Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, Friday called questions early in the campaign about whether her biracial husband was "black enough" to appeal to African-American voters "silly."

"It’s silliness and it’s about part of the silliness of our culture," she said.

A Harvard-educated attorney and vice president at the University of Chicago, Michelle Obama, 44, said the question — raised most famously in a New York Times article — wasn’t hurtful to her.

"That has nothing to do with me or Barack — that has to do with the challenges we are facing in this country and we shouldn’t be surprised by them because we still haven’t worked through this stuff," she said.

"I don’t think there is a person of color in this country that doesn’t struggle with what it means to be a part of your race versus what the majority thinks is right."

The question about Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, was raised early in the presidential race, when rival Sen. Hillary Clinton was polling well among black voters and landing endorsements from high-profile black political leaders.

Since then, Obama’s support has vastly increased with black voters. He took 78 percent of the black vote in a South Carolina primary he won handily and 73 percent of the African-American vote in Florida, although delegates from that contest, which Clinton won, won’t count because of a scheduling squabble between state and national Democratic officials.

Obama, a senator from Illinois, and Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, are the two remaining challengers for the Democratic nomination and remain locked in a tight race. Obama won the season-opening Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary, while Clinton won New Hampshire, Nevada and no-delegate contests in Florida and Michigan, which also got in trouble for pushing ahead in the primary schedule.

While she said she initially tried to talk her husband out of running for president, Michelle Obama said she doesn’t share the concerns voiced by Alma Powell, wife of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is black, that her husband’s safety might be threatened over a quest for the White House. Powell had been mentioned as a possible candidate, but did not run.

"There are inherent risks for all people, but particularly for people of color, so, you know, I can’t live my life worrying about what might go wrong," she said. "What we are going through, Barack and our family, is nothing compared to our leaders who pushed through on the civil rights movement.

"When I think of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King and true fears that they had and true sacrifices that they made, I think I don’t have any right to hesitate for doing something that I think is important out of fear."

Jimmy Carter says he’s not formally endorsing any candidate, but in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the former president lavished praise on Barack Obama, calling his campaign "extraordinary"

"Obama’s campaign has been extraordinary and titillating for me and my family," Carter told the newspaper in an interview published in its Wednesday edition. According to the paper, Carter was particularly praiseworthy of the Illinois senator’s rhetorical skills, comparing them to those of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Carter also said Obama "will be almost automatically a healing factor in the animosity now that exists, that relates to our country and its government."

Carter, one of only two Democrats to win the White house in the last forty years, also said he thinks Obama’s candidacy could put several southern states in play in a general election matchup.

Carter also commented on the recent criticism surrounding Bill Clinton, following that former president’s recent comments on the campaign trail that some have viewed as racially divisive. Carter said Clinton personally called him to explain the remarks.

"He doesn’t call me often, but the fact that he called me this morning and spent a long time explaining his position indicates that it’s troublesome to them, the adverse reaction," he said.

"I told him I hoped it would die down. — the charged atmosphere concerning the race issue," Carter continued. "And I think it will."