Memo to GOP: Keep piling on Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama takes heat from Tennessee GOP - CNN.com

In a preview of the political onslaught Michelle Obama may face in the fall, the Tennessee Republican Party unveiled a Web video Thursday highlighting her comment that she was proud of America “for the first time in my adult life.”

Michelle Obama is the target of a video by the Tennessee Republican Party ahead of her visit there. The four-minute video coincides with a visit to the state by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s wife for a Democratic Party event Thursday evening. It features several Tennesseans saying why they are proud of America while repeatedly cutting to Michelle Obama’s comments.

Keep it up, please.

And to the NRA, please keep it up too.

Trackbacks & Pings

  1. Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator on 17 May 2008 at 11:36 pm

    So, Candidates, Who’s It Going to Be?…

    Sen. Barack Obama’s victory in North Carolina and near-miss in Indiana last week remove much of the …

Comments

  1. David C. wrote:

    Keep it up, please.

    And to the NRA, please keep it up too.

    I’ll second that. Michelle Obama doesn’t come off well to many voters, and neither do Obama’s anti-gun positions.

    The whining from the Obama campaign is pretty amusing. Michelle Obama is out there campaigning for her husband, but somehow she should be immune from any criticism or attacks based on her own words. Good luck with that.

    The Tennesee GOP says:

    While Mrs. Obama has trouble being proud of the country where she earned degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Law School and then became a multimillionaire, her husband makes statements that belittle average Americans’ response to the difficulties of life.

    The Obama campaign said the attack was”shameful.” I’d call it something that might resonate with voters.

    I’m looking forward to all the 527 attacks on Obama that will be coming this fall. It probably won’t be enough, since the political situation overwhelming favors Democrats. But it will be pretty funny to listen to the howling and sniveling from the Obama campaign and his supporters, about the evil, mean, nasty, racist Republicans who won’t just give up and let him be elected without a fight.

    Posted 17 May 2008 at 6:18 pm

  2. Stephen wrote:

    David,

    I’ll bet you a dollar they figure out my point (and consequently shut up) by July.

    Posted 17 May 2008 at 6:41 pm

  3. canuckistani wrote:

    Stephen-
    Can I just say how awesome it was to have an interesting discussion on a serious political issue with people who didn’t all agree with me? I felt like I was visiting the land of the grownups for a few minutes.

    *sigh.
    How utterly crappy it is to get back to guilt-by-association personality smears.

    Posted 17 May 2008 at 6:57 pm

  4. David C. wrote:

    Michelle Obama is fair game. She’s a smart, highly-educated, successful woman in her own right, and she seems pretty outspoken. Does anyone actually think she isn’t going to have a signficant influence over her husband if he becomes president?

    Posted 18 May 2008 at 8:15 am

  5. David C. wrote:

    above I should have said “on” instead of “over.”

    Posted 18 May 2008 at 8:16 am

  6. canuckistani wrote:

    Do you know anyone whose wives believe exactly the same things they believe? Does yours? Did you pick your wife according to how she meets your standards of ideological purity?

    The War. The Economy. Terrorism. Energy. The Environment.     These are the important issues. You’re wasting my valuable brain cells nitpicking about small-minded **** that doesn’t matter.

    Of course she has influenced him. Sensible people listen to the opinions of people they respect. He’s been a straight talker about his values, and of course people have influenced them. But unless you have some compelling reason to believe that his spoken values don’t match his secret pastor-and-wife-influenced values (like say an AUMF vote) then you’re wasting your time on pointless and trivial speculation.

    Posted 18 May 2008 at 3:26 pm

  7. David C. wrote:

    Of course she has influenced him. Sensible people listen to the opinions of people they respect.

    Exactly my point. And his wife is likely to have a continuing influence on him after he becomes president.

    But unless you have some compelling reason to believe that his spoken values don’t match…then you’re wasting your time on pointless and trivial speculation.

    What speculation? I’m not saying his wife and he have identical views and he is somehow hiding his. But his wife is someone he is obviously going to pay attention to, so I don’t see why it should be out of bounds to attack her for things she says. If Cindy McCain says something stupid/politically inexpedient, Democrats will be all over it. That’s what happens during presidential elections.

    Posted 18 May 2008 at 6:11 pm

  8. Stephen wrote:

    David,

    My post was intended to be tactical, not normative. The GOP is going to find that it doesn’t pay to attack an attractive, appealing mother. If she looked like Eleanor Roosevelt, it might be a different matter. This is just a two-bit blog, and I can make such un-PC observations.

    In any case, my wager offer stands. (Settlement on Nov. 5 after three months of no attacks on Michelle Obama by national or state-level GOP.)

    Posted 18 May 2008 at 6:20 pm

  9. David C. wrote:

    My post was intended to be tactical, not normative.

    Ok, tactically yes, it could backfire. It allows Obama to say things like “stop attacking my family intead of me.” I don’t think the McCain campaign itself should go after Obama’s wife. But I think alot depends on who does it and how it is done. Something like what the Tennessee GOP did could be very effective. Maybe it should be done only by 527s not official GOP outlets. I don’t think Michelle Obama comes off as attractive personality-wise (obviously judging only based on the limited amount we hear of her from public statements). I’ve heard others say that, including some Obama supporters. She appears to be a possible weakness for the Obama campaign, although I admit I may be wrong about that.

    Posted 19 May 2008 at 8:13 am

  10. libarbarian wrote:

    You can say she’s “fair game” all you want. I’m betting that most voters won’t respond to a bunch of attacks against someones wife.

    Posted 19 May 2008 at 12:26 pm

  11. John the Marine wrote:

    You can say she’s “fair game” all you want. I’m betting that most voters won’t respond to a bunch of attacks against someones wife.

    You know I remember a Dem candidate that had a wife that damaged his campaign… I think his name was Kerry. Don’t be so sure of what will play and what won’t. One thing is for sure in this primary drama, conventional wisdom has gotten it wrong quite a bit. She could be perceived as a good looking sucessful women who has received all America has to offer and for all her good fortune is still an ingrate. Sympathy is a strange thing, people usually grant it to those they empathize with, not those who disdain them.

    Posted 20 May 2008 at 9:32 pm

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