'I want to rip (Bill Clinton's) eyes out. Kidding!'

Michelle Obama (barackobama.com)

Michelle Obama, wife of presidential candidate Barack Obama, known for saying what's on her mind – candidly, spontaneously and frequently – has exposed this trait yet again in a profile in the London Guardian.

Asked how she feels about Bill Clinton's use of the phrase "fairytale" to describe her husband's characterization of his position on the Iraq war, she first responded: "No."

But, after a few seconds of contemplation, and gesturing with her fingernails, she told the reporter: "I want to rip his eyes out!"

Noticing an aide giving her a nervous look, she added: "Kidding! See, this is what gets me into trouble."

It was the latest of a series of gaffes by the potential first lady – the first of which set off a chain of events that led to her husband's fall from grace as the clear front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary campaign.

In February, Obama set off a national firestorm with comments she made at a Milwaukee rally: "What we have learned over the past year is that hope is making a comeback. And let me tell you something – for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."

Many commentators were offended by the idea that a successful woman of privilege would say she had never been proud of her country until her husband's presidential campaign.

That remark was followed up with reports of a stump speech she delivered throughout South Carolina in which she characterized America as "just downright mean."

She said the country is divided, life is not good, the people are "guided by fear" and cynicism.

"We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day," she told churchgoers in that primary state. "Folks are just jammed up, and it's gotten worse over my lifetime."

It may have been Michelle Obama's off-the-cuff and seemingly unpatriotic remarks that led to further examination of the sermons of the couple's pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright. Reports on Wright's explosively controversial views prompted a public break between the candidate and his spiritual mentor and new questions about the viability of Obama as a presidential candidate and potential leader of the country.

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