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Obama And Wife Michelle Plan Major TV Appearance

Posted by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief in Media, Politics.
Apr 30th, 2008 | Comments

This looks like quintessential — and usually quite effective — damage control: politically sagging Democratic Presidential nomination contender Barack Obama is planning a major mutual T.V. appearance with his wife Michelle, the Los Angeles Times reports:

Now that Barack Obama has distanced himself publicly, if painfully, from the pastor who married him and his wife and baptized their children, he is getting close to the wife in a national television appearance.

NBC’s Meredith Vieira will sit down with Barack and Michelle Obama today in Indianapolis for an interview that will air on the “Today” show Thursday. A segment of the talk will air on NBC’s “Nightly News” and on MSNBC this evening.

Michelle Obama has been a tireless campaigner for her husband on the road. And now, as the Democratic candidate for president attempts to put the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in the campaign’s rear view mirror, he is presenting a new image for public consumption: A professional and happily married couple willing to face a rough political time together.

This kind of appearance by beset candidates can indeed work since it provides lucrative sound bites that are played over and over and helps offset some other negative news that has come out of news cycles.

The most prominent example of an appearance of this kind that was successful is from 1992 when then-Governor Bill Clinton went on 60 Minutes to be grilled by Steve Kroft amid allegations of (pre-Oval Office) infidelity. His wife Hillary Clinton was by his side. DETAILS HERE.

DLS

How Clintonesque of the Obamas.

The Pajama Pundit

While the situations look similar at first glance, I would disagree that this is 'Clintonesque' because the Obamas are not engaging in damage control for something that THEY did. They are continuing to engage in damage control for something that a former pastor/narcissistic demagogue did.

No infidelity here... 'as far as I know'...

http://thepajamapundit.com/

superdestroyer

I wonder which white relative gets it this time. Or does Senator Obama finally have his Sister Soljah moment where the throws a black person under the bus instead? At least the black voters will keep voting for him at a 90% rate but whites may not like a second round of throw grandma under the bus.

T_Steel

I submit that the phase "throw under the bus" be drawn and quartered while burning at the stake. I used the term recently without thinking and nearly vomited.

And the "throw grandma under the bus" angle is so off-base. Where did he? When did he? The big race speech you say? Naa... He just understood why his grandma felt that way. Understanding = Throw Under the bus? Sounds like fresh bullcrap.

superdestroyer

T-Steel,

Just like blacks just know when whites are being racist, white Americans just know when they are being called racist. Senator Obama called his grandmother a racist because it benefited him.

Of course, since so few people have lived in Hawaii, they were unable to put in into context. The idea that there was a menacing black man hanging around a bus stop in Manoa is laughable, Besides, Hawaii is the most diverse state in the United States and is a place that most blacks feel very uncomfortable living. If anyone acts like racist in Hawaii, it is the few blacks to live there.

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