Michelle Comes Out Swinging: Accuses Clintons of 'Smear Tactics,' Willful Distortions

January 24th, 2008 4:45 PM

Yesterday, the Obama campaign put out an email from John Kerry condemning the "Swiftboating" of Barack. Today it's Michelle Obama's turn, and the candidate's wife has come out swinging. Here's the text of an email from Michelle Obama just received from the Obama campaign [emphasis added]:

Mark --
In the past week or two, another candidate's spouse has been getting an awful lot of attention.
We knew getting into this race that Barack would be competing with Senator Clinton and President Clinton at the same time.
We expected that Bill Clinton would tout his record from the nineties and talk about Hillary's role in his past success. That's a fair approach and a challenge we are prepared to face.
What we didn't expect, at least not from our fellow Democrats, are the win-at-all-costs tactics we've seen recently. We didn't expect misleading accusations that willfully distort Barack's record.
Barack Obama isn't relying on a former President of the United States to campaign for him. He's relying on us -- you, me, and hundreds of thousands of people like us who are giving whatever they can afford to support this movement.
Please stand up in the face of these new attacks. Make your first online donation of $50 today and own a piece of this campaign.
Barack's unwavering opposition to the war in Iraq, his outspoken support of women's rights, and his call for leadership that will transform our party and our country have all been mischaracterized in the past two weeks.
We've seen disingenuous attacks and smear tactics turn people off from the political process for too long, and enough is enough.
It's time for a change. It's time for a new kind of leadership and a new kind of politics in our party and in our country.
And while Senator Clinton has a former president in her corner, I'll put my faith in a movement of a whole lot of people who are ready for change.
South Carolina votes in 48 hours, and more than 20 states will make their voices heard in less than two weeks on February 5th.
Now is the time for all of us to step up and take personal responsibility for making change happen.
Please make your first online donation of $50 now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/reliesonyou
Thank you,

Michelle

Talk about Dems forming a circular firing squad . . .