Monday, June 16, 2008

She's the New Woman Conservatives Love to Hate

John Hendren, ABCNew.com: Like Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton before her, Michelle Obama is becoming the would-be first lady conservatives love to hate.
The conservative National Review recently showed a stern-faced Michelle Obama on its cover, under the headline, "Mrs. Grievance." The Tennessee Republican Party questioned her patriotism.
Michelle Obama has become a favorite target for critics, drawing many to compare her arrival on the national stage to Hillary Clinton's after she infuriated conservatives when she said, "I could have stayed home and baked cookies."
It's likely to get worse.
"It's going to be very ugly stuff," Democratic strategist Tad Devine said. "They're going to try to depict her as someone who is angry, outside the mainstream and not proud to be an American."
LSB: Big management mistake by the Obama campaign to hire the campaign manager Hillary fired a few months ago to be the as-yet-unnamed V.P. nominee's chief of staff. First, if you're trying to woe the women voters Hillary was drawing into the election process, why piss of Hillary? This hire sends a strong signal that Hillary will not be Obama’s choice for the V.P. slot, thus further alienating Hillary’s supporters. Secondly, since Hillary was targeted by the same group of neocon mouthpieces when Bill was running for President in 1992 as Michelle is facing now, what a fantastic way to incorporate Hillary’s offer to help ‘in any way she could’ by sending her out with Michelle to "introduce" her to Hillary's supporters. This not only helps Michelle, but it restores some of Hillary street creds in the black community. Third, shouldn't the V.P. nominee have some input into the hiring of his/her chief of staff? This sends a signal to the V.P. nominee that he/she will be under the thumb of, and closely monitored by, Obama's key staff. Though all of the campaigns should be on the lookout for the best talent and will certainly cherry-pick from the staffs of the losing candidates, this was not a good hire.

1 comment:

Shimmy said...

But this also is Michelle's first effort, as Democratic wife, to come to grips with coiling all the fingers towards the center of the palm with the thumb.

She told a cheering crowd in February: "For the first time in my adult life, I'm proud to live in a labyrinth of grim corridors lined with terrorist-fist-jabs."