Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Covering the Obamas

There's nothing wrong with noticing that the Obama children are exceptionally cute. It's also reasonable to suggest that the prospect of seeing the girls playing on the White House lawn with their new puppy Bo or swinging on their new swingset outside Dad's office would be a welcome respite from the dour economic news to which we've been treated for the past several months. More than once I've heard and read political pundits likening the White House photos of 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha to photos from the Camelot days a generation ago of Caroline and John Kennedy.

As long as media coverage is respectfully restrained and the Obama girls aren't hounded and don't have everything that's on or near their bodies catalogued (like tracking down the makers of their clothing, backpacks, toys, etc.). There was a degree of media restraint afforded Chelsea Clinton when the 12-year-old accompanied her parents to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1993, but that was still in the pre-blog days, so I remain skeptical that the media can or will exercise such decorum when it comes to the First Kids.

But what has already exceeded decorum and has veered into the arena of tiresome is the coverage given to Michelle Obama, an Ivy League educated lawyer and former hospital executive, a woman with something substantive to say on many subjects. Last month I examined the type of media coverage Michelle Obama was receiving -- including the odd, fetish-like obsession with her bare arms -- in a column which noted that during the span of two weeks, the First Lady was on the cover of four national magazines.

And that was before the G-20 summit in London and the Obamas' trip abroad. Before phrases such as "fashion faceoff" were uttered and the media pit Michelle Obama with the spouse of the French president, as if the women's clothing was competing against one another. Before so-called news media outlets started running slideshows on their web sites of Michelle Obama's outfits and discussing wearing stilettos versus flat shoes on national NEWS programs.

After a week's worth of fluffy, insipid news coverage, I was steamed. My irritation yielded this week's Pop Culture and Politics column over on Mommy Track'd in which I satirically imagine what it would be like if the male leaders' attire was subjected to the type of media scrutiny that their spouses' duds, where the media pay lavish attention to pumps, not the policies and causes the women try to spotlight. How I wish the media would treat these women as women of substance, not as walking mannequins that they want to dress up in designer duds.

Image credit: Huffington Post.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: NBC 'Nightly News' to Protect Obama Girls' Privacy

This is one of the reasons why I'm an NBC Nightly News fan. Aside from the fact that I really admire the way anchor Brian Williams delivers the news and selects which segments to highlight each weeknight, there are classy moments -- like this one last night -- that remind me why, when it comes to big news, I prefer to turn to the down-to-earth Williams.

In a segment near the end of Monday night's broadcast (link is here), Williams ran some still photos of Malia and Sasha Obama that were released by their father's transition team of the girls and their parents preparing for the girls' first day of school in Washington. Then he said that, like his predecessor, NBC Nightly News would refrain from hounding Malia and Sasha with cameras and would only cover their exploits if a news event specifically warrants such coverage.

In the day and age where there are the thousands of web sites and the 24/7 cable news networks willing to exploit the children of celebrities and politicians -- some which go so far as to declare diaper-wearing toddlers of celebs as being very hip and fashionable (as if the kids were picking out their attire), it's refreshing to see that a major news organization (or at least the Nightly News) plans to give Malia and Sasha a break and won't chronicle their every move and document their wardrobe selections.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

New Kids on the Pennsylvania Ave Block

I had a new column published on Mommy Track'd this afternoon about having very young First Kids in the White House.

References John-John and Caroline Kennedy during the Kennedy years, Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton.

Image credit: Associated Press/New York Daily News.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: A New Day

Phew! Anyone else feel as though you've been through a marathon? Two years of watching every debate in both parties, of reading online and in newspapers and magazines about the campaign, of watching YouTube videos, of following every detail of the race can take a lot out of a person. And I wasn't even a candidate, the spouse of a candidate, working for the campaign or covering it as an embedded reporter. Those folks must feel as though they've been run over by a truck right about now.

At 11 p.m. last night, after the networks officially called the entire presidential election for Illinois Senator Barack Obama, I ran upstairs and woke up my kids to tell them the news. They weren't completely awake though and didn't remember that I'd woken them up when I spoke with them this morning. However after learning of the results, along with the fact that 10-year-old Malia Obama and 7-year-old Sasha Obama were promised a puppy by their dad, I saw that puppy-gleam in their eyes too. (Sorry kids, you're not getting a puppy. Your parents didn't just complete a presidential campaign.)

Kudos are due to Arizona Senator John McCain, who was eloquent and gracious in making his concession speech. I felt badly for him while watching him, a former POW, tearing up as he acknowledged the historic nature of Obama's win. He's an honorable man who was saddled with a bad campaign that made bad choices. Had he won and a woman ascended to the vice presidency for the first time in our nation's history, I would like to think that people would've been moved to see a woman succeed.

And Obama's acceptance speech, in my humble opinion, will be one children will later read about in history books.

Obama Kids: Dad Doesn't Like Sweets

The Obama children, along with their parents Michelle and Barack, gave an interview to, of all places, Access Hollywood. (You can see one part of the four-part interview here.)



During the July 4 interview, which also coincided with Malia's 10th birthday, the whole family sat down to discuss how the girls keep their dad down-to-earth and somewhat "cool," as "cool" as any parent can realistically be.



For example, Malia said she's had to tell her dad not to shake hands with her friends because, well, shaking hands with kids just isn't done.

Seven-year-old Sasha -- who at one point held up both her hands next to her face, opening and shutting them to mimic what she thinks when Dad talks -- asked her mom in the middle of the interview whether and when they'd be able to have ice cream. (Reminded me a bit of Rudy Giuliani's kid during his first mayoral inaugural.) Pointing at her father, Sasha announced that her dad doesn't like sweets and isn't a big fan of ice cream.



In this video excerpt, Malia said she was surprised to find her mother's fashion sense discussed in the pages of People Magazine because she joked that People is the place where you can read about "really important people" like Angelina Jolie.



As far as big reveals go, the Obamas are lucky. I shudder to think what my kids would reveal about me if they were put in front of a national TV audience and knew that I couldn't really shut them up without looking like a control freak.

Image credit: Access Hollywood via the Drudge Report.