On Wednesday Barack Obama talked to Glamour’s editor-in-chief Cindi Leive and answered questions from their readers, particularly about women. Below is the except that they posted on Glamocracy- and it’s all about Michelle. Fair enough-Obama is pissed that people are talking shit on his wife- who wouldn’t be?! My favorite quote,

…And I think that it is an example of the erosion of civility in our political culture that she’s been subjected to these attacks

Treatment! Read on…

 

GLAMOUR: An AP poll shows that while the positive ratings on Michelle are higher than those of Cindy McCain, her negative ratings are higher as well. I’m curious about how as a husband that makes you feel. Does it mystify you? And what do you want to say to those Americans who don’t know the woman that you know?

SENATOR OBAMA: It’s infuriating, but it’s not surprising, because let’s face it: What happened was that the conservative press—Fox News and the National Review and columnists of every ilk—went fairly deliberately at her in a pretty systematic way…and treated her as the candidate in a way that you just rarely see the Democrats try to do against Republicans. And I’ve said this before: I would never have my campaign engage in a concerted effort to make Cindy McCain an issue, and I would not expect the Democratic National Committee or people who were allied with me to do it. Because essentially, spouses are civilians. They didn’t sign up for this. They’re supporting their spouse. So it took a toll. If you start being subjected to rants by Sean Hannity and the like, day in day out, that’ll drive up your negatives.

  

  

 

 

 

 

Everybody who knows Michelle knows how extraordinary she is. She’s ironically the most quintessentially American woman I know. She grew up in a “Leave it to Beaver” family. She is the best mother I know. And our kids are a testimony to that, because she’s really had to raise them, oftentimes without me being there. She’s the most honest person I know, she’s smart, she’s funny, so yeah, it infuriates me. And I think that it is an example of the erosion of civility in our political culture that she’s been subjected to these attacks, and my attitude is that the people who have attacked her in the ways that they have…if they’ve got a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her.

GLAMOUR: You said before that your campaign would never take aim at Cindy McCain. Do you believe that the McCain campaign has had a hand in these attacks on Michelle?

SENATOR OBAMA: I wouldn’t say the McCain campaign itself, but I would say that the apparatus of conservative columnists, blogs and the like. Talk shows, talk radio….When you see in the span of two or three or four weeks essentially the same talking points being used on a whole variety of shows or a whole variety of columns, over and over again….Hillary Clinton was subject to this, others have been subject to this in the past…It is part of our political environment that I’d like to change.

GLAMOUR: On “Larry King Live” last night you somewhat shrugged off how it feels when you see depictions of yourself in the press and you said, You know, I have a thick skin. Is it harder to have that thick skin when it’s about your spouse and not about you?

SENATOR OBAMA: I don’t have a thick skin when it comes to criticism of my wife. And you know, the problem is that rarely do these folks have the guts to say it to your face.

You might want to keep your voices down, everyone is gonna’ find out that you’re an asshole.

PS–The full interview will be published in Glamour’s October issue.