The Women Headline Grabbers: Michelle, Barbara, Oprah and Hillary
By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer
Posted May 2, 2008 – Michelle Obama has hit the campaign trail this week to help get the campaign back on message and off the Rev. Jeremiah Wright drama.
Obama told CNN that her husband has spoken for them both on the topic, and she’s ready to move on.
“So, yes, it was painful. Yes, it’s been difficult. But I think that, you know, the more difficult thing that this country is facing is really trying to move politics into conversations around problems and problem-solving. And that’s what we’re going to be pretty determined to do. And I think, you know, this is about all I’m going to say on the issue,” she said.
…But veteran journalist Barbara Walters sure had plenty to say this week…
… And, of course, she said it first to talk-show diva Oprah. Walters is about to embark on a book tour to promote her memoir, “Audition.” A leaked transcript of the show revealed 
that Walters talked about a romantic relationship she had three decades ago with Massachusetts Republican Sen. Edward Brooke, who in 1966 became the first Black elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
Who knew?
Brooke and Walters’ careers were both on the fast-track in the early 1970s, so they both decided to keep the relationship under wraps. Brookes’ was married at the time, and Walters was a recent divorcée.
“I was excited, fascinated, intrigued and infatuated,” Walters recalls. She admits she wanted to marry him and asked him to divorce his wife, but friends warned her that the ethical and racial issues would ruin both of their careers. The affair ended before Brooke’s re-election campaign in 1978.
And, finally …
…While Sen. Hillary Clinton keeps her eyes on the prize, one of her super-delegate supporters decided to make a super-switch Thursday and jump on board with Sen. Barack Obama.
Joe Andrew, the former head of the Democratic Party (from 1999-2001), appointed by former President Bill Clinton, announced his leap to the Obama camp during a news conference in his hometown of Indianapolis.
Andrew explained his endorsement and encouraged other super-delegates to do the same, saying that uniting around Obama was the best way to “to heal the rift in our Party.” There was some good news for Clinton, however; she is gaining in polls in Indiana and North Carolina polls, leaving Obama with slimmer leads in both contests.
O wow, Pamela. Is this the best post you could muster?
52 US servicemembers dead (including the sista hyperlinked in my name–this is one woman who didn’t grab headlines), anti-immigration rallies across our country, and we get a weak, warmed-over version of this week’s news?
You go, girl.
Thank You Chuck.
Didn’t Baba Wawa have an affair with Abraham Lincoln?
Thank you Chuck,
I concur with your comments on this weak news, my bad , this weeks news. Global warming is raising the tempreture of our seas causing our aquarian life to die off, off the coast of California and surrounding Islands.
GOD BLESS, Peace
I didn’t know that Barbara Walters affair with Senator Brookes was supposed to have been a secret. I remember hearing about it back in the 70’s. It was common knowledge amongst me and my peers. I recall seeing a picture that the two had taken together, and I also recall a rumor about Ms. Walters having a child for Senator Brookes. But we found out later that her daughter was adopted. This affair was no secret. Mostly everyone that I know knew about it or heard some sort of rumor about it.
Yep-it’s time for the slanderers to move out of the gutter, and then move on…yawn.
The media is attempting to lessen Barack’s wins. Please know what the caucus means.
Caucus: “Caucus” is used as both a noun and a verb. A caucus, n., is a group of people who share something in common (e.g. they are members of the same political party, such as the Senate Republican Caucus or the House Democratic Caucus, or come from the same area of the state, such as the Coastal Caucus or the Eastern Oregon Caucus, or share something else in common, such as the Freshman Caucus or the Women’s Caucus). When these people caucus, v., they meet to address their group’s policy questions and to select political candidates for office, or political party leaders. Both major party caucuses have meeting rooms in the Capitol.
I AM GLAD TO SEE MICHELLE OBAMA ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH OBAMA, LIKE BILL HAS BEEN BEHIND HILLARY MICHELLE APPEARS TO BE LIKE MOST WOMEN THE MORE AGGRESSIVE OF THE TWO, ALTHOUGH THE JEREMIAH WRIGHT CONTROVERSARY SOME PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP HARPING ON TO DISTRACT PEOPLE AWAY FROM THE REAL PRESSING ISSUES, I THINK THIS STRONG LADY BEHIND HER MAN; SUPPORTS BOTH THEIR DECISIONS THOUGH SAD AS IT MAY BE; TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM A MINISTER WHO WAS BEEN IN THEIR LIVES FOR SO MANY WONDERFUL EVENTS AND YEARS. THEY SEEM TO BE ALWAYS SACRIFICING SOMETHING WHILE OTHERS SEEM TO BE GIVEN A FREE WALK!!!