I cross-posted that piece about Michelle Obama over at HuffPost and man, I can’t believe how pissed off the commenters are. Let me clear something up.
I like Michelle Obama. She sounds refreshingly blunt, the kind of person I’d value as a friend. But she’s not auditioning to be my friend - her husband is running for president of the United States.
What she will learn, to her chagrin, is that when you’re married to someone running for office, you are now a public figure.
This is something Hillary Clinton learned the hard way. She came into her husband’s first race thinking like a normal person: I can use my maiden name, I can speak out on issues, I’m a person, goddamnit!
No, you’re not. You’re either an asset, or a liability. Guess which one you become when you say what you think? (Dear sweet Jesus, haven’t any of the Obama people ever watched The West Wing?)
What I learned last year, to my horror, is that it’s all about staying On Message. You don’t really get to pick the message - the consultants and focus groups do that for you. And if you can’t stay On Message, everyone will blame you if you say something that causes a controversy and the poll numbers go down. (I was astounded at the kinds of silly off-hand remarks that caused voters to get upset. It was eye-opening.)
This is why successful political wives are so bland - experience has trained them to be that way.
So while I’m very sympathetic to her plight (if my husband decided to run, I’d move to Europe and say, “Call me when it’s over”), this is the big-stakes game she’s playing and she needs to follow the rules. If not, they’ll tear her apart like chum.
You know the old saying about it walking like a duck and quacking like a duck…
Maybe peeps think you are Obama bashing because, uh, you seem to be?
(Regardless of your own claims of nonallignment except for getting the best health care plan for the pipples.)
No criticism allowed of the messiah or mrs. messiah. ever.
you did not understand what he/she/they meant. they did no wrong. you are a racist. a shill for clintoon., a basher.
remember: mustn’t criticize the precious.
I stopped reading HuffPost months ago because of the way they marginalized Edwards; but from what I remember , their commenters are awful. Sorry if you’re getting incoming flak over there.
So, if her husband is elected, he has to “stay on message”? WTF is that? What you are saying is you can’t run for office and be yourself. And I suppose when you are elected, you can’t either. You have to be the creation of your “media advisors”? Because if youi don’t, the big bad neocon wingnuts will get you! OOOOOOOO!
Spare me the horsepuckey!
“What I learned last year, to my horror, is that it’s all about staying On Message. You don’t really get to pick the message - the consultants and focus groups do that for you. And if you can’t stay On Message, everyone will blame you if you say something that causes a controversy and the poll numbers go down.”
Thinking further (I am pissed!), the above paragraph could have come straight from Carl Rove’s playbook. Haven’t we had enough of ventriloquist’s dummies in the oval office? (Of course, the one we have now has something wrong with his mouth parts, and can’t even repeat what his “media advisors” tell him to.)
It’s time for real people to tell the consultants and focus groups to take a hike.
Susie, I do think you’ve acquired a pet troll. Kinda cute, if you go for that sort of thing.
I thought just like you - until I worked on a campaign. The object is to get to election day having given your opponents the least possible number of reasons to not vote for you. Not “for” you, just no reasons to NOT vote for you.
And the right wing is only a small part of the problem. “It’s the media, stupid!” Do you really think anyone cared about John Edwards’ haircut until the media told people they should? Until there were the Jay Leno and Jon Stewart jokes? You don’t want to give your opponents (and yes, I count the media in that group) one thing to hang around your neck.
It’s silly to think you can change this dynamic by pretending it’s not there. Yes, let’s work to change it. But in the meantime, we have an election year.
It’s not impossible to do, by the way. Elizabeth Edwards was certainly no pushover, yet she managed to keep out of trouble.
i think the problem here is the difference of how things should happen and how they in fact do happen.
some of the above commentators (and probably some of the huffpo people) are talking about what should happen: spouses/kids/close family members of politicians should be left alone.
i think we all agree with that. and yet, can’t we also agree that family members being left alone will never actually happen in the real world? isn’t that all susie is saying here? how is that even controversial?
Damned if I know.
I was fairly downtrodden when I saw the quote yesterday, and then confused when I saw a slightly different one today. After some research, I discovered the source of the discrepancy; Ms. Obama said it twice yesterday, with the second time being, in my mind, even worse than the first.
Can our Democratic campaigns please, please, PLEASE stop feeding the Rove machine. You know, the one which turned Max Cleland and John Kerry into Osama-loving traitors.
don’t read huffpo. don’t care what huffponies think or drink.
have tried three times in six years to get democratic women challenging incumbents in districts where defense is a major issue to get their heads and arms around not-soft-on-defense policy and message.
its difficult and it isn’t made easier by having the not-sure-women-and-dems-get-it hill to overcome in the demographic that decides general election races.
haven’t won a god damn race democratic woman in a defense spending district yet.
don’t care what huffponies think or drink. don’t read huffpo.
so,
when was the last time you all were proud of america?
I mean really happy with something the country or countrymen achieved?
I’ll start:
when burt rutan and crew won the ansari x prize, I was very happy and felt positive about america. In fact, I recall this was pretty much the only thing I was really happy about in 2004.
Other than that, I think I felt pretty good when Floyd Landis won the Tour, til that all went wrong, and I felt equally happy with Armstrong until it became apparent he was a doper as well…
Don’t we all pretty much agree that the US is in real trouble after 8 years of the clowns in the Bush junta?
So, is what Michelle Obama said really so wrong?
I also find it rather amusing that the same people arguing that you cannot ever relate Hillary to her husband cause that is sexist are now implying that Obama better put a muzzle on his wife.
12steveeboy
so,
when was the last time you all were proud of america?
The question is when was the last time you were REALLY PROUD of your country.
That’s what she said. Really proud.
I’m 38 and I haven’t been really proud of my country since the days following 9/11.
But we all know how that caring feeling for each other went.
To be truthful we need to apologize to the world for Bush’s actions and then transfer his ass straight to The Hague Court so he can face charges for being a war criminal.
That would make me really really proud of my country.
Sure, keep telling yourself saying things like that don’t matter. They do. The media will take every opening she gives them.
Cindy McCain started off a speech yesterday by telling the audience, “I’m proud to be a part of my country.” She got an awful lot of applause, considering she was speaking to the Republicans everyone tells us Obama will attract.
And Hillary Clinton WAS muzzled when her husband ran for office. Either you weren’t paying attention, or you’re too young to remember. It was painful to watch.
There’s a big difference between a spouse’s role as campaign surrogate and being treated as a ventriloquist dummy. That’s just insulting.