Obama Kids on Display
Does being a good candidate mean being a bad parent?
Q: What’s the difference between Knox and Vivienne Jolie-Pitt and Malia and Sasha Obama?
A: The parents of the Jolie-Pitt twins get $11 million for putting their kids on a magazine cover, while the Obamas will undoubtedly get grief.
After keeping Malia and Sasha under wraps for much of the campaign, then letting them be interviewed on Access Hollywood, then regretting it, Barack and Michelle Obama have given People Magazine a cover story, complete with home visit, interview about their family life, and family photos.
Needless to say, Obama foes are crying flip-flop, not to mention child exploitation, while fans are kvelling over further evidence of their hero’s upstanding worthiness.
The Obama girls are not, of course, our first potential First Children. Candidates’ kids have been at issue in presidential campaigns since Grover Cleveland’s opponents, capitalizing on rumors that he had fathered an illegitimate child, chanted “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha.”
Republicans and Democrats alike have always featured offspring on campaign flyers and trotted them out at conventions. More recently, campaigning for mom and dad has become de rigueur for twenty- and thirtysomethings: the Bush twins, the Romney boys, Kate Edwards, and Chelsea Clinton took time off from their real lives to diligently work the parental hustings, and nobody batted an eye.
But young children are a different story, especially in the current media maelstrom. Unable to make their own choices, they are at the mercy of their parents’ aspirations — and our judgment.
Back in the day, Amy Carter and the young Chelsea Clinton could go about their lives relatively undisturbed, staying home with grandparents while their parents campaigned, then moving on to Secret Service officers and slumber parties at the White House. But since Bill Clinton informed the world of his penchant for briefs and the Internet became a 24-hour gossip machine, when pols put their kids out in public, everything’s up for grabs.
So what’s a presidential candidate with young children to do? If you’re John and Elizabeth Edwards, you take them on the campaign trail (though you might want to leave the love child at home). You’ve got an excuse, because their older brother died and mom has cancer, but, still, you’re accused of that most mortal of contemporary sins: bad parenting.
If you’re Fred Thompson, you leave them home — except when you’re making anti-abortion speeches — and nobody really knows they exist. Then again, without the kids, nobody really knows you exist, do they?
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t, the Obamas seem to have struck a reasonable balance. Like Amy and Chelsea, Malia and Sasha have largely stayed in Chicago with Grandma, keeping up their regular routine of school, soccer, and setting the table while Mom and Dad stomp for votes. When school’s out, they often join their parents, making appearances at victory speeches and state fairs. By all accounts, they are delightful children who would be an asset to any presidential candidate — or president.
And there’s the heart of the matter: Why should a candidate’s children matter? Why do we care if Malia and Sasha are on the cover of People? Or, and here we’re getting even closer, why are Malia and Sasha on the cover of People?
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Rebecca Steinitz is a writer, editor, and consultant in Arlington, Massachusetts.
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20 Comments
1. TomJW:Yeah, they regret Access Hollywood so much they are hawking their kids on People Magazine.
Jul 28, 2008 - 6:01 am 2. Lisa:If someone wants to lead the world and uses their children this way during the campaign, then yes, they can be judged on this. If this came out after the election date it would be no big deal. This has to be a campaign decision to go ahead with this.
It’s not so much the interview (which I don’t approve of).. it’s the ‘I’ll never do that again’ and ‘boy I regret exploiting my children’ followed within two weeks by another interview.
Jul 28, 2008 - 6:24 am 3. Kathy:They are parents. Let THEM make their own parental decisions. We should concentrate on the far more important issues related to what the father of these girls might do to this nation.
Jul 28, 2008 - 6:45 am 4. Aaron:True, Kathy, the Obamas are entitled to make their own parental decisions, but these decisions are indicative of their judgment, which does relate to what Sen. Obama might do to this nation.
Jul 28, 2008 - 7:40 am 5. rotwang:Cute kids. I don’t blame you for being jealous. It’ll be a nice change after Dubbya’s hard-drinking party twins.
Jul 28, 2008 - 9:37 am 6. Brad:rotwang, your user name is appropriate.
Jul 28, 2008 - 12:43 pm 7. Philip Dhingra:I think there might be a broken link in the article.
The link for the word “cover” (http://uk.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUKL571171320080726) isn’t about the Obama cover on People Magazine.
Jul 28, 2008 - 12:44 pm 8. Mary Jackson:Yet more proof of my theory that Obama is the new Tony Blair.
Handsome, more style than substance, and showcasing his kids to prove he’s a cool dad.
Do you Americans want a Tony Blair? The UK has had worse, but it’s had better.
Jul 28, 2008 - 3:03 pm 9. Peanut Gallery:And what they are -choosing- to do is milk their children’s existence. Had not come to mind until just now but perhaps they are there to draw away from the hard looking wife.
You can lie through your teeth with words but body language tells a whole different tale. The children could be intended to intercept and refract her message.
Jul 28, 2008 - 6:21 pm 10. Pajama Girl:Nasty insult to call parents “breeders”. Does she realise that it is an ugly term? Snarky homosexual activists yell the insult at parents with children. Search for the term on the blogs. You’ll see. I guess Rebecca Steinitz is trying to impress us with her too cool “with it” edginess. Trouble is: she is either deliberately offensive or not quite so cutting edge as she thinks she is.
