Thread: Obama tells Tenn.'s GOP: 'Lay off my wife'

Let me see if I can understand this. She appears on national tv to campaign on YOUR BEHALF and you do not want her words to be scrutinized or questioned?

Sorry Obama, that's not how it works. If you put her out there on your behalf, she WILL be subject to scrutiny. If she is not speaking on your behalf, then perhaps you should have a discussion with her and ask her to tone if down a notch. If you cannot handle your wife, how are you goping to handle the presidency?

Besdies, your wife is not some helpless victim. She does have an Ivy league law degree.

WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has a message for Tennessee's Republican Party: "Lay off my wife."

Obama, his party's presidential front-runner, and his wife, Michelle, were asked in an interview aired Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" about an online video last week by the state's GOP taking her to task for a comment some considered unpatriotic.

"The GOP, should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record," Obama said. "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, the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family."

He called the strategy "low class."

The video, posted on YouTube, centered on remarks Michelle Obama made while campaigning in Wisconsin last February, when she said: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country."

The four-minute video replayed the remark six times, interspersing it with commentary by Tennesseans on why they are proud of America. In a news release that included a link to the video, Tennessee's GOP said "the Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America." It urged radio stations to play "patriotic music" during Michelle Obama's visit to Nashville last Thursday.

Michelle Obama later clarified the remark, saying she meant she was proud of how Americans were engaging in the political process and that she had always been proud of her country.

"Whoever is in charge of the Tennessee GOP needs to think long and hard about the kind of campaign they want to run, and I think that's true for everybody, Democrat or Republican," Obama said in the ABC interview, adding: "These folks should lay off my wife."

Obama said his wife "loves this country. For them to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her is, I think, just low class. I think that most of the American people would think that as well."

Tennessee's Republican Party was roundly criticized in March, including by likely presidential nominee John McCain, for a news release that used Barack Obama's middle name — Hussein — and showed a photo of him wearing what it said was "Muslim attire."

The release ultimately was removed from the party's Web site at the urging of the state's two Republican senators and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, who said he "rejects these kinds of campaign tactics."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080519/..._pr/obama_wife

The GOP, should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record," Obama said. "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, the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family."

Sorry....you put her out there....she's fair game.....look at all the crap other presidents have had to go through concerning their family. Politics is a dirty game and like it or not....that's the way it goes. She isn't the first and won't be the last.........your life is no longer your own once you cross the line to public life. I believe many good people never persue this life because of that and and when you do you must know you are opening your family up to the same thing. She's speaking for him at times and is a direct representative of him since she is his wife. They don't have votes for First Lady....you get it by default and are held up to the same standards as the President. I think that's why some question Hillary.....Gosh...more of Bill's antics....haven't we had enough? LOL

He's gonna really hate being POTUS then, won't he? His wife, his kids, his old life...ALL will be fodder for the gristmill should he win. You don't like the public spotlight? They drop out and peace out!

If she injects herself into the political campaign, then her comments are fair game. If she doesn't want anyone to question or talk about her comments then she should stay out of the politics. She's not a child, she is a capable woman with an Ivy-league degree.

Careful there BamBam, your hypocrisy is showing.

It's just a matter of course for you to attack Bill Clinton's wife, and if, by some stroke of luck, you become your party's nominee, I'm sure you will have no problem carving Cindy McCain up at every opportunity either.

You should expect to get as good as you give, and it is politics, life in the public eye. I'd suggest that if the little wifey can't deal with it, then you leave her at home and she keep her comments to herself.

"Lay off my wife."

Rather crude choice of words for one deemed so talented at being eloquent.

"Lay off my wife."

yeah like she needs him to 'protect' her. Come on now, everyone knows she's the boss.