Thursday, July 17, 2008

He Means Us   [Byron York]

Barack Obama talks to Glamour magazine:

GLAMOUR: An AP poll shows that while the positive ratings on Michelle are higher than those of Cindy McCain, her negative ratings are higher as well. I'm curious about how as a husband that makes you feel. Does it mystify you? And what do you want to say to those Americans who don't know the woman that you know?

SENATOR OBAMA: It's infuriating, but it's not surprising, because let's face it: What happened was that the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk—went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way...and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans. And I've said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn't sign up for this. They're supporting their spouse. So it took a toll. If you start being subjected to rants by Sean Hannity and the like, day in day out, that'll drive up your negatives.

I don't see how anyone could argue that Michelle Obama isn't news.  Was Hillary Clinton not news in 1992?  Some candidates' wives are higher-profile than others, and Michelle Obama is pretty far up there; she speaks in public a lot, and she says newsworthy things.  My guess is she would be a pretty involved First Lady.  So it seems to me she should get more coverage, not less. 

07/17 01:50 PMShare