Family Matters (Politics, Home Style): David & Susan Axelrod and Epilepsy; Bristol & Sarah Palin Interview on Greta (UPDATE 1X: GM Retiree Health Benefits Dropped–the Next “Attached String” Falls into Place?

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Did you see the latest issue of Parade Magazine this past weekend?

Call me a cynic, but are we seeing the first salvo in the next campaign planned by the Obama Administration regarding health care?

I didn’t know who the people were on the cover, but when I took the time to read the story inside, it turned out that the story was about how the daughter of Obama’s guru David Axelrod and his wife Susan discovered and have coped with the serious epilepsy problems of their daughter, Lauren.   It’s part of a “Heroic Parents” series.  And, this story was followed up with an appearance on the Today Show on Monday (which I did not see).

From the web edition of the story:

When her daughter was diagnosed with uncontrollable epilepsy, Susan Axelrod knew:

I Must Save My Child

By Melissa Fay Greene

Publication Date: 02/15/2009

Susan Axelrod and daughter Lauren, 27 (photo by Katherine Lamber for PARADE)

For more on the Axelrods and CURE, tune in to NBC’s TODAY show on Monday, February 16.

When Susan Axelrod tells the story of her daughter, she begins like most parents of children with epilepsy: The baby was adorable, healthy, perfect. Lauren arrived in June 1981, a treasured first-born. Susan Landau had married David Axelrod in 1979, and they lived in Chicago, where Susan pursued an MBA at the University of Chicago and David worked as a political reporter for the Chicago Tribune. (He later would become chief strategist for Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign and now is a senior White House adviser.) They were busy and happy. Susan attended classes while her mother babysat. Then, when Lauren was 7 months old, their lives changed overnight.

MORE

The story goes into great detail about Lauren’s condition and her mother’s efforts to bring the serious problems created by epilepsy into the light and mentions then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s help as  for the organization  founded by Susan Axelrod, CURE.

Susan began to meet other parents living through similar hells. They agreed that no federal agency or private foundation was acting with the sense of urgency they felt, leaving 3 million American families to suffer in near-silence. In 1998, Susan and a few other mothers founded a nonprofit organization to increase public awareness of the realities of epilepsy and to raise money for research. They named it after the one thing no one offered them: CURE–Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy.

“Epilepsy is not benign and far too often is not treatable,” Susan says. “We wanted the public to be aware of the death and destruction. We wanted the brightest minds to engage with the search for a cure.”

Then-First Lady Hillary Clinton signed on to help; so did other politicians and celebrities. Later, veterans back from Iraq with seizures caused by traumatic brain injuries demanded answers, too. In its first decade, CURE raised $9 million, funded about 75 research projects, and inspired a change in the scientific dialogue about epilepsy.

The efforts by Susan Axelrod are certainly wonderful, but I am so cynical about everything that comes out of anything connected to Obama that I had to wonder if this whole thrust–a big cover story followed up by the Today Show–is part of the campaign to sell the health care changes that are brewing.  First we had Daschle and the house parties, now we have changes to health care that will probably affect many seniors in possibly negative ways, and now this PR effort involving David Axelrod and his family.   But Axelrod isn’t the focus of this story, it is his wife and daughter. My skeptic sensor wonders if this is a way to put a “human face” on the mastermind behind what could be some pretty upsetting changes in the works.  Is it the Obama crowd’s “I feel your pain” moment??

I don’t know if you can call it “exploitation” of Lauren, who is 27 years old. But there is something here that makes me uneasy.  Because we’ve come to learn that there is NOTHING that the Obama crowd does that doesn’t have some purpose.  I think there is something else afoot.

Today I thought about how Obama trotted his girls out at that party which the press attended, and then “realized” after the fact that it might be “too much exposure” for them.  And all through the campaign there were the huge crowds, which we found out were partly due to opening rock bands, food and beer in some cases.  The whole Obama campaign has been one big PR blitz, aided by the mainstream media.

