Obama Tells Tennessee Republican Party to 'Lay Off My Wife'

In an interview on ABC's Good Morning America Obama said, "These folks should lay off my wife." Obama was referring to a video posted on YouTube by the Tennessee GOP that showed their disapproval of a comment she made they considered unpatriotic.

The controversy started when Michelle Obama said, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm proud of my country." Critics went wild. The four-minute long video that caused Obama to say, "lay off my wife" replayed what she said six times, interspersed by Tennesseans commenting why they are proud of America. A news release by Tennessee's GOP including a link to the video said:

The Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America.

They also urged radio stations to play "patriotic music" during Michelle Obama's visit to Nashville last Thursday. According to reports, Obama was on Good Morning America where he said:

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

Obama said his wife loves the United States and to try to distort that, or simply playing snippets of her remarks that are unflattering, is low class. He also said he thinks most Americans would agree. Critics wonder why Michelle hasn't had anything to be proud of until her husband entered the presidential race. So, let's take a little look at her life and you make the call. She grew up in a South Shore community area of Chicago in a conventional two-parent home. She graduated from high school then went on to Princeton University where she graduated cum laude with an Artium Baccalaureus. From there she went on to Harvard Law School where she obtained her Juris Doctor degree. After law school she became an associate at the law firm of Sidley Austin in their Chicago office. Michelle held positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor and Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. Later she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization that encourages young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She has also served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, and while there she developed the University's Community Service Center. Michelle still holds a position at the University of Chicago Hospitals. She was first the executive director for community affairs and now is Vice President for Community and External Affairs (albeit she now only works part time). She had served as a salaried board member of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. which is a major Wal-Mart supplier. She gave up that position when her husband criticized WalMart-Mart at an AFL-CIO forum in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 14, 2007. She does serve on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Here is a video that I found that would be worth viewing.