Althouse: "It’s not like you can look up David Cameron in the phone book and then ring to say, ‘You’ve left your daughter behind.'"

June 11, 2012

"It’s not like you can look up David Cameron in the phone book and then ring to say, ‘You’ve left your daughter behind.'"

“It’s frightening the Prime Minister of Britain can forget something so important as his own daughter.”

38 comments:

Scott M said...: Is leaving your daughter behind better or worse for a prominent national leader than "the private sector is doing fine"?; 6/11/12, 11:30 AM
Unknown said...: I feel a Delingpole column coming up.

Oops. Too late.; 6/11/12, 11:35 AM
karrde said...: Notice how the face of the daughter is pixellated on that web-photoe.

Interesting journalistic standards there.

This kind of event is something that most families risk. Especially families that travel in multiple vehicles. Leaving a child behind for 15 minutes, or even an hour or two, is a real possibility.

Most parents know at least one family that has suffered from this problem once. Most of the time, the child survives without harm.

Food for thought: if the press reported this instead as "Staff At Pub Safely Guard Child Left Behind By Parents", what would people think? The headline would be accurate, though focusing on the Pub and not on the politician.

What if the headline we see included the words "Left Child at Pub For 15 Minutes"? Would it seem as scary? It would appear to be accurate.; 6/11/12, 11:46 AM
Scott M said...: Notice how the face of the daughter is pixellated on that web-photoe.

It's a recessive trait, so you don't see this very often.; 6/11/12, 11:50 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Is leaving your daughter behind better or worse for a prominent national leader than "the private sector is doing fine"?"

The analogous action would be if when discovering that he lost his daughter at a pub, he said : "She's doing fine. It's my mistress who really needs my help."; 6/11/12, 11:52 AM
Scott said...: Is leaving your daughter behind better or worse for a prominent national leader than "the private sector is doing fine"?

Much worse, obviously; 6/11/12, 11:56 AM
Scott M said...: Much worse, obviously

Not if you're the private sector and don't know what your daddy's cell phone number is.; 6/11/12, 11:57 AM
pellehDin said...: She can't vote yet, so she doesn't rank high on his list of priorities.

And what about his bodyguards???; 6/11/12, 12:00 PM
Scott said...: I'm not being glib.

A parent's first responsibility is to his or her children. It's primal. Could you trust the judgment of a pol who is that disconnected from his own family?

What Obama said was an opinion or at worst a gaffe. People will forget between now and November. But not caring for your own children hits people viscerally, and is much harder to forget. Cameron's opposition can cudgel him with this for a long time.

Like I said, it's obvious.; 6/11/12, 12:06 PM
Sydney said...: The Holy Family lost their child once when they travelling in a large group. If it could happen to them, it could happen to anyone.; 6/11/12, 12:11 PM
tim maguire said...: Did so many people here not see "Home Alone"?

I can imagine a scene like that is chaotic. They're traveling in 2 cars, Cameron thought the missus had their daughter, she thought he did, took a little while to catch the mistake. Happens in most families at one time or another. It just doesn't make the papers.

Much ado about nothing.; 6/11/12, 12:12 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: It can happen that when people are traveling in separate vehicles that things can go missing. HOWEVER, as parents you should always be aware of where your child is and be sure of the traveling arrangements.

We just got back from a short trip and when we leave the house or leave the hotel, we jointly go over the details and check to be sure we haven't forgotten anything.

Cat: did we leave food and water. Prop the doors open so she can't lock herself into a room. Clean litter box. Window shade up so she can look outside.

Doors: locked. Lights: safety lights on.

Keys: check Camera: check Suitcases: check Wallet/Purse: check.

Child: oh who knows...I thought you had her. oops.; 6/11/12, 12:16 PM
MadisonMan said...: It's not like he left her behind, really, he just thought the wife had her, and vice versa.

This is why we only have one car. This kind of thing can't happen.; 6/11/12, 12:17 PM
lightcat said...: Oh for the love- this is so ridiculous. Caplight45 and my mom left me behind at church when I was about that age. I survived the "trauma."

"Much ado about nothing." Indeed.; 6/11/12, 12:22 PM
furious_a said...: Could have been worse -- could have been Julia here from the Obama campaign video.

Better on the roof than on the ground, I suppose.; 6/11/12, 12:27 PM
Darrell said...: Didn't Obama forget he had daughters, saying "sons" instead?; 6/11/12, 12:28 PM
Synova said...: My folks left my little sister once. We had four of us and two foster kids and we didn't even realize she wasn't in the car until we'd gone back to the HS football game to retrieve my foster sister's purse.

I always did a head count. Every. Time.

But lets be fair. We were never in two cars, and I had the experience of having left my littlest sister.; 6/11/12, 12:37 PM
Bryan C said...: "A parent's first responsibility is to his or her children. It's primal. Could you trust the judgment of a pol who is that disconnected from his own family?"

Dude. He didn't "forget" her. He just thought his daughter was with her mother in another vehicle. It happens, and it's not a big deal. At least we know the Camerons aren't among those obnoxious parents who drag around their children on leashes.; 6/11/12, 12:40 PM
Synova said...: People who "take turns" bringing the baby to daycare on the way to work, forget it was their day and leave the baby in the parkinglot when they get to work.

