In response to criticisms of his wife for some of the things she has said while campaigning for him, Barack Obama has told Republicans (and others) to "lay off my wife." In Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times, Jesse Jackson, perhaps not surprisingly, agrees. Jonah Goldberg, in Thursday’s Chicago Tribune, disagrees, saying that if Senator Obama does not want people criticizing his wife, he might want to not have her out campaigning for him.
It is an interesting question. Certainly, some of the things Michelle Obama has said irritate me. I did not like her comments about her husband’s candidacy being the only time she has been proud of America since, in effect, about 1980. But, after thinking about it, maybe it’s just an example of spousal pride.
Actually, the comments that have probably annoyed me the most were her complaints about how long it took her and her husband to pay off their student loans. In my opinion, if you get to go to Princeton and Harvard Law, you shouldn’t complain about having to pay off loans. She didn’t have to go to Princeton. She could have gone to the University of Illinois or some other state school. That’s what I did so I could save money for law school. And if you go to an expensive law school, maybe that means you have to take a job where you make enough money to pay off your loans. It’s a choice.
However, in spite of my feelings about some of the things she is saying (and in spite of the fact I just criticized her myself), I think Jesse Jackson is right. Not for the reasons he gives, but I think he is right. Republicans ought to lay off Michelle Obama.
There are plenty of things to criticize Barack Obama about. We don’t need to criticize his wife. It’s a distraction, and it will bother enough people, because of the "leave my family out of it" thing, that it is not worth it. Attacking Michelle Obama will just get her, and her husband, sympathy they don’t deserve. Republicans are better off ignoring Michelle Obama – for their own benefit.
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Update [June 1, 2008]: Jonah Goldberg's column was in Thursday's Chicago Tribune, not Saturday's. This has been corrected.
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