Obama and Michelle

Washington, May 19 (AP): Democrat Barack Obama has a message for Tennessee’s Republican Party: “Lay off my wife.”

Obama, his party’s presidential front-runner, and his wife, Michelle, were asked in an interview aired today on ABC’s Good Morning America about an online video last week by the state’s Republicans taking her to task for a comment some considered unpatriotic.

The Republican Party “should I be the nominee, can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record,” Obama said. “If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful because that I find unacceptable, the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family.”

He called the strategy “low-class”.

The video, posted on YouTube, centred on remarks Michelle Obama made while campaigning in Wisconsin last February, when she said: “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.”

The four-minute video replayed the remark six times, interspersing it with commentary by Tennesseans on why they are proud of America. In a news release that included a link to the video, the Tennessee Republican party said, “the party has always been proud of America.” It urged radio stations to play “patriotic music” during Michelle’s visit to Nashville last Thursday.

Michelle later clarified the remark, saying she meant she was proud of how Americans were engaging in the political process and that she had always been proud of her country.