With People, Michelle got careless. She decided to retell a story she had already told, the Target story. Michelle began by saying, “I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady.” Here, she suggests that the tale has already become folklore. Michelle continued, “During that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone who could help her.”
On Letterman, Michelle did not impute any particular race to the woman in question. Nor did she suggest any motive other than the woman’s inability to reach the top shelf. Here, Michelle wants the readers of People to believe that the woman was white, that she recognized the “not highly disguised” Michelle, and treated her like the help even knowing she was the first lady.Nor did Michelle want this to be seen as an isolated incident. She concluded, “Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new.” This contrasts just a wee bit with the takeaway message on Letterman, “That was my interaction. I felt so good.”
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