Newsweek put hope-monger's wife Michelle Obama on the cover this week, and they offer a lengthy interview and story that remind us all how Ms. Obama is very smart and outspoken, and also pretty sarcastic. In fact the cover story is basically identical to recent profiles in both the Times and the Wall Street Journal! But obviously there's a lengthy lead time for the newsweeklies, and hey, there are only so many ways to call a woman "sarcastic." This many ways:

  • "Direct and plain-spoken, with an edgy sense of humor uncommon in a political spouse, she complements her husband's more grandiose style. She can be tough, and even a little steely, an attitude that stems, at least in part, from wanting to live up to the high expectations her father set for her."
  • "If his loftiness can set him apart from the crowd, her bluntness draws them in."
  • "She isn't the traditional Stepford booster, smiling vacantly at her husband and sticking to a script of carefully vetted blandishments. Still new enough to politics that she doesn't yet belabor her every word, Michelle's sharp humor poking fun at her husband—she's joked that Obama snores and has bad breath in the morning—can sometimes fall flat."
  • "She realizes not everyone finds her jokes funny, but doesn't seem all that interested in curbing her tongue."

Descriptions of Michelle Obama in other news sources:

  • "Outspoken, strong-willed, funny, gutsy and sometimes sarcastic." Also "forthright, comfortable in the trenches, and often more blunt than Mr. Obama." Also "biting humor." —New York Times
  • "You strike me as someone who likes to say what's on her mind, pretty feisty. I've read that ... you can be sarcastic." —Katie Couric
  • "But worries about her sarcastic humor being taken the wrong way have forced her to cut back some of her public candor, she admits." Also "sarcasm to his sincerity." —Wall Street Journal
  • Barack's Rock [Newsweek]