March 25, 2013

"A source tipped Breitbart News off to the First Daughters’ spring vacation, which was not publicly announced or reported."

Here's a picture of Matthew Boyle, the Breitbart writer who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy.

118 comments:

cryptical said...

They can have their privacy when their vacation isn't on my dime.

Meade said...

Please. Mathew Boyle should be off-limits. WAY off-limits.

Alex said...

Why? Were the Bush daughters given any privacy?

bagoh20 said...

I don't think very many people want to say bad things about two young girls who they don't really know, and who never say much, but I am sure about one thing: That vacation? "They didn't build that."

machine said...

Stay classy San Diego!

Lyssa said...

One of many reasons why I think that it's irresponsible for a parent of young children to take on such a high profile job as president.

Yes, that would go for Ms. Palin, too.

Alex said...

I agree, revenge is a dish best served cold.

KCFleming said...

Goddamned sequester!

We can't fund air traffic control, but there is some dough for First Girl vacays and Biden trips to France.

But talking about it is mean.

Fernandinande said...

"...the 2 girls who deserve their privacy."

No, they don't:
"According to Judicial Watch, Malia Obama's trip to Mexico last spring break, during which she was apparently accompanied by Secret Service protection, cost taxpayers $115,500.87."

MayBee said...

Yeah, it just isn't realistic to think the lives and families of the President aren't going to come under scripting, especially now that politicians use them to court voters.

So Obama needs to make decisions for his daughters considering that, and tell them to buck up.

Rusty said...

They deserve their privacy. Even if the left excoriated the Palin children and the Bush children this shouldn't be an equivalency test.

Brian Brown said...

who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy


He is "essentially" doing no such thing.

It is quite obvious he is taking a shot at Barry.

Your assertion is pretty pathetic.

Anonymous said...

I certainly hope they are wearing appropriate clothing, that will be the next criticism.... Oh wait.

Anonymous said...

They deserve their privacy not our tax dollars for their "private" vacation.

Other kids have their privacy but no tax dollars for their WH tour.

Alex said...

Revenge baby, revenge. It's a delicious thing.

caseym54 said...

...the 2 girls who deserve their privacy

As do the children of all Democrat presidents.

edutcher said...

Atlantis is about as expensive a place to vaca as the average working stiff could find.

That Sushi and Mongolia are hanging there (where's mom and dad, btw? Of course dad just came back from a vacation, so it must be time for another) speaks of nothing so much as the arrogance and lack of class we come to expect from the Os, particularly after all the whining about the sequester.

Nonapod said...

I don't particularly want to say nasty things about to girls I don't know. Their parents on the other hand... I probably wouldn't care much about this sort of thing (spending millions of taxpayer dollars for separate vacations for members of the first family) if we weren't dealing with a President who is so fond of lecturing us on personal sacrifice and what not.

And even though the Bush daughters were treated poorly, no I don't think it makes it OK to attack the Obama girls.

Meade said...

Lyssa said...
"One of many reasons why I think that it's irresponsible for a parent of young children to take on such a high profile job as president.

Yes, that would go for Ms. Palin, too."

Exactly. I've been saying that same thing for at least 5 years. You're a parent. Male of female, your first responsibility is to protect and raise your children to the age of majority. If you abdicate that responsibility, you disqualify yourself for high office.

The world can wait for your children to grow up before electing you to the job.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Let them eat spring break.

Take your civility for thee but not for me bullshit and shove it up your crusty old ass.

The divorce records of President Foodstamps early career state election opponents were "off limits" too.

Ugly Ann, ugly.

MayBee said...

The president and his family need a travel budget, and it needs to be public.

dreams said...

I guess if you're a good Republican and you happen to see them having a drink, you should alert the media as the good loyal Democrat did to the Bush daughters. Not to worry Dems, the press has only good to say about all things Obama.

Ipso Fatso said...

So Ann, Matthew Boyle doesn't deserve his privacy? Are you any better than him (in this case)?

Michael said...

I think they should be left alone. The vile progressives never let a chance go by without shining a spotlight on the Bush daughters. I see no reason to stoop to the slimy tactics of the progressives even if it would feel good for a moment or two. I think if we pick up the tactics of the progressives it will diminish us.

jacksonjay said...


