Michelle Obama has been criticized for her less than generous comments about the country. But while in Phoenix she had a very nice comment -- about her husband:

This campaign has shown America that Barack Obama may not be perfect, but this campaign has also shown America that Barack Obama will always take the high road. Consistently. Over and over and over. He will always take the high road.

She also addressed her husband's safety:

I've talked about this before. Barack is probably safer now than he was before. Kids are dying in the street in our community. They get shot walking to class, sitting in school, taking the bus home. They are dying in the street.... Send us good vibes. Pray for us. Think positive thoughts. But most of all, be vigilant. Be vigilant about stopping this kind of talk.
It's not funny. You don't have to like Barack to dislike that kind of talk. Be vigilant about stopping that kind of talk.

(ht Halperin)

Among the pieces of paper stacked on my desk is a question I had hoped to ask John McCain at a campaign stop in Florida back in late January regarding a contradiction in his energy policy.

As with the other GOP contenders last year, McCain often framed the question of breaking our dependence on foreign oil (and his further support for measures to combat climate change) as a "national security issue." Yet at the same time, he's voted against drilling in ANWR and constantly defers to decisions against boosting local production at the state level under the guise of taking a "federalist approach" to offshore drilling, which he summed up in a response at the Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan last year:

I wouldn't drill off the coast of Florida unless the people of Florida wanted to. And I wouldn't drill off the coast of California unless the people of California wanted to, and I wouldn't drill in the Grand Canyon unless the people in Arizona wanted to.

Obviously, the first problem with McCain position is that for years Alaskans have overwhelmingly favored drilling in ANWR. So much for the "federalist approach."

A further contradiction is this: If breaking our dependence on foreign oil is truly an issue of US national security as McCain suggests, then isn't his obligation as Commander in Chief to urgently pursue all possible options to achieving that goal?

Those options include alternative fuels and nuclear power, as McCain has proposed, but they would also most certainly include boosting domestic exploration and production.

McCain is trying to have it both ways which, last time I checked, is the opposite of "straight talk."

Via Drudge, Rupert Murdoch takes Keith Olbermann to the woodshed:

So why aren't there more liberal voices on Fox News, Kara Swisher asked? Murdoch replied that he would hire a liberal voice if he could find one that was strong enough.

"Would you hire Keith Olbermann?" Swisher asked.

Murdoch's response: "No, I fired him five years ago... He's crazy."

Olbermann's last "Special Rant Comment" on Hillary Clinton has me thinking Murdoch may be not far from the mark. The full 10:42 of Keith in his unhinged glory can be viewed here.

Hillary's got a new ad up in Montana, focused on the economy:

More videos in the Vlog.

Hillary's got a new ad up in Montana, focused on the economy:

More videos in the Vlog.

Northwestern University grads are peeved because their commencement speaker is only the Mayor the 3rd largest city in America.

Apparently they were hoping for a bigger name, like Barack Obama, John McCain, or someone with the stature of last year's speaker: Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

After a fast and furious assault from John McCain and the RNC yesterday, Obama said last night he is now "considering" a trip to Iraq. He probably has to go now, for political purposes, but the whole idea of visiting Iraq to get a "better view" of what's going on there is kind of silly. It's not like Obama is going to change his mind about the war, regardless of what he sees.

In fact, if you want a preview of how it would play out, look no further than Nancy Pelosi, who sat down with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday after returning from Iraq last week:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who visited Iraq last week, said she has seen nothing to change her view about the war she opposed from the outset.

"This is a mistake in every possible way," she said during an interview with The Chronicle's editorial board Wednesday. She reiterated her belief that the war has weakened the United States' international stature, has sapped resources that could be used at home and has stretched the nation's military resources to a dangerous degree. President Bush's "surge" strategy failed to accomplish its stated purpose of providing an opening for reconciliation, she added.

Obama's response would be no different. To be clear, this door swings both ways: as a matter of politics, John McCain is locked into his position on Iraq and is unlikely to change course regardless of what happens between now and November - though, to be fair, McCain can rightly say that he has a record dating back to 2003 of advocating for a change in tactics in Iraq based upon conditions on the ground.

Still, it is important for politicians - especially those running to be Commander in Chief - to visit war theatres like Iraq and Afghanistan if only to show support and respect for the troops serving there. Obama probably should have visited Iraq more than once for this reason alone.

To my mind the more damaging claim - which Obama appears to have confirmed last night - is that he never made the effort to meet privately with General Petraeus at any point during his trips to Washington.

Senator Obama had the opportunity to receive a private, unvarnished briefing from the man responsible for directing what is unquestionably the country's most consequential military operation in decades, and it appears he never sought such a meeting. It's a small detail, but one that could prove part of a larger, more damaging narrative for his campaign as the general election gets into full swing.

Both figuratively and literally, it turns out. Hillary Clinton meandered through the Badlands of South Dakota yesterday, making a stop for a little "tourist" fun--a visit to Mount Rushmore.

While the New York senator enjoyed the site, she was surrounded buy a U-shape of cameras hoping to get a shot of her looking at the monument while a traveling staffer insisted on standing in front of the her to block the shot. When the staffer refused to move after many calls from the press and other staffers, Clinton turned around and said "this is a tourist occasion."

A reporter attempted to ask Clinton if she could see herself on the famous monument. Clinton just raised her hands in the air and said "I" and sighed. Another reporter asked "Do you think Bill Clinton should be up there?" Clinton didn't answer and said "why don't you learn something about the monument."

