ABC’s Political Radar blog, 1/21/2008:

Sen. Barack Obama says he’s ready to confront former President Bill Clinton, calling his advocacy on behalf of his wife’s presidential campaign, “troubling…”

“You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling,” Obama said. “He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts — whether it’s about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. This has become a habit, and one of the things that we’re gonna have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he’s making statements that are not factually accurate.”

Fair enough. Once the spouse hits the campaign trail, they’re fair game, right? Just because Bill’s standing up for his wife doesn’t mean he should be above criticism.

But hold on a second. From today’s Vote2008 blog at ABC:

Sen. Barack Obama ripped into a Republican ad today that targets comments made by his wife, Michelle, and called the GOP tactic “low class” and “detestable…”

“The GOP, should I be the nominee, I think can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record,” Obama said. “I’ve been in public life for 20 years. I expect them to pore through everything that I’ve said, every utterance, every statement. And to paint it in the most undesirable light possible. That’s what they do.”

“But I do want to say this to the GOP. If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because that I find unacceptable,” he said.

Bill Clinton’s advocacy of his wife’s campaign: Troubling.
Michelle Obama’s advocacy of her husband’s campaign: Above reproach.

Obama’s supporters must be able to reconcile these two contradictory statements. Ready, set, spin!