Saturday, June 9, 2012

Wife factor in US campaigns


Wife factor in US campaigns

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US first lady Michelle Obama speaks to supporters and volunteers as she campaigns for her husband President Barack Obamas re-election at the VFW Post 1503 June 7, 2010 in Dale City, Virginia. According to a poll that was released June 7, Obama is still leading Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Virginia.
Photo|AFP US first lady Michelle Obama speaks to supporters and volunteers as she campaigns for her husband President Barack Obamas re-election at the VFW Post 1503 June 7, 2010 in Dale City, Virginia. According to a poll that was released June 7, Obama is still leading Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Virginia. 
By JOHN NGIRACHU in Kansas City, Missouri. jngirachu@gmail.com
Posted  Saturday, June 9  2012 at  19:28
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney might be in a neck-and-neck race for the presidency in November but for most Americans, the two men’s wives – Michelle and Ann – are more favoured than them.
With President Obama, the running joke has been that people like his wife more, and her ratings have remained high as his (Obama’s) plummet with the change he has been slow to bring.
A Washington Post poll showed an approval rating of 69 per cent for Michelle and 56 per cent for her husband. Ann was at 40 per cent and only five percentage points above her husband at 35 per cent.
Political side
The candidates’ wives often present a softer, more likeable and less outrightly political side to the hard, rough and tough-talking personalities they often need to put on to get the voters on their side.
Obama is already well known as a smooth-talker who easily connects with his audience and makes his case without seeming to labour through it. It might be harder for Romney, the serious manager and businessman, and that’s where his wife helps him out easily.
Romney has often had his wife Ann introduce him at campaign rallies. He will often start his speech with a little dedication to her and refer to her as “my sweetheart”. Ann is a housewife, a breast cancer survivor as well as a mother of five boys.
Because her husband is a millionaire, the fact that she is not a typical working mother, Hillary Rosen, a strategist for the Democrats, suggested that she wouldn’t know much about working hard.
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In a country where family is valued – the first question strangers ask is often whether one is married – this criticism was a perfect opportunity for Ann Romney to hit back.
“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” she said. This would resonate with many Americans, who have to pay a lot of money for day care or worry about their children going astray as they work to put food on the table and pay the mortgage.
Mrs Romney has also had to deal with multiple sclerosis, a disease of the nerves, and has spoken of her struggle with the illness and the recovery process.
If she replaces Michelle in the White House, Mrs Romney would be well-advised to take on the anti-obesity campaign Mrs Obama elected to push during her husband’s first term.
On the campaign trail, Michelle has been doing the grassroots campaigns that helped her husband in the last elections, and which could become difficult when he is running a country and on the campaign trail.
It routinely involves making stops at small towns for photo opportunities with supporters or even making conference calls to groups.
For Ann Romney, it involved campaigning solo for her husband in Florida, speaking at a cancer treatment centre, where she said she gives her husband “comfort” and described him as “very funny”.
Funny or not, Michelle and Ann have a long way to go in the coming months, whether they choose to hop on their husbands’ planes, buses or share their hotels or on their own.
Mr Ngirachu is on a training programme in the United States.

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