Michelle Obama Reacts To Melania's Cribbed Speech

What will we do as a nation once Michelle Obama is gone? The current (and soon to be outgoing) First Lady of the United States has set an absurdly high bar for all future presidential spouses, as far as intellect, wit, charm, evident passion, and pop cultural savvy are concerned, and whether she's followed by former President Bill Clinton or Melania Trump, it's hard to imagine either one living up to the example she's set. Oh, and speaking of Melania — want to watch Michelle Obama react to Melania's reportedly plagiarized speech during her recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert?

Of course you do! At least, as long as you weren't expecting or hoping for Obama to heap sympathy and well-wishes on the former supermodel and potential FLOTUS-in-waiting, because that is not what happened.

Ever the empathetic late night host, Colbert asked her whether she felt any "sympathy" for other presidential spouses, given what they have to contend with — the process of campaigning, living in the public eye, supporting their partner's political ambitions, and so forth. "No, not really," Obama said. "No, because you know, you have to be in it. If you're in it — and if you don't agree, you should have agreed before they ran, you know? Bottom line is, if I didn't agree with what Barack is saying, I would not have supported his run. ... So, no sympathy!"

Colbert then asked Obama whether she had any sympathy when Trump was caught reciting lines in her big RNC speech that were reportedly cribbed from Obama's own DNC speech back in 2008. (A Trump campaign speechwriter said she was drawing inspiration from Obama's speech.) He wasn't being snarky about it, to be clear. It was an earnest question, and it drew out a pretty telling answer ― as well as every ounce of dry sarcasm Obama could muster.

Yeah, that was tough.

That was far from the only highlight moment from Obama's appearance ― she also performed in a sketch alongside Colbert, proving once again that she is the quickest, funniest First Lady this country's ever had. She also whipped out a pretty good impression of her husband's, shall we say, pedantic style of dinner table conversation.

In short, assuming you like the First Lady (assuming, in effect, that you're not a total monster), you should try to enjoy all the time you've got left with her before January rolls around, because that's when she and her family will depart from Washington, D.C. and become private citizens once more. Unless there are any more political chapters left in this family's life, of course. Anyone for Illinois Sen. Michelle Obama? Dare to dream, huh?

Image: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/CBS