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Lay off my wife: Obama
Washington— Barack Obama has a simple message for
Republicans looking for a target: “lay off my wife.” The Democrat
who each day strides closer to his party’s White House nomination
showed a flash of steel , in trying to shield Michelle Obama from
the campaign trail crossfire.
“These folks should lay off my wife,” Obama told ABC News, hitting
out at a Tennessee Republican Party ad questioning the patriotism of
his wife, a driven Ivy League-educated lawyer and mother of their
two daughters.
“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,” Obama said.
The 46-year-old Illinois senator said his wife was the most honest
person he knew and “loves this country,” and branded the ad as “low
class.”
Michelle Obama, 44, has been a favorite punchbag on the powerful
conservative talk radio circuit for months, over an offhand remark
during a campaign swing through Wisconsin in February.
“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my
country,” she had said, explaining the surge of pride she felt in
both her husband and the grassroots campaign for change he
advocates.
Critics have linked the comment to the furor over racially tinged
sermons by Obama’s former priest Jeremiah Wright, and his own remark
that some working-class Americans were “bitter” and turned to guns
and God.
They have also repeatedly raised Obama’s past reluctance to wear a
star and stripes lapel pin to cast doubt on his love of country. In
an apparent bid to disarm that potential campaign snare, Obama has
sported the flag on his suit at several recent events.
The suggestion that the African-American senator is somehow out of
the US mainstream could have implications for a general election,
where voters often seek to personally identify with candidates vying
to be their head of state.
The Tennessee ad, which has nearly half a million hits on
video-sharing website YouTube, was the latest sign that some
Republicans sense Obama’s wife might be a political liability. In
the spot, Michelle Obama’s statement was repeatedly juxtaposed with
comments by ‘regular’ Americans, relating their pride in their
country.
One middle-aged man is pictured shooting pool, in a room ringed by
racks on the walls holding guns.
“Hi, I’m Bob Pope and I’m proud to be an American ... because of the
right to worship God anywhere I choose to, and (because of) the
second amendment, I have got the right to keep and bear arms,” he
says.
Republican presumptive nominee John McCain has signaled that he
wants the campaign to take an elevated tone, free of personal
attacks.
But back in February, it was his wife, ironically, who led the
attack against Michelle Obama, jumping at the chance to lay out her
own patriotism.
“I’m proud of my country. I don’t know about you, if you heard those
words earlier. I’m very proud of my country,” said Cindy McCain, a
millionaire heiress and chairwoman of one of America’s top beer
distributors.—AFP
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