Michelle Obama says expectations of the presidency have cratered since Trump took office

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Former First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about the weight of the office of President of the United States Tuesday at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women.

Obama addressed the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas and spoke about how her husband far too often had to address the nation after tragedies like this one because part of his role was “overseeing that kind of loss and really not having a solution to offer families when you comfort them.”

“That’s the kind of stuff that you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and you open the newspaper, and every thing in it is your husband’s responsibility and indirectly, yours,” she continued.

She also spoke about how her life feels much more open now that she is no longer living in the White House and suggested that President Donald Trump is not giving the proper weight to the office of president.

“We sort of had a standard of ethics, and there were things we wouldn’t do — you know — so there were a lot of constraints under the Obama administration,” Obama said. “There was a certain expectation, so there was a lot that we couldn’t do and we didn’t do because of our respect for the position and what it means to the country to have a commander-in-chief that actually upholds and honors the office, so definitely, life is freer now.”

Obama also suggested that the deterioration of standards and expectation is “what happens when we don’t stand up,” telling women that it is more important than ever to have a “seat at the table.”