Travis Korson and Joe Naron, the president and director of press for GW Young America’s Foundation respectively, argue that Michelle Obama’s commencement speaker challenge is rooted in politics.

Hysterics have never been alien to American politics. Between the temperance movement, student protests in the 1960s, doubts of President Bush’s legitimacy, and the present paranoia, there have always been in our public discourse those who have abandoned the politics of prudence to engage in ideological shouting matches. We emphatically reject the accusation that GW’s Young America’s Foundation can be categorized as a group of “noisemakers” who serve as a catalyst for that hysteria.