Obama's wife is fair game

The Tennessee GOP has used some less than upright tactics against Democrats. Having acknowledged that, when your wife is campaigning for you, it's fair to put her comments under just as much scrutiny as yours.

Obama tells Tenn.'s GOP: 'Lay off my wife'

WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama has a message for Tennessee's Republican Party: "Lay off my wife."

Obama, his party's presidential front-runner, and his wife, Michelle, were asked in an interview aired Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" about an online video last week by the state's GOP taking her to task for a comment some considered unpatriotic.

"The GOP, should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record," Obama said. "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."

Are you serious? Unacceptable to make your wife an issue in a campaign when you have your wife stumping for you all over the country? It's ridiculous to think she won't be an issue, just as individuals who've made poor comments introducing John McCain have been lambasted for them.

He called the strategy "low class."

The video, posted on YouTube, centered on remarks Michelle Obama made while campaigning in Wisconsin last February, when she said: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country."

I don't disagree about his comments on the Tennessee GOP here (they do need to think about the type of campaign they want to run), but again, it's immature for him to assume his last comment holds any water with anyone.

"Whoever is in charge of the Tennessee GOP needs to think long and hard about the kind of campaign they want to run, and I think that's true for everybody, Democrat or Republican," Obama said in the ABC interview, adding: "These folks should lay off my wife."

I think this only serves to highlight some of Obama's rather immature expectations of people. Send your wife to campaign for you, expect her words and actions to endure criticism.