While on the trail, I looked to figures like Michelle Obama, who contributed meaningfully to her husband’s work while carving out her own public identity and duties from the very beginning of his first campaign for president. She stood on her own two feet, and I admired how she paved her own path. It wouldn’t have been strange to see Michelle disagree with her husband on an issue—something it’s hard to say about many other political spouses—and I was beginning to understand that such autonomy was impressively hard-won.
