‘On the same hand,’ Bachmann glad for Obama win

Politico shares highlights from its phone interview today with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in which she said she’s “extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year.” Surprisingly, that’s in reference to President-elect Barack Obama, a man to whom three weeks ago she appended a different descriptor: Anti-American. She continued:

“In my district, I don’t sense racism, and that’s why I’m thankful that hopefully this will send a national signal across our country that America is not a nation made up of racists. … On the same hand, I hope that the national media will not confuse disagreement with Obama’s policy positions with being consumed [by] racism.”

She also expressed gladness that voters didn’t “let the media intervene” in the race she won Tuesday for her second term representing Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District and said her goal is to join the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee. Qualifications? “My husband and I were Joe the Plumbers,” she told Politico, in reference to the Christian therapy business she and her husband started.