Ha ha. Clinton "ignored" almost all press questions at the event, according to reports. As Gail Collins notes, perhaps it was symbolic:

On the day before Hillary's arrival, Mount Rushmore had been enveloped in a cold, damp fog that completely obscured the presidents. It was a bracing 34 degrees, but tourists soldiered through anyway, shivering and snapping pictures of each other standing in front of a big cloud of mist.

"Maybe that's a metaphor of the national climate," said Skip Brown, a visitor from Minneapolis...

When the idea of visiting Mount Rushmore came up, Hillary must have intuited how perfect it was. Not only the site of an impossible dream come true, but also the place where visitors make the best of the cards they're dealt, prepared if necessary to stand around admiring an impenetrable fog.

Clinton heads to Montana early next week.

In an interview this morning on the "Today Show," former White House press secretary Scott McClellan spoke out about his new book "What Happened" for the first time.

Asked why he's releasing the book now McClellan stuck to what he says is "the larger message [that] has been sort of lost in the mix", what he called "the permanent campaign culture in Washington DC."

"My hope is that in some small way it might help us from the destructive, partisan warfare from the past 15 years," McClellan said.

McClellan talked about the transition from working for Bush in Texas and then the White House and his disappointment that they had failed to live up to their "Uniter, not a Divider" message.

Asked if he was thrown under the bus, McClellan said, "That's one way to look at it."

McClellan talked about the Valerie Plame Wilson affair in which he says he was told by Scooter Libby and Karl Rove, "No, we were not involved in this."

"I blame myself for going to the podium and passing along information that turned out to be false," McClellan said.

"The other defining moment was in early April 2006 when I learned that the president had secretly declassified the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq for the Vice President and Scooter Libby to anonymously disclose to reporters."

"This was not a deliberate conscious effort [to lie], everything is centered in trying to manipulate the narrative to their advantage," McClellan said, referring to the run-up to the Iraq war. "You get caught up in trying to sell this war for the American people."

"I gave them the benefit of the doubt, I felt like we were rushing into this. Looking back on it now, I don't think I should have."

Referring to the president, McClellan said, "He largely is a gut player, goes on gut instincts when making decisions. Very early on, he made a decision 'we're going to confront Hussein' there was little flexibility."

On Vice President Cheney: "He was given a lot of deference by the President. He was given wide authority to implement things the way he saw best. I think that in a number of ways he has not served the President well, the secrecy and compartmentalization of the White House, I don't think that's a healthy thing in this transparency society."

On Condoleezza Rice: "Too often she was too accommodating...too deferential to [Cheney and Rumsfeld]."

Dan Bartlett responded to McClellan's remarks: "I think the part that strikes all of us as a bit odd, he talks about wanting to change the tone, yet uses harsh language."

Bartlett added that McClellan was not involved in the pre-war phase within the White House: "In that crucial period before the war, in that case he was a Deputy Secretary in charge of domestic affairs, he was not in those meetings."

Bartlett said that most of McClellan's strong accusations lacked evidence to back them up and while other employees would voice concern over certain issues, "Never did I feel like I got that kind of candor from Scott behind the scenes."

In the Headlines:

"Ex-Bush aide's criticisms stun a team built on loyalty" (David Jackson and Richard Wolf, USA Today) - It's not unusual for a former White House official to write a book -- but it is when the author is a fellow Texan and he's attacking President Bush for his handling of Iraq...

"Florida and Michigan May See Delegates Halved" (Katharine Seelye, New York Times) - An analysis by lawyers for the Democratic Party says party rules call for Florida and Michigan to lose at least half their delegate strength at the party's convention in August, an outcome that could close off Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's last opportunity to cut significantly into Senator Barack Obama's lead in delegates...

"McCain challenges Obama to visit Iraq" (Maeve Reston and Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times) - Speaking with evident condescension, Arizona Sen. John McCain needled Barack Obama on Wednesday by offering to travel to Iraq with the Illinois senator to help him gain a better understanding of the war and the consequences of withdrawing troops...

"On Policy, Obama Breaks Little New Ground" (Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post) - Obama has not emphasized any signature domestic issue, or signaled that he would take his party in a specific direction on policy, as Bill Clinton did with his "New Democrat" proposals in 1992 that emphasized welfare reform or as George W. Bush did with his "compassionate conservatism" in 2000, when he called on Republicans to focus more on issues such as education...

On the Morning Shows:

Good Morning America - Ari Fleischer responded to Scott McClellan's accusations in his new book: "It makes me wonder, did Scott ever believe the things he said from the podium? Which Scott is the real one? The most salacious accusations here deal with the lead up to the war in Iraq and the war in Iraq. During these times I was the Press Secretary, Scott was the Deputy Press Secretary in charge of domestic issues. He shouldn't have been in those loops, he wouldn't have been."

"I think Scott left on a bad note, and certainly Scott had a difficult tenure while he was there because of other issues involving the CIA leak case and I think he's now taking that out on the President and I don't think that's right. And I think he's inventing facts after he left now to say that the President manipulated information."
(Video)

Fox and Friends - Fleischer: "[McClellan] has crossed the Rubicon. He's going to have to live with this."

Morning Joe - Dan Bartlett, on the president's reaction to McClellan's book: "I think it's safe to say that he's disappointed, like all of us are, and, quite frankly, surprised."

Obama communications director Robert Gibbs, on Obama going to Iraq: "It's under discussion...I don't think we'll be taking that trip with John McCain."

(Greg Bobrinskoy contributed to the Morning Report.)