2008 Woodie Awards
Column: Behind candidates are active, public families
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Editorial
Who's really running for president here?
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. These names (and their respective views on various issues) are engrained in our collective zeitgeist - at least until November.
But what about the lesser known, but equally influential, people who are there at every press conference and every win, and sometimes even out on their own making speeches and begging for votes? These people aren't getting paychecks or even something to put on their resume.
Michelle Obama has been very visible (and very vocal) throughout her husband's campaign. Mrs. Obama has repeatedly tried to humanize her husband. In a September 2007 interview with Glamour magazine, she said Barack is "so snore-y and stinky" that their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha, don't want to crawl into bed with him. After Maureen Dowd, a columnist for The New York Times, wrote last April that Michelle's comments might be "emasculating, casting her husband-under fire for lacking experience-as an undisciplined child," she has stopped sharing details about her husband's hygiene, but is still going strong about life on the campaign trail, her daughters and her faith in her husband.
Former president Bill Clinton has been accused of parading around for his wife, almost overshadowing her at events.
"When you're dealing with the Clintons in '08, you essentially have two candidates - her and him - and he's going to have to have a Boy Scout report card given his history," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley in a March 28 interview with the International Herald Tribune. "He can definitely help her, but that also means he can hurt her."
Late last week, as part of a campaign tour of Northern Carolina for his wife, Clinton urged voters in Greenville to vote for his wife, saying, "You need someone who thinks about you every day and who doesn't forget about you after she gets elected."
While Bill is appealing to his former followers in hopes of transferring their support to Hillary, Chelsea is working the circuit to attract a younger crowd. Despite MSNBC correspondent David Schuster's inappropriate comment that Hillary was "pimping out" her daughter, Chelsea has been working hard to attract the youth demographic that many may have already thought to be Obama's. She doesn't like to talk to the press, but she does give speeches and answer questions to almost anyone who will listen.
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. These names (and their respective views on various issues) are engrained in our collective zeitgeist - at least until November.
But what about the lesser known, but equally influential, people who are there at every press conference and every win, and sometimes even out on their own making speeches and begging for votes? These people aren't getting paychecks or even something to put on their resume.
Michelle Obama has been very visible (and very vocal) throughout her husband's campaign. Mrs. Obama has repeatedly tried to humanize her husband. In a September 2007 interview with Glamour magazine, she said Barack is "so snore-y and stinky" that their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha, don't want to crawl into bed with him. After Maureen Dowd, a columnist for The New York Times, wrote last April that Michelle's comments might be "emasculating, casting her husband-under fire for lacking experience-as an undisciplined child," she has stopped sharing details about her husband's hygiene, but is still going strong about life on the campaign trail, her daughters and her faith in her husband.
Former president Bill Clinton has been accused of parading around for his wife, almost overshadowing her at events.
"When you're dealing with the Clintons in '08, you essentially have two candidates - her and him - and he's going to have to have a Boy Scout report card given his history," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley in a March 28 interview with the International Herald Tribune. "He can definitely help her, but that also means he can hurt her."
Late last week, as part of a campaign tour of Northern Carolina for his wife, Clinton urged voters in Greenville to vote for his wife, saying, "You need someone who thinks about you every day and who doesn't forget about you after she gets elected."
While Bill is appealing to his former followers in hopes of transferring their support to Hillary, Chelsea is working the circuit to attract a younger crowd. Despite MSNBC correspondent David Schuster's inappropriate comment that Hillary was "pimping out" her daughter, Chelsea has been working hard to attract the youth demographic that many may have already thought to be Obama's. She doesn't like to talk to the press, but she does give speeches and answer questions to almost anyone who will listen.
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