Sorry Barack, But Michelle Obama Is Fair Game

Barack Obama is whining about the GOP attacking his wife Michelle:

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 Monday, 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."

Put aside the fact that both Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton have taught us that the power of First Ladies to effect policy decisions should never be underestimated, Barack Obama has no leg to stand on here. Since Michelle Obama came into the public spotlight, she's made it clear that she's no timid little girl, afraid to speak her mind. And that's her right, not to mention the fact that whether you like her not, there's no denying that Mrs. Obama is a bright, articulate person capable of standing on her own two feet. But the fact of the matter is that when you're running for president, your spouse is fair game, esp. a spouse whose spoken on the campaign trail on your behalf and has made controversial statements about the country you wish to run one day. In other words, the person you chose to make a life commitment to is a reflection on you and the American voter has a right to react to what she says. Then too, if you're going to whine about the GOP going after your wife, then tell your minions to lay off Cindy McCain, a woman who doesn't seem to have nearly the love for the spotlight as your wife does, yet arguably is getting it worse than Michelle when it comes to being criticized by the other side.