Michelle Obama Speaks Up (UPDATED)

UPDATE: I have located the pool reporter who did this reporting and it is none other than Lynn Sweet from the Chicago Sun-Times, who is reportedly an Obama favorite.

NY Post:

Michelle Obama has lashed out at her husband's 2008 rivals for peddling "baseless claims" against him - including charges that "he is not black enough, he is not white enough," according to a transcript of her surprising remarks to supporters.

Michelle, a Harvard-schooled lawyer, took on the role of campaign hatchet woman against Sen. Barack Obama's political opponents when she introduced her husband to 1,000 donors at a $1.5 million fund-raiser Sunday night in Chicago.

"Don't be fooled by people who claim that it is not his time. We are all too familiar with those baseless claims," she fumed.

"We've heard this spewed from the lips of rivals . . . every phase of our journey: He is not experienced enough, he should wait his turn. He is too young, he is not black enough, he is not white enough . . . he is too articulate, he can't raise the money."

"Don't be fooled by these claims, because they are mere distractions," she said. "Distractions that keep us mired in fear so that we are unable to focus on the real issues that are dragging us down as a nation."

Only in the world of politics, Michelle Obama said, "would insiders dare to look at those accomplishments and dare to have the audacity to say he is not ready."

The unusually harsh comments - delivered the same weekend that Obama officially launched his campaign - appeared to be tough shots at other Democratic White House hopefuls.

Last month, after Obama announced his presidential exploratory committee, his rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) called for a "spirited debate . . . about experience" - a dig at Obama's short time in the Senate.

Clinton also has repeatedly refused to say whether she believes the Illinois Democrat is qualified to be president.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), another presidential contender, apologized to Obama after saying in an interview, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Another presidential rival, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), said recently on CBS: "I think experience matters to people. The stakes are very, very high right now. This is not a time for on-the-job training."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton, said Michelle Obama was only making a "lighthearted comment" that was warmly received. Asked which "rivals" she was referring to, he responded in an e-mail, "more than one candidate has made such allusions."

The comments were recorded by a newspaper pool reporter whom the Obama campaign had barred from entering the room when Michelle Obama was speaking.

The reporter listened to her speech through the wall of an adjoining room and then distributed quotes from the speech to other media. The Obama campaign didn't dispute the remarks attributed to Michelle.

Reader Advisory: The NY Post is a wingnut rag.