So pardon me if I have mixed feelings about this story on the Axelrods and epilepsy.  It’s great that there is some information put out there, but…

Coincidentally, Greta Van Susteren did another segment up in Alaska on last night which opened with Bristol Palin and her baby.  Sarah Palin came on and the discussion was about the difficulties of raising a child and how they are lucky to have a family willing to pitch in.  It was a very factual and real discussion.  But was it exploitation? All I know is that I didn’t get the creepy feeling I got after I started mulling over the Axelrod article.  The Bristol Palin part of the segment was over and done with fairly quickly(it was only a very small section of the full interview; full video below).

The interview went on to a discussion of the stimulus package which Gov. Palin framed in terms of how the states might be left holding the bag on future costs of expanded programs and how the bill was rushed to the floor even though most people hadn’t read it. She wondered about the rush to vote since the bill signing was delayed until Tuesday.  She said that she thought a bill that hadn’t been read or debated should be vetoed. She commented on the Fairness Doctrine and how someone had to be questioning the Administration and that silencing critics could be bad for our democracy. And she talked about a letter she had sent to Obama about energy policy that apparently has gotten some positive feedback.  She also stressed again about ultimately becoming energy independent and bringing renewable energy sources online and how she’s like Obama to visit to see what really is happening with energy in Alaska.  (This was the longest interview shown last night; see Sarah Palin Interview below.)

Links to the videos:

Bristol Palin interview (much longer than the short piece on last night’s On the Record.

***Sarah Palin Interview

Introducing Tripp

So there they are, two back-to-back family stories which lead back to politics. In the case of Palin, it was a straightforward interview with Bristol and then policy talk with the Governor (and a spot on the snowmobile race that Todd Palin finished in 6th place.  In the case of the Axelrod interview, it was full of painful detail with no OBVIOUS politics.

But, be forewarned. I really think it’s part of an unfolding plan…and a sneaky one at that.

***

P.S.–I still go with Palin…

UDATE

H/T to The Confluence

Tuesday: GM dumps retiree health care

So, GM gets bailed out…is this one of the “attached strings” for taking the money???   Slots in nicely as the next step in the PR campaign? (Fear, on the heels of “feel your pain”….)

What’s Wrong with This Story?–WSJ: Obama Says Palin’s Family is “Off Limits”

HUH????

You know, the cynic in me is saying that Obama is being so magnanimous so that people don’t go snooping into his fuzzy family history…I keep thinking about Bill Clinton’s references to the “Constitution” before and during the Convention…

Anyway…

So, after lifting nary a finger to express his concern over the misogynist references to Hillary Clinton by the media and his followers, and, indeed, GIVING her the finger, Obama is being “classy” and telling the hounds to lay off Sarah Palin’s daughter. (Funny, I don’t remember any concerns about the Schuster “pimping Chelsea” comments on MSNBC.)

The Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire

September 1, 2008, 3:48 pm

Obama Says Palin’s Family Is ‘Off Limits’

Amy Chozick reports from Monroe, Mich., on the presidential race.

Barack Obama had harsh words for reporters asking about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s pregnant teenage daughter: Don’t go there.

“I think people’s families are off limits and I think people’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president and so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” Obama told reporters after a Labor Day BBQ in Monroe, Mich.

The response comes after Palin and her husband, Todd, released a statement that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, is five-months pregnant. A rumor circulating the blogosphere claims someone inside the Obama campaign leaked the pregnancy to the media. An unnamed McCain aide said the same to Reuters, according to the news wire service’s report.

Obama said he was “offended” by the accusation.

“We don’t go after people’s families, we don’t get them involved in the politics, it is not appropriate and it is not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be. And if I ever thought it was somebody in the campaign that was involved in something like that they would be fired,” he said before getting into his campaign bus visibly disturbed by the question.

Obama had gathered reports to release a statement about Hurricane Gustav and the latest efforts to make sure evacuees have adequate facilities and can return safely to their homes as soon as possible. But the brief press conference quickly shifted to Palin’s daughter — the buzz of the day on both campaigns.

