Michelle Obama Explains The Real Meaning Of Her Iconic Saying

Former first lady Michelle Obama has reiterated why her now-iconic “when they go low, we go high” call to action at the 2016 Democratic National Convention doesn’t mean losing the rage.

On Monday’s broadcast of “The Late Show,” host Stephen Colbert asked if it was really even possible to “go high” given how the political discourse has turned so ugly during the Donald Trump years.

“I totally understand going high when somebody goes low but the bar is so low that staying at your own altitude still means higher,” Colbert asked Obama, who was promoting her new book “The Light We Carry.”

“Do I actually have to go up here or can I just be normal? Do I have to be a saint? Because down here, I’m pissed off,” he added.

Watch the video here:

It’s a question frequently asked of Obama, she details in her book.

She responded: “For me, going high is not losing the urgency or the passion or the rage, especially when you are justified in it. Going high means finding the purpose in your rage. Rage without reason, without a plan, without direction, is just more rage. And we’ve been living in a lot of rage.”

Remaining low is “unsustainable” and nothing more than a “quick fix,” she said. “It doesn’t fix anything over the long term.”

“I’m trying to push us to think about solutions that will actually unite us and get us focused on the real problem. That’s what I mean when I say ‘go high,’” Obama added. “So yes, go high. America, please, go high.”

Watch the full interview here: