Obama kids are happy campaigners, first lady says
The Obamas return home after their vacation in Hawaii, January 3, 2012. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
DALLAS – Michelle Obama, who entered the 2008 presidential electoral season reluctant to go out in public and urge voters to support her husband, shared a surprising nugget of personal information: their kids love to campaign.
The first lady, who has been fiercely protective of her daughters Malia and Sasha and their privacy since Barack Obama became president, said that to the kids, the campaign trail was fun.
“They actually like campaigning,” Mrs Obama told a small group of reporters traveling with her on a three-day tour to promote her healthy eating and exercise “Let’s Move” program.
“Because when they were younger, when we were first running, what was campaigning? Campaigning was when you fly into a city with a bunch of young campaign workers who love kids and they took them for ice cream, everywhere.”
With a laugh, the first lady recalled how, after a day of campaigning for the 2008 election, she took stock of what her daughters had done while she was meeting voters and revving them up to elect her husband.
“One day, I counted it — this was before ‘Let’s Move’ — we were back on the plane and I found out exactly what they were doing when I was on the stage — they had had ice cream four times that day,” she said. “So Sasha’s like ‘I love campaigning.’ They have kind of a skewed (view).”
Even Obama didn’t make the cut for Chelsea’s wedding
Friends of Bill and Hillary Clinton who didn’t get invited to daughter Chelsea’s wedding now have something to take the sting off.
President Barack Obama didn’t get invited either (and the mother of the bride is a member of his Cabinet).
Barbara Walters asked him bluntly on ABC’s “The View” whether he was invited to the wedding of the year.
“I was not invited because I think that Hillary and Bill properly want to keep this as a thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband,” Obama said.
And guess what? No one’s getting an invitation to the Obama daughters’ weddings either (they’re 12 and 9 right now). “I’m letting you guys know now, you all probably will not be invited to Malia’s wedding or Sasha’s.”
Have boys entered the picture yet? “Thankfully, NO,” Obama says quite firmly.
The latest news is that the FAA has declared a no-fly zone over the Rhinebeck, N.Y., area for a “VIP” from 3 p.m. Saturday until 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
Washington Extra
The Obama administration admitted today that the economy was facing “strong headwinds” and that government finances were on an unsustainable path. Not a great backdrop as we head into November’s elections, as the White House is only too well aware.
But at least the president is trying to set a good example himself. Yesterday we heard how the Obama family was putting its vacations to work for the good of the economy, visiting the Florida Gulf Coast where tourism has been savaged by the oil spill. Now we learn that the First Daughters are getting lessons in managing their money wisely. Not only do Malia and Sasha have their own savings accounts, but they are nearly ready to start earning money babysitting. While those are valuable lessons for a 12 and nine-year-old girl, I am not sure how the $10 an hour they might earn would cover the costs of their driver and armed guard.
Otherwise, today’s highlights include an analysis of the resurgent fortunes of Sarah Palin and her increasingly influential role in the run up to the November mid-terms. And take a look too at our examination of what might be in store when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveils a stripped down energy bill next week.
Here are our top stories from today:
Heady days for Palin in midterm campaigns
These are heady days for Sarah Palin, who is wielding considerable clout within the Republican Party in the run-up to Nov. 2 congressional elections. The conservative, self-styled “mama grizzly” from Alaska, who loves to pick a fight with Democrats and the news media, is branding herself as a national leader of a Republican Party that currently lacks one.
For the full story by Steve Holland, click here.
Obama girls get their own presidential lecture on fiscal responsibility
Just because they live in the White House doesn’t mean they can’t earn a little pocket money.
President Barack Obama says his daughters get an allowance and are nearing an age when they can earn some working capital by babystitting.
(We’re thinking the client’s child would be among the most protected on the planet because the babysitters come with their own bodyguards).
Obama was asked on ABC’S “Good Morning America” what the First Parents are teaching their daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, about money.
“What I’m doing now with Malia and Sasha is … they’re getting an allowance. They’re starting to get old enough where they may be able to earn some money babysitting. They’ve got their own savings accounts,” Obama said in the ABC interview.
(Our subsequent efforts to unearth how much allowance the Obama girls get have so far come up empty handed).
“And what I’m trying to explain to them are basic concepts about savings, about interest, about being able to use the math skills that they’re learning in school to figure out that if they keep $100 in their bank account at 2 or 3 percent interest for six months, this is how much money they’re going to have at the end of it,” Obama said.
For parents who are looking for a simple, structured way to teach their kids, tweens, and teens good personal finance habits and a solid work ethic, check out the growing array of online apps in this area. To be balanced (since I founded one 
, I’d suggest checking out three common ones – FamZoo, ThreeJars, and Zefty.
Sasha and Malia Obama coy about Dad’s presents
Sasha and Malia Obama are keeping quiet about what they’ve got their father for Christmas, who has publicly complained that the rule in their household is that he gives the best gifts.
“It’s something he likes,” Sasha, his youngest daughter, said during a visit with her mother to the Childrens’ National Medical Center in Washington. First lady Michelle Obama confided that she was giving him “sports stuff.” Michelle and the girls together with the first dog Bo visited the center in keeping with longstanding White House tradition and met afterward with some of the children, who wanted to know how many Christmas trees there were in the White House.
This proved a tricky one, with Michelle appealing to her staff for help before Sasha informed everyone that it was 26, although elder sister Malia pointed out that “unfortunately, you don’t get presents under all of them.”
