagram post in May, she told her followers to vote so lawmakers wouldn't strip their rights away.
"State lawmakers will have the power to strip women of the right to make decisions about their bodies and their healthcare," she posted, adding, "But we don’t have to stand idly by while others try to turn back the clock on progress…I know that we’re going to see so many folks carrying this energy forward to the elections in November and in every election after that."
Obama defended her famous motto, "When they go low, we go high," during her CBS appearance, arguing it didn't mean giving up your "rage."
"Do you really have to ‘go high when they go low’?" Colbert asked. He pleaded with Obama, "Do I have to be a saint? Because down here I’m pi**ed off!"
She reassured the liberal host that "going high" didn't mean "losing the urgency or the passion or the rage, especially when you are justified in it." "Going high means finding the purpose in your rage," she argued.
