Vote '08

In a recent interview with CBN News, Barack Obama condemned John McCain for not speaking loudly enough to dampen criticism of his wife Michelle:

“This is unfortunately become a habit in our politics where anything’s fair game, and we just make things up about people. If you think about Michelle, I mean here’s somebody who’s done everything right. She grew up in modest means. She grew up in a nuclear family. Her parents looked after her. She went to college on a scholarship. She’s worked hard for everything that she has.

She is the best mother I know. She has made repeated sacrifices on behalf of her family and has said that her children and her husband are her number one priority.

So the fact that people have tried to make her a target, based essentially on a couple of comments in which she was critical of what’s happening to our American dream and the enormous difficulties that people are experiencing — the difficulties that she hears directly as she is traveling across the country, I think is really distressing. And you know I’ve said publicly before, and I’ll say it again - I think families are off limits. I would never consider making Cindy McCain a campaign issue, and if I saw people doing that - I would speak out against it. And the fact that I haven’t seen that from John McCain I think is a deep disappointment.”

The McCain camp’s response:

“Senator McCain agrees with Senator Obama that spouses should not be an issue in this campaign, and he has stated that position frequently. Unfortunately, when the DNC was attacking Mrs. McCain, Senator Obama was not strong enough to stand up and speak out against the outrageous charges leveled at her by his party chair, Howard Dean. Obama’s silence speaks volumes, and it’s unfortunate that he would single out others for a standard he himself has failed to live up to.”

OUR TAKE: Obama is making a mistake. If your spouse goes out on the stump & campaigns for your candidacy she (or he) is fair game for criticism. Obama has done a masterful job in many ways to redefine what a Democratic candidacy for president looks like, & he has done many things John Kerry, Al Gore, or Michael Dukakis couldn’t or wouldn’t do. But for him to succeed, he needs to project an aura of “toughness,” especially considering his relative political inexperience. Saying “don’t pick on my wife” sounds far less “tough” to the American electorate than “she can take it. Bring it on.”

Further reading: The New York Times today has an article about how Michelle Obama is subtly trying to remake her image in preparation for the general campaign. She has already impressed many with her passion on the stump, but she also has proven herself a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to remarks like “for the first time in my life I’m proud of my country.”

Also, today (Wednesday) Mrs. Obama co-hosts ABC’s daytime talk show “the View.” We’ll post clips of that as soon as they become available.

UPDATE: the NY Times blog is live-blogging the appearance here.

UPDATE #2: Here’s one clip:

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UPDATE #3: Here’s another clip, that preceded in time the clip above. Some dreaded “fist-bumping” to be seen in this one:

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UPDATE #4: Michelle on Barack’s fatherhood speech.

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UPDATE #5: A “best breakfast” segment in which Michelle professes her family’s fondness for bacon (could that put the Muslim rumors to rest?) .. we have to confess here that we’re not regular watchers of this show.

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What do you think? Are spouses who help a presidential campaign fair game for criticism? Weigh in with your comments now!

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