Among these many trees is a special one for wishes introduced by the Obamas as they celebrate their first Christmas at the White House.
“It is made out of cardboard. And so you can write down a wish and you roll it up and then you can put it one of the holes and it might come true,” Sasha told the kids.
The other thing that everyone wanted to know was whether this Christmas was going to be very different than holidays in the past.
“Well, it will be easier to get on the plane,” said Sasha, nodding to the fact that travel is a lot simpler when you fly on Air Force One.
I am so sorry for the first blogger. It seems as if he has a lot of troubles. I pray for better days for him. Obama is not the cause of your problems, many of which according to you are long-standing, going back twenty years, love before Obama was even elected. Have you complained about or raised your concerns with any of the prior presidents? Hands off the girls. They have not done anything to you. They are children. Direct your negative feelings elsewhere. By the way, I live in New York City, where our mayor planted several trees and they are making a difference to our environment. I pray that you will find happiness to replace your pain.
Official Obama family portrait is in, Bo is not
The official portrait of the first family is in.
There’s Sasha, the youngest at 8 years old, casually draping her arm over the shoulder of the president of the United States.
Older sister Malia embraces her mom, first lady Michelle Obama, as they all sit for their first official first family portrait in the Green Room at the White House on Sept. 1.
It is the work of portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, known for some of the most famous celebrity photographs of our time — Demi Moore pregnant and nude on the cover of Vanity Fair, and a nude John Lennon curled around Yoko Ono for the cover of Rolling Stone taken on the day of Lennon’s death.
But back to the first family’s portrait. Hold on, isn’t someone missing? Where’s Bo, the first dog? Is he already in the dog house?
“Bo didn’t make the cut,” the first lady’s spokeswoman tells us with a laugh. “He was upstairs at home.”
I am glad the president got himself a dog. Dogs add a lot of happiness to peoples lives and I have noticed in Brooklyn were I am from more and more people are getting dogs. I wonder if a dog would make a better symbol for America than the bald eagle. I don’t think I have ever seen a bald eagle in person and I know I have never seen one make my friends happy.
HappyDogWalking NYC.com
Girl Power hits the White House
President Barack Obama, who is surrounded by women at home – wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia – on Wednesday declared Girl Power a priority for the federal government.
In creating the White House Council on Women and Girls, which will include members of his Cabinet, Obama said he wanted to make sure that women and girls were treated fairly in all matters of public policy.
“We have many of those Cabinet members here. Some of the men showed up — we put them in the second row,” Obama said to laughter at an event to sign the executive order creating the council.
“I sign this order not just as a president, but as a son, a grandson, a husband, and a father, because growing up, I saw my mother put herself through school and follow her passion for helping others,” he said.
“But I also saw how she struggled to raise me and my sister on her own, worrying about how she’d pay the bills and educate herself and provide for us.”
The president said the first lady was “the rock of the Obama family” in juggling work and parenting.
Bush twins offer advice to Sasha & Malia Obama
In the White House, it’s tradition for the outgoing president to leave a note for his successor.
This year, President George W. Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, decided to leave their own letter for President Barack Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia.
Entitled “Playing House in the White House,” the letter is full of the Bush daughters’ memories of first coming to the White House when they were 7 years old when their grandfather – George H.W. Bush – was sworn in as president.
“Sasha and Malia, here is some advice to you from two sisters who have stood where you will stand and who have lived where you will live,” Barbara and Jenna said in the letter, which they read aloud on NBC’s “Today Show”.
“Surround yourselves with loyal friends. They’ll protect and calm you and join in on some of the fun and appreciate the history.”
Knowing that Obama has promised his daughters a puppy, the Bush twins talked about the fun of having a pet in the White House. “Cherish your animals because sometimes you’ll need the quiet comfort that only animals can provide.”
Noting that “it isn’t always easy being a member of the club you are about to join”, the twins urged the Obama girls to have some fun. They even offered a few tips.
Bush may have nearly destroyed the American dream and basically annihilated the pride of her people, but in all fairness, his daughters were nowhere near the high table. In Africa, an incoming president is regarded ENEMY NUMBER ONE by the outgoing president. So it is such small gracious and symbolic gestures that make America a truly mighty nation.-Nyagaka
Obama’s pet care advice: remember the poop
CHICAGO – Pay attention, you puppy-loving kids. The future president of the United States says if you want a dog, you have to be able to take care of it. That includes cleaning up the, er, poop.
Sitting on a chair at an elementary school in front of a cross-legged group of children ranging from about 6 to 9 years old, Barack Obama told them how he had promised his young daughters Sasha and Malia that they could get a dog to bring to the White House.
“They’ve been asking for a dog for years now,” said Obama, adding that he wanted to make sure the girls were old enough to take care of a pet before getting them one.
“You’ve got to feed your dog, you’ve got to walk your dog,” he said. “And if they do their business, if they’ve got some poop, you’ve got to make sure you don’t just leave it there.”
“I want to make sure that my kids can take care of their dogs properly. But I think they’re old enough now.”
Obama then asked for a show of hands of kids who had dogs.
“Do you walk your dogs?” he asked. “Okay.”
THE FIRST LADY has such a beautiful soul. thank you for being such a inspiration to our children. you are making such a positive influence on their lives. it is refreshing. thank you