Michelle Obama Gets Personal

Sept. 7, 2007 — -- It used to be that private details about presidents or would-be presidents were kept, well, private.

But Americans are increasingly becoming privy to personal information about politicians, leaving some to wonder whether it's all TMI -- too much information.

In an interview in the October issue of Glamour magazine, Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois disclosed that her two girls refuse to cuddle with her husband in the morning because he is too "snore-y and stinky."

"We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and if Dad isn't there -- because he's too snore-y and stinky, they don't want to ever get into bed with him. But we cuddle up and talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?" Michelle Obama told Tonya Lewis Lee, author and wife of filmmaker Spike Lee, in an interview for Glamour magazine.

This isn't the first time Michelle Obama has disclosed personal information about her husband to the press. She caught some flak for a previous comment about how her husband won't pick up his dirty socks. But Michelle Obama said she's just telling it like it is.

"People understood that this is how we all live in our marriages. And Barack is very much human. So let's not deify him, because what we do is we deify, and then we're ready to chop it down," Michelle Obama said in the interview. "People have notions of what a wife's role should be in this process, and it's been a traditional one of blind adoration. My model is a little different -- I think most real marriages are."

Scholars say political figures are adapting to a voracious 24-hour news cycle that is increasingly focused on the personal lives of celebrities.

"The cycle demands new information and interesting wrinkles about presidential candidates," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.