Couple Questions

I was interested in the shot which accompanies Howard Fineman’s latest Newsweek piece, The Couples Campaign – link.

Ostensibly, it introduces us to Michelle Obama and raises the subject of couples as political partnerships.  Would we be seeing this image, however, if Maureen Dowd hadn’t set off a Geffen – Clinton flame war, while accusingly referring to Hillary’s campaign as “Clinton Inc.?”  At this point, one has to wonder if Fineman’s piece is now part of a bandwagon effect, looking to keep up the questions, at the innuendo level, about Bill’s role in Hillary’s (or, is it their?) campaign.

Given the candidate lacking a head, Michelle’s proximity, and the spouse monitoring things more closely than the handler (if that’s what the guy on the left happens to be), we have the image of the spouse as the ultimate political player. Given the theme of the article, it seems like we’re also prompted, at least on one level, to imagine Hillary standing in Barack’s place, and Bill — suddenly materialized — measuring Hilary’s ever gesture and word.

Whether you have reactions to the political context, thoughts on this odd portrait of the Obamas or specific comments about this introduction to Michelle Obama, I was wondering what you read.



(image: Scout Tufankjian / Polaris for Newsweek.  February 26, 2007. msnbc.msn.com)