Optimism?

I understand that it's good for presidential candidates to project an aura of optimism, and I understand that it's good for presidential candidates to cut ads with their spouses saying nice things about them, but this seems weird: See web-only content:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/07/optimism/43244/ "I've been blessed for the last thirty years to be married to the most optimistic person that I've known," just doesn't seem like the kind of compliment a person would offer her husband. This has been a slightly weird tic of Edwards' going back to the 2004 campaign, telling us how optimistic he is instead of projecting optimism. Which strikes me as odd, since Edwards is actually really good at projecting optimism.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/07/optimism/43244/