Iron Woman-Why the sure-to-be blistering GOP attacks on Michelle Obama won't work

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http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=bf2d6a06-68ce-4c23-a8fa-d99b97442df7

Iron Woman by Ed Kilgore
Why the sure-to-be blistering GOP attacks on Michelle Obama won't work.
Post Date Monday, June 30, 2008

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Why am I convinced the campaign against Michelle Obama is going to backfire if it's not abandoned? There are three reasons.

First, the Obama campaign has learned from past slurs, particularly the legendary "Swift Boat Veterans" attacks on John Kerry in 2004. As Obama campaign manager David Axelrod told Newsweek in April: "He's not going to sit there and sing 'Kumbaya' as the missiles are raining in. I don't think people should mistake civility for a willingness to deal with the challenges to come."

And the Obama campaign seems particularly determined to deal with attacks on the candidate's wife. In just the last two weeks, The New York Times reported a major effort to "reintroduce" Michelle Obama, and just as importantly, to bat down the slurs against her. The speedy explosion of the "whitey video" rumor (which Michelle Obama herself mocked as "something George Jefferson would say") showed that both mainstream media and progressive bloggers were vigilant about this kind of sludge. Sean Hannity of Fox News, the self-designated launching pad for many of the personal attacks on both Obamas, hasn't been able to draw a poisoned breath without immediate contradiction. A recent issue of the checkout-line staple Us Weekly has a heartland-reassuring cover story entitled "Why Barack Loves Her." The campaign itself has launched a Web page aimed at knocking down smears against both Obamas. And there's a new independent site, called Michelle Obama Watch, devoted to full coverage of the coverage of the putative first lady. It's abundantly clear that Team Obama doesn't buy the conventional wisdom of the past that counsels a resolute silence in the face of personal attacks.

Second, the effort to make Michelle Obama seem "alien" and "radical" runs up against the truth in ways that are going to be difficult to ignore. If anything, Michelle Obama's persona, history, and "message" are more reassuringly American than her husband's. In contrast to his exotic and complicated background, hers exhibits the contemporary version of the Horatio Alger myth: a family rooted in South Carolina and transplanted to the southside of Chicago; a hard-working father (struggling against a degenerative disease, MS) and stay-at-home mother; great success in a series of highly competitive and racially integrated school settings; and the abandonment of a bright career in corporate law to become a non-profit organizer, an executive for a non-profit hospital, and most of all, a devoted wife and mother of two children.

The truth obviously hasn't gotten in the way of personal attacks on candidates and their families in the past, but the more they are presented and reinforced in the course of a campaign, the less sway rumors, whispers, and anonymous e-mails control the flow of information. Both the facts about Michelle Obama, and aggressive efforts to present them, will help to expose the racism at the heart of the overall conservative assault on the Obamas as "Not Like Us."

Which leads to the third point: While many Americans harbor conscious and unconscious racist attitudes, they don't much like to be reminded of them. Indeed, in a general election contest in which John McCain desperately needs to beat Barack Obama among white women, flirting with racism could be particularly hazardous to the GOP. As John Judis pointed out, public opinion research suggests that the modern-day "gender gap" between the two parties is at least partly attributable to the antipathy many white women have expressed towards Republican racial attitudes. Along those lines, Republican "racial inclusiveness" rhetoric has long been aimed not at attracting African-American voters but at convincing white swing voters that voting Republican doesn't mean voting racist. All that could be at risk if McCain abets too much anti-Michelle Obama talk.

In the end, attacks on Michelle Obama as some sort of (literally) dark and dangerous presence face a high threshold of credibility, and ultimately depend on the belief that she reflects a hidden underside of Barack Obama's sunny, optimistic and inclusive persona. It's not entirely within the control of the Obama campaign to rebut that suggestion. But everything about the real Michelle Obama--and the campaign's efforts to present her to us--should make that easier.


Ed Kilgore is the managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, an online forum and blogging site.