Smiling but showing the wear of the past twenty months of campaigning, Michelle Obama made an appearance on The Daily Show last night, where Jon Stewart immediately remarked on how strange it was that after such a long campaign and such thorough public vetting, "This woman from Alaska, Sarah Palin, wants to know who you are."
Stewart asked, "Do you ever think to yourself...who are you?" "That does cross your mind," replied Obama.
The two discussed the growing intensity of the campaign rhetoric, centering on Barack Obama's past. Michelle Obama noted that the grueling primary process had already brought thorough scrutiny, and more or less confirmed that they would not be going on "family ski vacation" with Bill Ayers. Though who knows, maybe if Bill Ayers had gotten involved in some healthy activities as a young man, no one would be worried about this stuff today.
Obama confessed that she's tuned out some of the media conversation, saying, "I've stopped reading and watching a lot of stuff." "So you are a lot like Sarah Palin," Stewart joked. But Sarah Palin reads everything! All the newspapers! Crazy McCain oppo! Starbucks coffee cups! She's like a Roomba for the "verbage."
Actually, in Palin's defense, Michelle Obama mispronounces the word "pundit," as well.
Obama went on to say that she enjoyed the debate, despite the pressure of having to make a Daily Show appearance. "He very clearly believes you observe him with an objective eye," Stewart prompted. Obama replied, "I put myself in the position of a voter, and I tell him, if I don't believe you, I'm not voting for you, buddy." But, lest you think there's some fence-sitting, she did declare herself to be an "Obama momma."
Michelle Obama also tamped down the notion that there's any sort of personal friction between the candidates and their families. "I think some of that gets overanalyzed...we don't have time for long conversations, but [Cindy McCain is] very cordial...we have to be careful about all of this, because some of it is theater. And the reality is, Barack has tremendous respect for Senator McCain."
[WATCH, PART ONE]
[WATCH, PART TWO]