Really bad stuff, but not something I'd ever feel superior over.; 6/11/12, 12:42 PM
Synova said...: "Dude. He didn't "forget" her. He just thought his daughter was with her mother in another vehicle."

Entirely understandable. Particularly if there was some version of "ride with your mother," and "Okay" and then a little mind thinking... "I gotta visit the loo."; 6/11/12, 12:45 PM
MadisonMan said...: Maybe he had a seizure.; 6/11/12, 12:45 PM
edutcher said...: Willie left Chelsea behind years ago.

He also left Hillary's behind years ago.; 6/11/12, 1:06 PM
Michael K said...: That is a worry when a bunch of kids are taken somewhere. You have to count them. A father took a bunch of kids up to the mountains east of Los Angeles a few years ago, to play in the snow. When they returned, he left one little girl behind. She saw the city down the mountain and it doesn't look that far. It is miles. She started to walk down the hill through the snow. They found her body in the spring.; 6/11/12, 1:18 PM
Hanah said...: This can happen to anyone. The problem is sensationalizing it -- not just for famous people, but for ordinary people who are sometimes arrested for completely innocent mistakes.

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/everyone-gets-separated-from-their-kids-at-some-point-even-prime-ministers/; 6/11/12, 1:20 PM
Shanna said...: People who "take turns" bringing the baby to daycare on the way to work, forget it was their day and leave the baby in the parkinglot when they get to work. Really bad stuff, but not something I'd ever feel superior over.

I read an article in WashPost about this some years ago. Saddest article ever.

But this? No harm no foul. It'll never happen again, at least.; 6/11/12, 1:29 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Sheesh. This kind of reporting is a direct consequence of a population of media folk who have not had the experience of raising their own kids. A weird, but in hindsight entirely predictable, consequence of modern demographic trends.; 6/11/12, 1:29 PM
Darrell said...: Does he have a protection detail?
Sounds like they should have been protecting all their charges, including his whole family. Isn't it a national security concern?; 6/11/12, 1:42 PM
MayBee said...: Imagine how different things are for the prime minister and for the US President.

No way Sasha or Malia could get left behind anywhere. They'd have their own security specifically assigned to them.

I'm not sure why the US President's family needs to be so much more protected than everyone else in the world, but there you have it.; 6/11/12, 1:44 PM
Jane the Actuary said...: The degree of protection given to the American President, in comparison to any other national leader, is extraordinary. So far as I know, motorcades of the sort that shut down traffic during rush hour, don't happen outside the United States. And the President is the only one to bring his own security detail with him abroad, regardless of the country he's travelling to. Personally, I think we've gone too far.; 6/11/12, 1:57 PM
MayBee said...: Jane-
Yes, I suspect the US has gone so overboard on security because there are so many people who want to fly around the world, drink, and hire prostitutes on the taxpayers' dimes.; 6/11/12, 2:37 PM
David said...: Somehow this puts me in mind of Prince Charles, who has been left behind for all of his life. Do you suppose he still thinks he will get to be king?

"The Queen is dead. Long live the KIng!"

"Charles?" He's in the loo again."

"Long live King Harry!!"; 6/11/12, 2:59 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: People make mistakes and this is a common one to make. I'd cut him some slack.; 6/11/12, 3:20 PM
Grandma Bee said...: My in-laws are intelligent, engaged parents. They also managed to leave a kid at a gas station once. The two older kids didn't speak up. They waited to see how long it would take Mom and Dad to figure out that one kid was missing! Can happen to anybody.; 6/11/12, 4:59 PM
MayBee said...: David- Both Charles and William would be surprised by a King Harry.

(lets see if this works. My word verification, I kid you not, is a 3, a dot, and a triangle); 6/11/12, 5:06 PM
Jose_K said...: the sort that shut down traffic during rush hour, don't happen outside the United States... yes it happens in Venezuela. Chavez has three security rings made mainly of cubans.
When the brazilian president offered him their hospital for the cancer treatment , he asked to evauate very patient from the floor and every americans in the hospital screened and evicted if suspicious. Of course, Roussef , said no; 6/11/12, 7:19 PM
ddh said...: Friends of the PM have recently told how he likes “chillaxing” at Chequers at the weekends.

They say he enjoys watching films on telly, napping and enjoying three or four glasses of wine with lunch.

Three or four glasses of wine with lunch? Four glasses is a whole bottle. No wonder the child was forgotten.; 6/11/12, 7:38 PM
Peter said...: The degree of protection given to the American President, in comparison to any other national leader, is extraordinary. So far as I know, motorcades of the sort that shut down traffic during rush hour, don't happen outside the United States.

Unless you're the president of Chechnya, which isn't even an actual country.; 6/11/12, 8:35 PM
Rusty said...: English pubs are more like daycare centers for adults. And lets face it who hasn't forgotten to pick their kid at Montessori school after a liquid lunch.; 6/12/12, 7:41 AM