Barack and Michelle made an appearance on Good Morning America this morning, and Barack decided to play his tough guy routine up for all it’s worth. ABC news’s Robin Roberts asked Michelle about the TN GOP ad comparing Michelle’s comments about having never been proud of America until her husband started running for President to ordinary Americans who find reasons every day to be proud of our country. Except, the question was never really about Michelle’s remarks. It was about how she felt about the ad.

Well, before his wife could answer the question, and no doubt do more damage to the campaign, Barack decided to inject himself into the conversation. Here’s what he had to say:

Michelle Obama was asked about the ad on “GMA,” but her husband said, “Let me just interject on this.”

“The GOP, should I be the nominee, I think can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record,” Obama said. “I’ve been in public life for 20 years. I expect them to pore through everything that I’ve said, every utterance, every statement. And to paint it in the most undesirable light possible. That’s what they do.”

“But I do want to say this to the GOP. If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because that I find unacceptable,” he said.

Obama praised his wife’s patriotism and said that for Republicans “to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her I think is just low class … and especially for people who purport to be promoters of family values, who claim that they are protectors of the values and ideals and the decency of the American people to start attacking my wife in a political campaign I think is detestable.”

Here’s a word of advice for Barack and Michelle. Politics — especially when running for President — is an ugly business, if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. While I agree that family members should be left out of the ugliness of political campaigns, when your wife goes on the campaign trail for you and gives several high profile speeches, you and your campaign have made her and her comments about America a target. Put bluntly, if you don’t want her comments picked apart, don’t involve her in your campaign un a high profile position.

In a related train of thought, Barack has sold his candidacy as one of biography rather than accomplishment. If we are to believe that he should be President because of who he is rather than what he has accomplished (his legislative record is rather thin after all), shouldn’t those around him who form his world view be open to scrutiny? Shouldn’t we be allowed to take into consideration what Michelle thinks about the country? Should we be concerned that Barack and his family sat in a church that preached hatred of America for over 20 years? Should we be concerned that he associates with unrepentant terrorists?

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   To state that his wife’s statements are off limits after bagging on Bill Clinton is not only hypocritical, but such an obvious case of hypocricy that only people who have really sucked down the Obama-brand Kool-Aid can ignore it. The fact that he isn’t challenged on this by the host defines GMA’s bias and cheapens the show’s already weak journalistic integrity.

   Comment by neal5x5 — 5/20/2008 @ 16:54

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