NEW YORK — Michelle Obama will be a guest host on "The View" on June 18.

The ABC daytime talk show had invited her to be a guest this month, but she sent back word that she would like to host like Cindy McCain did in April, said Bill Geddie, the show's executive producer.

"Equal time — that's hard to argue with," he said yesterday.

Being a guest host will allow Michelle Obama to help interview guests and participate in the opening "hot topics" banter about what's in the news that day. It offers the chance for someone to show a more complete personality than just being interviewed to talk about themselves, Geddie said.

When Cindy McCain was guest host in April, comic Craig Ferguson was the lead guest. No guests have been booked for Michelle Obama's show yet.

Michelle Obama became a focus of the presidential campaign when the Tennessee Republican Party posted an online video questioning her patriotism. Barack Obama responded by saying political opponents should lay off his wife.