A swipe at the Clintons? Here's how I saw it (LEFTY COLUMNIST TAKES CREDIT FOR REPORTING RATFIGHT)

I'm glad I took the day off Tuesday, when the firestorm hit. I didn't read my e-mails; I didn't watch television. I jogged and bought groceries and tended to my family, so I didn't know what happened until Wednesday morning.

Apparently, my column on Michelle Obama became a rant for the news media when it ran that morning -- I guess there is not enough to report in the dog days of August. The aim of the column was to note how much Michelle Obama had grown into her job as wife of presidential wannabe, Barack Obama, how animated and passionate she was about her husband's candidacy.

But in the fifth paragraph of the story, I suggested that during an introduction to a speech by her husband, something she said could be interpreted as a swipe against the Clintons, and that set the tongues wagging, hit Drudge's Web site, was discussed on CNN, ABC and MSNBC and prompted an e-mail from Michelle Obama's communications director, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, who said I had completely misunderstood what Michelle Obama had said.

This is from Michelle Obama's introduction to her husband's speech: ". . . part of what we want to do as a family is to make sure that our children are sane, but also to model what it means to have family values in this country, and we haven't seen that for a long time . . . [applause].

"One of the most important things that we need to know about the next president of the United States is, is he somebody that shares our values, is he somebody that respects family, is a good and decent person? So our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House.

"So we've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first, so when he's traveling around, I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning. I get the girls ready. I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime."

Lelyveld told me in a phone conversation that Michelle Obama "was only referring to her family and making sure her girls are guided and strong." It was not a jab at the Clintons, Lelyveld said.

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.

Well, she said she and Barack were modeling "what it means to have family values in this country and we haven't seen that for a long time" [emphasis added]. Wasn't Bush the family values guy? What did Michelle mean by "we haven't seen that [family values] for a long time"?

Then she talked about the future president being someone who "respects family . . ." Did Bill Clinton show respect for his family with his bimbo eruptions? Did he consider the impact on his child, let alone his wife?

Michelle Obama added: "So our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."

The Clintons certainly did have a hard time running the White House and their own house during the Monica Lewinsky affair as independent counsel Kenneth Starr and his henchmen began snooping around and President Clinton was impeached by Congress.

So you can see where I was going with this. It didn't take a huge leap of logic. My mistake was not grabbing Michelle Obama when she left to ask for further elaboration -- I was waiting to hear her husband speak.

But at least my column -- which is my own opinion -- did give the news shows something really important to talk about.

"The aim of the column was to note how much Michelle Obama had grown into her job as wife of presidential wannabe, Barack Obama, how animated and passionate she was about her husband's candidacy."

As a reporter, you are supposed to report. When you put out information, you don't control the meaning or import of that information. This Jennifer Hunter seems to believe that only her spin on the information is valid.

Secondly, the bigger question is what is news? Is it "news" to report on how Mrs. Obama has "grown" into her job as wife of a candidate? And to "report" on how passionate Mrs. Obama is for her husband to win, so she could become First Lady? Is that "news"?

In '92 and '96 the "get two for one" candidates Billary perfected the "aggressive-victim" game. Hillary would go out and attack political opponents. When they would respond, Bill would go out and complain, how "they" are attacking his wife and she's not running. So today for the '08 election, we have the wives of Clinton political opponents attacking Hillary.

Jennifer Hunter sees this development as "growth". I see this as anti-democratic, perverse and game-playing, which pretty much defines the Clintons. Thanks Billary for your contribution to American political culture.

I'm a little late to any discussion on the Michelle Obama "stir" ...but if this is her actual quote, I strongly disagree in that, say what you want about George Bush, I think he and Laura have demonstrated the utmost in family values while occupying the White House, and it's disingenuous for M. Obama to say: "we haven't seen that for a long time."

Has that been pointed out?

". . . part of what we want to do as a family is to make sure that our children are sane, but also to model what it means to have family values in this country, and we haven't seen that for a long time . . ."

"Frankly, I am fed up with politicians in Washington lecturing the rest of us about family values."

- Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton
Democratic National Convention, 1992

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