Michelle Obama sidesteps questions about Palin, on Larry King Show (VIDEO)

[jefferson_dem]

Michelle Obama sidesteps questions about Palin
Posted: February 9th, 2010 07:01 PM ET

From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Washington (CNN) – First lady Michelle Obama sidestepped questions Tuesday about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has been publicly critical of her husband's presidency.

"I try not to make or set opinions about people I haven't had any substantive interaction with," Michelle Obama said in an interview scheduled to air on CNN's Larry King Live. "I mean, I know what you see on TV."

Asked later if she considered the 2008 vice presidential nominee to be a "phenomenon," the first lady again withheld criticizing Palin.

"Again, I mean, I think it's wonderful to have strong, female voices out there, but I don't know her," Obama said.

With her keynote address at last week's Tea Party convention, Palin has continued a pattern of hard-hitting critiques of President Obama that began on the campaign trail in 2008.

The first lady did defend her husband's record after a year in the Oval Office. "Democracy is about critique and the president is not immune to criticism," she said.

"I think he is doing a phenomenal job," she continued. "We have to think about where he was when he took office. We were on the brink of a depression - worse than anyone really ever imagined. And I don't think the country really knew how bad things were.
And because of some important steps; quick thinking; smart, strategic thinking, we're not even talking about that. We've got to do more on jobs. We need to get health care done. There's a lot of work to be done. We need to do more to improve the civility in Washington and if there's a disappointment - Barack wishes that we'd come farther in that effort."

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