Obama and wife, Michelle, have tried to shield their two young daughters from the spotlight. The Democratic nominee came under criticism earlier in the campaign cycle for saying his wife, who actively campaigns on his behalf, was “off limits” to media scrutiny.

By the way, this story omits a comment by Obama that was shown on FOX; he said that “after all, his mother had him at 18.”

So, let’s take this WSJ story one underlined comment at a time.

Obama thinks children should be off limits and he’s shielded his two kids?  What was that party all about with all the video that was released?  Oh, yeah, he decided it was a mistake after it had been shown.

As for his comments about Michelle…well, I wrote a piece about this victim business (Politico’s Jim Vandehi Shills for Michelle “Camille” Obama)  Seems to me that the Obama camp went into “victim” mode after Michelle had shot her mouth off a few times and got some flack. Let’s see, she called Hillary a “bitch,” wanted to “tear Bill Clinton’s eyes out,” and said that Hillary if couldn’t manage her own marriage then she couldn’t handle being President.  Of course, any criticism of the delicate Michelle was “off limits…”

And now, we see that Obama is “offended” by the accusation that this his campaign pushed the story.  Gee, haven’t we heard this line this before????

And if I ever thought it was somebody in the campaign that was involved in something like that they would be fired,” he said before getting into his campaign bus visibly disturbed by the question.

Followed by the outrage and SHOCK that such a thing could even be suspected, of course.  Which, again, puts him into the wounded victim mode we’re used to seeing at the same time he appears “above it all.” Meanwhile, his surrogate Donna Brazile thinks Bristol Palin is “fair game.” So, when does she get FIRED?

Frankly, if the McCain camp thinks the Obama crowd got this thing going, then I’m inclined to believe them. It also shows that the McCain camp knows exactly the sort of game the Obama campaign likes to play and is willing to bring it up.

There’s one other thing that is striking about this whole business. McCain and Palin certainly didn’t try to hide Palin’s daughter in the attic and there are pictures around which do show her with a fairly large abdomen.  It’s not as if they tried to pull a “John Edwards denial.”  I give McCain credit for not using this sort of thing as an excuse to eliminate Palin from consideration, and I give Palin credit for telling McCain about it.

It’s also interesting that while the McCain camp thinks the story about Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was leaked by the Obama campaign, they make no such accusation relating to the initial rumor that Sarah Palin was the mother of her young baby born this past spring.

The McCain campaign was outraged by the blog rumors.

“There’s no doubt that liberal blogs such as one called www.barackoblogger.com and some in the mainstream media were pushing a false story about Gov. Palin’s most recent pregnancy with fervor,” said senior McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace.

A senior McCain official said its camp had no evidence that the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama was pushing the story, but said the blog rumors circulating on websites that appeared to support Obama had the effect of being “a real anchor around the Democratic ticket.”

This indicates to me that the McCain camp isn’t into wholesale accusations but is willing to differentiate between what are campaign actions versus the actions of supporters.  I think this is worthy of some respect.

As for Obama…I’m back to my original thoughts…it’s easy for him to say the story is “off limits” even if his campaign didn’t bring on the game.  Perhaps they view the quick declaration that the story as “off limits” and his “understanding” of the situation as a necessary thing…after all, we wouldn’t want to start people to start thinking about Obama’s own background, right? But, I guess no one from the mainstream media will be “filling in the details” about Obama’s birth and his comment about his mother having him at 18 is probably the end of the story. Meanwhile, I’m still wondering why he didn’t bring his wife and kids to see grandma in Hawaii and why no one ever commented on how odd that was. (Wasn’t the excuse “security,” or something like that?)  I may be way off base with my take on the Obama reaction and denials, but I don’t trust a thing that comes out of that campaign…

And I sure wish BIll Clinton would let us know what he’s thinking about the Constitution these days…