In 2007, ABC reporter Claire Shipman enthused that the race between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was one of "fluid poetry" versus "hot factor." On Tuesday's "Good Morning America, she rhapsodized about the spouses of these two Democratic candidates. According to Shipman, "...I think it says it all that [Michelle Obama's] Secret Service code name is renaissance."
Discussing the campaigning being done by the senator's wife in Indiana and North Carolina, the correspondent enthused, " More, more, more. Michelle Obama's straight style has always been an asset." (Shipman made no mention as to whether Mrs. Obama's claim that the 2008 campaign marked the first time she was proud of America was an example of this "straight style" or if that comment was an asset to the campaign.) As for Bill Clinton, Shipman declared that all had been forgiven for previous verbal gaffes: "And what's most interesting is this campaign has gone on for so long, we've seen one spouse go from asset to liability, to asset again." Marveling at the ex-president's exuberance, she applauded, "No event is too early, no schedule too full, no front porch too small."
Before proclaiming Clinton's events like "old times," Shipman reiterated her seeming happiness over the former commander in chief's ability to (lately) not make an error: "Bitter, finger-pointing Bill has been replaced by a come-back spouse full of rosy remembrances."
A transcript of the May 6 segment, which aired at 7:05am, follows:
ROBIN ROBERTS: That is something to keep an eye on. Jake, thanks so much. The candidates are not the only ones enduring grueling days out there on the campaign trail. Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton have shifted into warp speed to help their spouses. GMA senior national correspondent Claire Shipman has all the details for us. Good morning, Claire.
CLAIRE SHIPMAN: Good morning, Robin, Indeed they have. And what's most interesting is this campaign has gone on for so long, we've seen one spouse go from asset to liability, to asset again. For Bill Clinton, it sure seems like old times.
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: President Bill Clinton!
SHIPMAN: No event is too early, no schedule too full, no front porch too small.
BILL CLINTON: Now, I went to 47 towns in Pennsylvania. 39 in Indiana. And by the time I'm done here, I think I'm going to top 50 in North Carolina.
SHIPMAN: His days a gleeful political endurance test. A 7:30 start Monday in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. And then it's 9:15 in New Bern. 11:15, Jacksonville, 1:30, Smithfield 3:00 Zebulon and on and on and on and on in a dizzying pretzeled race across the state to Raleigh at 11:00pm.
CLINTON: Hello, Raleigh!
SHIPMAN: Nine scheduled campaign events in one day, more than his wife, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama combined. Bitter, finger-pointing Bill has been replaced by a come-back spouse full of rosy remembrances.
CLINTON: It was tough in 1992 and we wound up with the eight best years we've had in modern history.
SHIPMAN: He's finally found his welcoming niche, working-class, small town working America. Crucial turf for Hillary.
CLINTON: I'm the designated rural hit-man in the campaign.
SHIPMAN: The Clinton campaign says robo-Bill is paying off. In Pennsylvania, for example, they say of the 41 districts where he campaigned, his wife won 36. Meanwhile, the spouse strategy in Obamaland? More, more, more. Michelle Obama's straight style has always been an asset. The campaign believes she can appeal to the working class which he needs in a way he can't. And the trump card this weekend --
MICHELLE OBAMA: We're with our little peas.
SHIPMAN: --campaigning as mom. And I think it says it all that her Secret Service code name is renaissance. Her team really views her as an all-around asset. And boy is she being deployed now, Diane.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.




















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Michelle
May 6, 2008 - 11:48 ET by iveseenitallThe left can't stand President Bush. As a result, they've ignored (or worse, scorned) his wonderful, dignified wife. Michelle Obama is the opposite of Laura Bush. She's snippy, ungrateful, and ignorant. Can you imagine the likes of her being our nation's "first lady", pretending to have any class at all? I'm sickened at the thought.
Michelle as "first lady" or Bill as "first man". Do the Limbo Rock--"how low can you go?"
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
I'm with you...
May 6, 2008 - 11:53 ET by heldmyw...and I thought Jawn Kerry's wife was as poor as you could get, First Lady-wise.
But if Theresa Heinz Kerry is Rosanne Barr, Michelle "Grumpy" Obama is Rosie O'Donnell.
Ew.
iveseenitall - right you are
May 6, 2008 - 12:05 ET by Gary Hall.. but there is still more to be seen. And it doesn't look like Michelle Obama is simply "snippy and ungrateful." she appears to be downright angry and bitter, and one might expect that as she became bitter and angry over the years and found herself clinging to her religious mentor (Rev. Wright) and his message of antipathy towards people who are not like him, as a way to explain her frustrations over issues that she simply couldn't understand.
And this is the way she comes across on a regular basis (personally, it may appear to some here, that her mannerisms mimick someone with a problem): Michelle Obama.
I said before, in that
May 6, 2008 - 12:21 ET by motherbeltI said before, in that video you don't even have to listen to her...just watch her face and body language! At the end, watch her face as her left hand goes to rest on her hip. Then check out this one from the Today show (linked in the post) and look at how sullen she looks...and the muscle in her cheek....
Huge asset? I don't think so. IMO, she could end up being a deal-breaker.
Michelle code name Omarosa
May 6, 2008 - 12:26 ET by MaximusBraveheartSo we could have 'Omarosa' Obama as our first lady. Great... not really... so this will be interesting in a sad way. McCain is sounding better and better.
BILL
May 6, 2008 - 11:59 ET by fonzie2178CLINTON: It was tough in 1992 and we wound up with the eight best years we've had in modern history.
