LAY OFF MY FAMILY

...is the none too subtle banner headline at the Huff Po.

Obama told CBN News that he is deeply disappointed that John McCain has not spoken out against political attacks leveled at his wife.

"I think families are off limits. I would never consider making Cindy McCain a campaign issue,"

And why should he, when he has surrogates by the score to do it for him? It's not unusual to see a story of Barack castigating someone for busting on Michelle right next to a story of someone else busting on Cindy McCain. Say Anything, where I also blog, has its own resident troll that rags on Cindy McCain ad nauseum. Huff Po, demonstrating their relevance to national politics has a story accusing Ciondy McCain of plagiarizing a cookie recipe! (Horrors!)
So, Barack can afford to take a break from making Cindy a campaign issue. He has people to do that for him!

"Senator McCain agrees with Senator Obama that spouses should not be an issue in this campaign, and he has stated that position frequently," Joe Pounder, McCain's spokesman, said. "Unfortunately, when the Democratic National Committee was attacking Mrs. McCain, Senator Obama was not strong enough to stand up and speak out."

"Obama's silence speaks volumes, and it's unfortunate that he would single out others for a standard he himself has failed to live up to."

To borrow from the cookie metaphor, if Michelle can't stand the heat, tell her to get out of the kitchen! If she campaigns for him, her opinions and her character are fair game. Politics ain't bean bag, Obama! Get over it!

Update: I was thinking this AM, it might just be Clintonian parsing: in that he will not make it a campaign "issue", but the negative tone will just be part of his "campaign"!

Cross posted at Say Anything