Michelle stays cool on 'Daily Show'

Cindy McCain may have gone on the attack on her husband's behalf, but Michelle Obama has stepped back into the media spotlight by turning the other cheek to the sharp Republican attacks raining down on her husband.

Interviewed on Jon Stewart's satirical The Daily Show on NBC and Larry King Live on CNN, she was careful to express only respect for the McCain-Palin ticket, and batted attempts by the two hosts to get a rise out of her by bringing up Sarah Palin's accusations that Mr Obama consorted and associated with an urban terrorist.

Watch Michelle Obama on the Daily Show (part one)


Instead she described Mrs Palin, Alaska's one-term Governor, as an "excellent example" of how women can juggle work and family. "She's doing publicly what so many women are doing on their own privately," Mrs Obama told King. "What we're fighting for is to make sure all women have the choices Sarah Palin and I have."

Michelle Obama on the Daily Show (part two)


There was one flash of steeliness when Stewart asked her if, when faced with the Palin mantra 'Who is the real Barack Obama?', she wasn't tempted to retort: "Who are you?" "That does cross your mind," she said.

Her interviews are aimed at courting white working-class women voters attracted by Mrs Palin, and she reassures people about her husband and herself. She also told Stewart she can be a harsh critic of her husband: "If I don't believe you I'm not voting for you buddy, you've got to win me over," she said, before adding that at heart she is an "Obamamama".