No, Bill, it was the best eight years of YOUR life, for the rest of us it was excruciating and we are still paying the price today. One misconstrued word by a Republican and they never live it down, but a democrat can sit in the Oval Office doing "all of us know what" with the interns and it's the best eight years in modern history. (insert vomiting sound)
"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."
shipman
May 6, 2008 - 11:56 ET by opnpt0Is Claire trying to look like Jodi Miller....
As far as spouses go McCain is the clear winner. She is hot!
CINDY MC CAIN...
May 7, 2008 - 08:07 ET by danybhoyShe is hot, but if you want the real difference between her & the mouthy Michelle, just look at what they do.
While Michelle Obama bitches about how we need to help children, Cindy McCain actually helps them, & does'nt blow her own horn about her good deeds...
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0420firstlady.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-14-cindy-mccain_N.htm ...
She is just a bit classier then Mrs. Obama. Sometimes less is more Michelle, you might figure that out at some point. Also, walk it, don't just talk it, you might EARN some respect.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
I think it says it all that
May 6, 2008 - 12:01 ET by balboaI think it says it all that [Michelle Obama's] Secret Service code name is renaissance.
Not anymore...
Hope she wasn't
May 6, 2008 - 12:08 ET by fonzie2178undercover, people get railroaded for outing "undercover" agents. Or for being accused for outing them, whether or not they really were undercover to begin with... I could go on all day.
"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."
Actually, I think it was
May 6, 2008 - 12:28 ET by Tim the EnchanterActually, I think it was misheard. The code name is actually "Rennie's Ass".
Who's Rennie?
May 6, 2008 - 12:31 ET by balboaWho's Rennie?
Not quite sure, but it's
May 6, 2008 - 12:49 ET by Tim the EnchanterNot quite sure, but it's important to know, since the qualities of the part of anatomy thus named would determine whether this is a compliment or an insult.
I decided to remove
May 6, 2008 - 12:58 ET by fonzie2178my reply, I'm pretty sure it was in poor taste. Don't want to stoop to the Dem's level. My apologies to those who saw it already.
"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."
How can you not know
May 6, 2008 - 13:45 ET by Roger the ShrubberHow can you not know Rennie? One of only two players to ever go 7-for-7 in a nine inning game!
Way to go Rog!
May 7, 2008 - 11:50 ET by Tim the EnchanterWay to go Rog!
Asset to liability, to asset again
May 6, 2008 - 12:19 ET by YahooWatcherIn the case of Bill Clinton, it's ass to liability, then back to being an ass.
One of the things I find so humorous is the media gushing all over themselves and basically calling the race a lock for either Hussein or HRC against McCain. Then comes the election night let down like in '00 and '04. The MSM then spends the next few months picking their behinds wondering what the hell happened. You would think these people in the MSM would learn.
Bill and Michelle are
May 6, 2008 - 12:47 ET by bigtimerBill and Michelle are assets now huh...
...ROFLMAO!
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Not a big businessman,
May 6, 2008 - 12:56 ET by fonzie2178But I know an asset is something you use until you no longer have need for it. Judging by the words and actions of these two clowns, we shouldn't have to hear from either for much longer.
"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."
bt - on the spouses...
May 6, 2008 - 12:58 ET by Gary Hallbt - on the spouses... Last week (I might have commented on this before) we were talking to friends, and was asked something like, " so what's your larger concern about either Obama or Hillary being in the White House." It struck me instantly - my immediate knee jerk reaction is that I don't want either of their spouses in the White House. (;~> gary
Why is it that all of this
May 6, 2008 - 12:58 ET by Darth DutchWhy is it that all of this focus is only on the Left's spouses? I mean, look at Shipman's quote of Bill:
"Bitter, finger-pointing Bill has been replaced by a come-back spouse full of rosy remembrances."
It's obvious that the bitter Bill is the real one and he is only now "rosy" because he has to be. No one ever has an instance where there is a bitter Laura Bush. Remember Teresa Heinz Kerry? There was a lot of talk about how much of a liability she was because she wouldn't or couldn't shut her trap and was very abrasive, much like Hilary. You don't hear anything about McCain's wife because she doesn't shoot her mouth off the way the people on the Left do.
I just find it interesting that Bill and Michelle are being praised for what should be the norm - niceness. But if you are nice all the time, like Laura Bush, you don't get a word printed about you.
Darth Dutch
I couldn't finish reading this story, I was gonna hurl.
May 6, 2008 - 13:51 ET by Britcom---
Communist vs. Statist '08
Q. Is Panamanian born John McCain a "Natural Born Citizen"
There She Blows Again
May 6, 2008 - 14:22 ET by BarkerJust an opinion:
I've noticed that Michelle Obama seems to have a constant case of the
"sniffles". She really should be 'forced' to get some 'health care' for
that.
It must be pretty tough out there on the cocaine....errr...campaign trail.
VRWC!
May 6, 2008 - 18:56 ET by CobraMan"Bitter, finger-pointing Bill has been replaced by a come-back spouse full of rosy remembrances."
I wonder if this "rosy" spouse remembers her hilarious claims of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy that she accused of attempting to bring down her 'Come-Back Kid' husband. I don't know about you, but I would definitely define that behavior as bitter finger-pointing.
Can anyone tell me how
May 6, 2008 - 20:49 ET by stratmanCan anyone tell me how Secret Service code names are chosen.
If the Secret Service choose the code name, isn't it possible they picked a name for Mrs. Obaminator that was tongue-in-cheek?
RRAM Tough!
I heard her new code name is
May 7, 2008 - 09:23 ET by Roger the ShrubberI heard her new code name is Omarosa.