Jul 28, 2008 - 9:33 pm 11. Change:I wonder what kind of grades McCain got as a parent (how many kids does he have)? At least Obama is not going the same road as his father. Assaulting his parenting skills is a losing proposition.
Jul 29, 2008 - 9:59 am 12. misanthropicus:The Glibama bus flattens everything in its way – children, granny, Rezko, wounded military personnel in hospitals, everybody! Now even the Kenyan goats keeper who furnished the dreams animating his lofty actions has been rolled over (so far only in Spanish):
Jul 24, 2008
“Obama drops his father”
Stephen Dinan/Washington Times
As the battle between John McCain and Barack Obama for Hispanic votes heats up, it raises the question of what relates better, an immigrant father or an absentee father? For Obama, the answer is an absentee father.
This morning Obama’s campaign e-mailed reporters the script for his first Spanish-language radio ad of the general election, designed to portray him as sharing the same experiences as many Latino voters, and it included these lines:
“His father was an immigrant. His mother from a humble, middle class family. Through student loans and hard work, he graduated from college. Obama never pulled people down as he made his way up”
But about an hour later the campaign sent out what it said was the final script, which changed those lines to read:
“He grew up without a father – raised by his mother with the support of his grandparents. Through student loans and hard work, he graduated from college. Obama never forgot his roots”
On a conference call with reporters, the Obama campaign said the first version was a draft. Rep. Xavier Becerra, a campaign surrogate, told reporters the ad was designed to show Obama was “one of us” because “his experience is our experience.”
The full scripts follow below:
“Bootstraps”/ First draft
[VO:] Some people have power and connections. But most of us have to make our own way through life. This is true even for the man who could become the next President – Barack Obama. HIS FATHER WAS AN IMMIGRANT. His mother from a humble [?!], middle class family. Through student loans and hard work, he graduated from college. Obama never pulled people down as he made his way up. He worked with churches to help families get job training and after-school care for their children. In the State Senate, he passed a law that helped reduce the welfare roles by over 80% by helping families to secure jobs. And despite the political pressure, Obama has stood with us for immigration reform and spoke out for our veterans. It’s time we had a President who understands we all deserve a chance to make our own way.
“Bootstraps”/ Final draft
[VO:] Some people have power and connections. But most of us have to make our own way through life. This is true even for the man who could become the next President – Barack Obama. HE GREW UP WITHOUT A FATHER – raised by his mother with the support of his grandparents. Through student loans and hard work, he graduated from college.
Obama never forgot his roots. He worked with churches to help families get job training and after-school care for their children. In the State Senate, he passed a law that helped reduce the welfare roles by over 80% by helping families to secure jobs. And despite the political pressure, Obama has stood with us for immigration reform and spoke out for our veterans. It’s time we had a President who understands we all deserve a chance to make our own way.
Mark please, the “stylistical” differences
Jul 29, 2008 - 4:16 pm 13. Women hear me roar:I think McCain has 6 great children. One is an orphan. Cindy was over in Africa doing volunteer work and this child was put in her arms who they thought would die and she brought her home and adopted her and had the cleft fixed. Incidentally, this is why the msm tried to paint him with an illegitimate child. He has a son in the military in Iraq and he won’t use his family to further his political career. And from the way he looked as a young man, I suspect his son is a hunk!
Jul 29, 2008 - 6:38 pm 14. Mary:Do you wonder why the msm have not focused on this wonderful story?
Yes, John McCain’s son is in Iraq. And you don’t see him in uniform on the cover of Us Magazine, do you? That’s because neither he nor his father need to use his heroism to win elections. Just like BO and The Angry One could have opted to leave the children off of magazine covers: but instead they decided to capitalize on the looks of the little darlings.
Jul 29, 2008 - 9:04 pm 15. Donna B.:If you notice, Sasha doesn’t look like the ONE: on another website, someone said she isn’t his: that Mabelle Michelle had an affair.
And as for the Bush twins, they were college students then and now they have morphed into attractive, responsible adults.
1. As far as the Bush twins go, 8 years of growing up has made quite a bit of difference. They acted no differently than most college age “children”.
2. The one thing where the Obamas actually do resemble the Kennedy’s is in the lovely young family department. Maybe it is cynical of them to do this magazine thing, but don’t think for a moment that quite a few die-hard McCain voters aren’t going to enjoy the Obama girls without a thought of politics. They are the only two members of the family I really care much about.
3. I have no reason to think the Obamas are not good parents. I don’t think anyone else does either.
4. I despise the word “breeders”. It used to be used only to refer to those who bred animals for show or some other profit. To apply it to human families is obnoxious.
Jul 29, 2008 - 10:23 pm 16. Believer:Those two can dress up their darlings, hug them and smile at them all they want for the cameras.
It’ll do nothing to get out of my mind the picture of them sitting beside their parents in the pews of TUCC listening to that ranting Wright.
Talk about poor judgment. If he’d do that to his young, impressionable flesh and blood, we Americans haven’t a prayer.
Aug 1, 2008 - 12:00 am 17. Felistars:Obama kids are amazing and the whole family is a great example to many in the world kudos to michelle for finding a soul mate.
Aug 25, 2008 - 2:23 am 18. kassie maxie:i love Hannah Montana i would love to be on the show with your kids
Jan 18, 2009 - 4:17 pm 19. kassie maxie:i love your kids
Jan 18, 2009 - 4:18 pm 20. mrs.phillips class:would u like to come and visit st. charles st. elementary in jeanerette louisiana
Jan 20, 2009 - 11:14 am