Politico's Jeanne Cummings on MSNBC about half an hour ago, discussing Michelle Obama's popularity:

She's doing much better than what people thought. There was a time during the campaign in 2008 when lots of Republicans thought that Michelle Obama could become some sort of liability.

Hmmmm. I don't remember that sentiment being limited to Republicans; I remember a lot of reporters expressing it as well. Reporters like ... Jeanne Cummings Politico colleagues. Let's fire up The Nexis, shall we?

Jim VandeHei & John Harris, Politico, 3/17/08:

The GOP has proven skilled at questioning the patriotism of Democratic candidates. Just ask John F. Kerry, defeated presidential candidate, and Max Cleland, defeated senator, if such attacks work in the post-Sept. 11 political environment.

They will blend together Wright's fulminations with quotes of Michelle Obama saying her husband's candidacy has made her finally proud of America with pictures of Obama himself sans the American flag on his lapel (the latter a point that has thrived in conservative precincts of the Web and talk radio).

In isolation, any of these might be innocuous. But in the totality of a campaign ad or brochure, the attacks could be brutal, replete with an unmistakable racial subtext.

Glenn Thrush, Politico, 8/25/08:

Plastic bags stuffed with big M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E signs are being loaded into the Pepsi Center for a prime-time speech by would-be first lady Michelle Obama. Her tasks are twofold: to introduce herself to the convention as a strong-willed, nonthreatening surrogate who has always been proud of her country - while portraying her Barack as a messy, absent-minded, regular dad who likes playing with his daughters when he's not out inspiring the millions. How she is received could determine how much she is used on the road this fall.

Mike Allen, Politico, 8/25/08:

Michelle Obama set out to reassure voters Monday that she would leave the governing to her husband and would not be a domineering White House presence.

Nia-Malika Henderson, Politico, 3/28/09:

Traditional? Hardly. In fact, Obama's approach so far is decidedly different from the usual model of the modern first lady - pick a platform of two or three issues and stick to it, by and large, for four years.

...

Yet in the midst of all those themes, it isn't yet clear whether her self-described core messages - about military families, volunteerism, and helping working women balance work and family life - are truly breaking through. Some wonder if she's spreading herself too thin to emerge in the public mind as a leading voice on those topics.

...

[F]or some, Obama's multi-tasking approach to the job raises the specter of Rosalynn Carter, who was dogged early on by questions of whether she was taking on too much and trying to be all things to all people. Ironically, some are raising the same “too much, too fast?” question about Michelle that they're raising about her husband, the president.

...

As for her more official three-issue platform, branding expert Hodgkinson said that for Obama, “the broader mission is to install herself in the psyche of the country and then after that take a look at what does she then wants to advance and can reasonably advance. ”

Military family issues might not be the right fit, she said.

“When you think about military families it's not a connection you first make with the first lady,” she said. “Without that natural pull, it's going to be a harder campaign especially if people's ears are turned elsewhere.”

But now that Mrs. Obama has proven to be quite popular, Politico's Jeanne Cummings wants you to think it was just the Republicans who thought she'd be a liability -- just forget all about what Politico wrote about her.