Letters to the Editor
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It was about Rudy or Barack
If it was about another candidate than it was obviously about Rudy. She uses "he" for heck's sake!
But then that wouldn't be as delicious a story.
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Air what?
I'm with "Brass Ones" (8/21, 2:30p) in general. Life would be considerably improved if that meaningless phrase, "family values," got deep-sixed.
That said, it's as well to note that Michelle vs. Hillary has spread to Air America this morning. A show host, Bill someone, (unknown to me), subbing for Ed Schultz, picked up on the Drudge/Fox lie and went with it, condemning Michelle Obama, defending poor Hill from the insults. A caller tried to set him straight, tried to get him to read the entire quote; the host got angry and blew him off. Speaking of blowing off, this progressive walked swiftly to the XM satellite receiver and eliminated Air America from memory. So much for the effort to build a thoughtful left-leaning media.
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Sun-Times response
Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times actually responded to my e-mail:
Sorry, [name]. I was there. You weren't. I heard what she said and that is how I interpreted it. And unfortunately you did not have all the remarks she made preceding that. Please read my column tommorrow. Best, Jennifer
No, I wasn't there. But I've read enough newspaper reports of events that I have attended (and some at which I've spoken) to know that reporter accuracy is a pipe dream. Not sure whether her exhortation to read tomorrow's column is general cheerleading or a sign that she'll revisit this issue.
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What about the Edwardses as possibly MO's target
After looking at what Michelle Obama said in the widely quoted paragraph, I was struck by her example of how the Obamas showed their commitment to family values and to the children. She only does day trips so that she can be at home in the mornings to get her girls off to school and be back at home in the evenings in time to tuck them into bed. No mention of infidelity, improper sexual behavior, multiple marriages, or any of the other things that would point at Clinton or at the various GOP candidates.
So if their young children staying at home and her returning home each night is the good example, what would be the contrasting "bad" family values behavior? Both parents away overnight leaving the young children at home or bringing the young children along on the campaign. Well who is doing that other than John Edwards, Obama's biggest immediate threat? Possibly Dodd, but I don't know what he is doing in this area.
Since this is apparently part of Michelle's regular stump speech where little would be left to chance, the lead-in sentences of the paragraph seem a bit strange, particularly the part about "run your own house" (not _home_) as an indicator of whether someone shares your values. Since that section had caused me to think about Edwards, I started considering why.
I know enough about psycholinguistic programming (or NLP) that the two uses of "house" in one sentence seemed likely triggers, given the widespread attacks on Edwards as being an elitest with the extravagant "house" who doesn't share the values of real Americans.
Hillary's "I'm your girl!" quote is an interesting example, with her using it in 2006 and recently. First, the word "girl" softens her slightly and helps make her seem less threatening. Then, it makes it harder for a man to have a quick response, certainly not "I'm your boy!" (particularly in the case of Obama given how loaded "boy" is). An "I'm your man" type response is about all that would be available.
Now where did I leave my tinfoil?
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Hunter redux
Jennifer Hunter devotes her entire Sun-Times column today to the fallout of her "intepretation" of Michelle Obama's comment on Tuesday: http://www.suntimes.com/news/hunter/522597,CST-NWS-hunter23.article
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Barack Obama told the Associated Press that his wife "has been making that speech constantly about the decision we made to make sure that our family was strong because if our family wasn't that strong then we couldn't be a strong leader in the White House."
"The whole thing about Hillary has been completely fabricated," Obama added. "You guys have got to get it off your minds."
OK, but as I stood there in Atlantic, Iowa, listening to Michelle Obama talk and hearing the cadence of her speech, my immediate reaction was that she was obliquely referring to the Clintons.
And the rest of her explanation says volumes more about Jennifer Hunter than it does about Mrs. Obama.
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Sunday NYT confirms that MO was contrasting with Edwardses
The Jodi Kantor NYT article on candidates' children on the campaign trail reiterates and confirms that Michelle Obama was contrasting their family values with those of the Edwardses.
Kantor's article also has several sections that serve as hits on Edwards, including a lot of loaded language like "upended", "dragged", and "pleasure palace". This was not the case wrt the other candidates she discusses.