By Selwyn Duke

So Barack Obama has just issued a warning: Lay off my wife!  Upset about the attacks on his unpatrio . . . oh, sorry, I mean, his better half, he 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."

I suppose this tack will evoke some sympathy and is good political theater, but it’s also nonsense.

Let’s stay in touch with reality.  If a candidate’s wife plays a June Cleaver and limits herself to hearth and home, such scrutiny might be unjustified.  But, let’s face it, that kind of presidential wife became extinct before Beaver stopped playing with toy cars.  We now expect a first lady to almost be a second president, with her own duties and role.  Whether it’s Laura Bush and literacy or Hillary and health care, we now expect a president’s wife, an unelected individual, to use the government to influence the nation.  Thus do we hear that common question, "Mr. Candidate, what will be your wife’s role in your administration?"

Obviously, this makes such a woman fair game; if you’re going to step on to the grand stage, you’d better expect to be reviewed by the critics.

This is especially true in Michelle Obama’s case.  This is a woman who is no shrinking violet; she has injected herself into the campaign in an aggressive way, attacking Hillary Clinton and John McCain and making controversial comments.  And, as Karl Rove said recently (I’m paraphrasing), "If you don’t want to be an issue, don’t make yourself an issue; if you don’t want to be attacked, don’t launch attacks." 

Personally, the politically-correct idea that a candidate’s wife must be given a voice and a role in his presidency is a feminist supposition, one I find tiresome.  If a hospital considers hiring a brain surgeon, does it ask him what his wife’s role will be in his medical endeavors?  If an airline is considering a new pilot, do they ask him how his wife will be helping in the cockpit?  Then, if a woman (not H. Clinton, who is married to a former president) became president, would we believe she was obligated to give her husband a role in her administration? 

             Protected by Copyright