Obama: GOP trying to make me and Michelle 'scary'
Posted: 10:20 AM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney


Sen. Barack Obama has told critics to 'lay off my wife,' Michelle Obama.
(CNN) ¨C Barack Obama said Thursday he fully expects Republican's to play the fear card in the general election, and will attempt to portray both him and his wife Michelle as "scary."

Speaking at a high-dollar fundraiser in Chicago's Hyde Park on Thursday evening, the Illinois senator said he thinks he knows what the GOP strategy will be this fall.

"They¡¯re going to try to make me into a scary guy. They¡¯re even trying to make Michelle into a scary person. Right?" Obama said. "And so that drumbeat ¨C 'we¡¯re not sure if he¡¯s patriotic or not; we¡¯re not sure if he is too black.'

WATCH: How Michelle Obama may be a target

"I don¡¯t know, before I wasn¡¯t black enough," Obama said. " 'Now he might be too black. We don¡¯t know whether he¡¯s going to socialize ¨C well, who knows what.' "

As CNN reported Thursday, conservatives may view Michelle Obama as a potential target this election season, following her controversial comment earlier this year that, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

In May, the Tennessee Republican Party used video of Michelle Obama's comments in a TV ad that aired during one of her husband's campaign stops in the state. The ad features Tennesseeans saying why they are proud of America while repeatedly cutting to Michelle Obama's comments. The Obama campaign called the ad "shameful," and it was condemned by the state's two Republican U.S. senators

Michelle Obama later said her comments were taken out of context, and she meant that for the first time in her life she was proud of the politics of America.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of EMILY's Ellen Moran predicted to CNN Michelle Obama will be an asset to her husband's campaign.

"I believe that the electorate sees her as a fresh face, an authentic speaker, and she gives real compelling voice to everyday problems that working mothers face and that is compelling in of itself, and I believe the republicans are trying to blunt that," Moran said.