Michelle Obama Should Be Fair Game For Critics

It is downright disingenuous for Senator Barack Obama to claim that his wife, Michelle Obama, should be off-limits to criticism. According to ABC News:

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said conservative criticism of his wife, Michelle, infuriates him.

"I don't have a thick skin when it comes to criticism of my wife," Obama told the women's magazine Glamour in an interview to run in the magazine's October issue. "And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face."

Obama, who is vying for the support of women voters who flocked to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign during the primaries, argued his wife and Clinton have been the target of similar conservative attacks.

"Hillary Clinton was subject to this, others have been subject to this in the past," Obama told Glamour editor -in-chief Cindi Leive Wednesday, "It is part of our political environment that I'd like to change."

As ABC's John Stossel likes to say, give me a break! Michelle Obama will most assuredly not be a to-be-seen-but-not-heard First Lady if Barack is elected. The fact of the matter is that Michelle graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law School and was a practicing attorney at a major law firm while Barack was still learning his way to class. Michelle was Barack's mentor attorney when he was a summer associate. Michelle is no doubt smarter than Barack and will be an integral part of Barack's administration if that comes to pass -- indeed, perhaps even more so than Hillary Clinton was in Bill's.

Barack's feigned chivalry for Michelle is nothing more than an attempt to deflect criticism that has been rightly directed at his wife for her inflammatory comments. Michelle should simply avoid making statements that are destructive to Barack's campaign and stop relying on the chauvinist crutch that she is "only" Barack's wife.

When a Harvard Law School graduate is married to another HLS graduate running for president, the public should treat them both as candidates because, simply put, it is reasonable to expect a married couple of such credentials to rely on each other as close political advisers. And as Barack should heed from his experience in the Democratic primaries, a First Lady of such pedigree (though Yale isn't quite Harvard) likely will someday run for President herself and can even be elected provided her husband doesn't muck things up.

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.