Even when she was sure he would make a phenomenal president, it took ‘a lot’ of convincing on the part of Barack Obama to get his wife Michelle on board his decision to run for the White House, as she was worried of the toll the presidential campaign would take on her daughters.

Addressing a crowd of over 100 people at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser here today, the US First Lady recalled the days of the 2008 Presidential campaign and admitted despite being proud of his work in the Senate she she was not initially enthusiastic about the idea.

"I have to be honest that when Barack first started talking about running for President, I was not exactly enthusiastic about the idea. And I thought that he would make a phenomenal President. That was not the issue. But like a lot of folks, I still had some cynicism about politics," she said.

"And with two young daughters at home, I was worried about the toll that a presidential campaign would take on our family," Michelle Obama said. She said it took some convincing on Barack's part ‘and by some - I mean a lot’ but she still was a ‘little uneasy’ about this whole ‘Presidents thing’. "That is what Malia would call it, we are doing the 'President thing'".

She added that her attitude changed as she toured the country on the campaign trail, meeting people whose ‘stories were extremely familiar to me’. "In the parents working that extra shift, the parents taking that extra job, I saw Barack's mother, a young single mom trying to raise Barack and his sister. I saw my father, who dragged himself to work at the city water plant every morning... he was still determined to be our family's provider," she recalled.

Listing the accomplishments of her husband's office, Michelle said the economy that was on the brink of collapse is starting to grow again and the administration is working to help middle-class families by cutting their taxes. Noting that the Obama administration ended the combat mission in Iraq and brought home 100,000 men and women, the First Lady said in the coming weeks, "he will begin drawing down our troops in Afghanistan as well". "So, as my husband said, these long wars are coming to a responsible end, and it is time for us to focus on nation-building here at home," she said.

She said while progress has been made in several areas, a lot of work still needs to be done and people across the country ‘still need our help’. "That is what I see when he returns home after a long day traveling around the country, and from the Oval, and he tells me about the people that he has met. "And I see it in those quiet moments late at night, after the girls have gone to bed, and when he is at his desk reading the letters that people have sent him.

The letter from the woman dying of cancer whose health insurance would not cover her care. "And I see the worry creasing his face. I hear the passion and determination in his voice. 'You would not believe what these folks are going through'. "He told me that last night. 'Michelle, it is not right. We have got to fix this. We have to do more'".

Obama said the one thing she admires about her husband, "and this is something I'd appreciate even if he had not shown the good judgement to marry me," is that even in the toughest moments, he never loses sight of the end goal. The first lady evoked the image of her two daughters as she tried to stir Democratic supporters.

"The truth is that no matter what happens, my girls will be OK. My girls will have plenty of advantages and opportunities in their lives. And that is probably true for many of your kids as well," she said.