Story highlights "I think (young people) will feel some of what's happening now as intrinsically not what they were taught," Michelle Obama says

The former first lady said the leadership potential of the next generation gives her hope

(CNN) Former first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday said there's a stark difference in the lessons young people will learn from her husband's presidency and President Donald Trump's.

"Many of the young people today, they only know Barack Obama as their president and what that standard felt like and what kind of messages were being talked about," she said at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women on Tuesday. "They grew up only under hope and possibility and options and opportunity and creating more space."

Without saying Trump's name, she added: "I think they will feel some of what's happening now as intrinsically not what they were taught."

The former first lady said the leadership potential of the next generation gives her hope despite the messages they're being faced with.

"They are more open, in ways. I think they are less tolerant of obvious inequities. I think that this generation will look at what is happening now in the world and they will say, 'This doesn't feel right because this wasn't what I was taught,'" she said.

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