Some months back—it might have been as long as a year ago—I saw a fairly lengthy TV interview with Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. During the interview, Obama admitted that he had smoked for about three years, but that he'd quit. He looked a bit sheepish when he said it, because Michelle was giving him the fish-eye. She piped up and said that he had "officially quit," but still tries to tries to sneak a smoke from time to time. She's really on his case about it.

Then Obama admitted that she was on his case about a lot of things. I can't recall too many specifics about this part of the interview, but I got to really liking Michelle. She's not shy about expressing herself, and she has some pretty firm ideas about what's right and what's wrong. She's a one-woman ethics committee. If Obama becomes president, having Michelle bird-dogging him will be one of his genuine assets—and an asset to the country.

Don Firth