White House life, scrutiny await Obama kids
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
When two little girls from Chicago move into that big White House in Washington, they’ll swap privacy and routine for a staggering amount of publicity and opportunity.
For Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, the daughters of President-elect Barack Obama, the next four years will be life-altering. At the very least, their strict 8 p. m. bedtime will be put to the test.
“The girls will be able to meet every famous person in sports, entertainment, art and science. Mandela one day, Tiger Woods the next and Hannah Montana the next,” says Doug Wead, who interviewed more than a dozen White House kids for his 2004 book, All the Presidents’ Children. “They will have their own personal theater with first-run movies and popcorn limited only by the rules of a vigilant first lady.”
Michelle Obama, who has already described her new job as Mom in Chief, will have her hands full.
As the first black children in the White House, the Obama daughters will also be de facto role models, said Gina Shropshire, a University of Notre Dame faculty member who has researched cultural identity in black students.
Shropshire cited a line from Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention, in which he called to “eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.” She says Malia and Sasha will help bust that stereotype.
“These two little girls are, literally and figuratively, a new face for young black children,” Shropshire says.
The girls are also at the right points in their lives to approach the next four years as an adventure, says Cathy Guttentag, a child psychologist at the University of Texas Children’s Learning Institute.
“They’re old enough to understand what’s going on, to ask questions and to prepare themselves,” Guttentag says. “At the same time, they’re not yet in the teenage years when kids tend to be more self-conscious.”
Yet there is bad with the good, and the bad begins with public memory and the snapshot impressions children make in their adolescent or teenage years. More people will remember Chelsea Clinton in braces than Chelsea Clinton all grown up, Wead says. And then there was Nellie Grant, who arrived at the White House at age 13, just as she was blossoming into a young woman.
“To the outrage of her parents,” Wead says, “word spread around town that the president’s daughter was turning out to be an especially well-endowed young lady.” There was nowhere for Nellie to hide.
“The Bush twins and their underage drinking will follow them the rest of their lives, as will Amy Carter’s choice of schools,” Wead added. “One of the Tyler girls was a bit chubby and was dubbed ‘Fat Alice’ for the rest of her life, even though outside of a couple childhood years she was not even plump.”
Malia and Sasha will also hear plenty of criticism of their father, which can be tough for kids to take.
“The kids will hear every dirty, raunchy, ugly joke about their father,” Wead says. “I once asked George W. Bush which was worse, running for president or being the son of someone running for president. He said being the son was much, much worse.”
Right now, the country is enjoying its honeymoon with the Obama clan. Sasha, whose full name is Natasha, will be the youngest White House resident since John F. Kennedy Jr., who was born in November 1960, just months before his father took office.
The girls will go from a situation where they are known as individuals to a situation where there is intense public interest in them. They will see their names and pictures on TV and in newspapers and magazines. It can feel like a lot of pressure, Guttentag said.
Malia and Sasha are old enough to have their feelings hurt if they read negative things about their parents or see themselves portrayed in an unflattering light.
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