I think the girls should be reading he Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers in private during their spring break!

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Ann, I hope you were kidding. Otherwise, give us a break!

I'm Full of Soup said...

what do you mean he is inviting people to make mean comments about the girls?

MayBee said...

Leaving them alone means what, exactly? Silently paying for the frequent vacations you can't even mention?

edutcher said...

Barry's been voting dry and drinking wet on the subject of kids in politics for so long, it's way past time to give him a good long swallow of his own medicine.

bleh said...

Claws are out.

Steve said...

At some point do we all figure out that Althouse is manipulating her readers to increase traffic?

Nah, probably not. I'm going to buy something through the Amazon Portal.

KCFleming said...

We can fairly attack the excessive spending alone.

However, if they're going to try to delete the second amendment, cripple my business, tell me what light bulbs to use, and dictate how big the cups I drink from can be, then fuck them.

bagoh20 said...

No matter what the Obama girls do, they will not get equally cruel treatment as Republican children, including those who never even enter the White House, but only a governor's house in a far away frozen land.

tim maguire said...

I think the cost is fair game for reporting, but decency would let that report wait until the vacation is over. Yes, I know the press hounded the Bush daughters, but that is not sasha's or malia's fault and they should not be made to suffer for the sins of a sad and pathetic press pool.

Ann Althouse said...

"So Ann, Matthew Boyle doesn't deserve his privacy? Are you any better than him (in this case)?"

Keep working on it. Some day you may understand this blog.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

So by linking to this are you second-hand inviting us to say mean things about the little Obama princesses?

Racist!

Usually I take your posts as an invitation to say mean things about bitchtits the uneducated's failed marriage and life. But that's okay, because fatty is not in one of the ivory towers favored classifications.

Is Mathews Boyle a "white-hispanic"?

If so, you are obviously refusing to recognize your white supremecism by expressing dissaproval Althouse.

When will the ugly posts stop?

MayBee said...

How is reporting they are at Atlantis making them suffer?

Levi Starks said...

If privacy was what they wanted they could have gotten all of it they wanted by staying home. Especially since the White House is now off limits to the children of the working class.
While I think it would be inappropriate to publish details of the president's daughters trip, It would seem like a miscarriage of journalism not to point out the irony that children who had planned to spend some of their spring break visiting the White House are excluded because of budget cuts, while actual residents of the White House are off vacationing on far away beaches at the expense of the parents of those very same children.

William said...

There's a Catch 22. You don't have enough wisdom to raise a child until you've raised a child....And since POTUS is the ultimate father figure, wouldn't it be useful information to know how his children turned out? Or maybe not. Reagan seems to have had the most problematic children of any recent President.....In any event, it's blatantly wrong to stalk Obama's daughter looking for something to club him with.

Hagar said...

The girls are just the girls; their parents, howver, that is something else.
A 15 year old and a 12 year old sent to vacation in the Bahamas on their own?
Even with Secret Service escort and the whole motorcade circus thing?
And all on the taxpayers' dime?

I do not think that any prsesidential family I have ever heard about lived as large as the Obamas while in office, and no, I do not like it. It is not appropriate.

D.D. Driver said...

I agree that the kids deserve privacy. But the other side of the coin is: stop inserting your children into national policy discussion.

I don't care about what you and your daughters talk about. I don't care about what your imaginary son would look like and what that means about guns laws. I suspect Obama is a perfectly good father, but no one (except Chris Rock apparently) elected him to be Ward Cleaver In Chief. Shut up about your damn kids!

President-Mom-Jeans said...

"Keep working on it. Some day you may understand this blog."

The purpose of this blog is to generate income for an aging third rate legal mind who was lucky enough for whatever reason to get some web traffic thrown her way by Glenn Reynolds.

Many of use very well understand this blog, but chose to frequent it anyway for the commenters, despite the condescending tone and ever more frequent absolute stupidity demonstrated by the hostess.

KCFleming said...

If Michelle and Barry keep their hands off my kids, I'll reciprocate.

But from school lunches to health care, they are in everybody's business, so to hell with it.

D.D. Driver said...

"And since POTUS is the ultimate father figure...."


Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Colonel Angus said...

the Breitbart writer who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy.

You came to this assumption how?

mark said...

What type of brain damaged dad sends his 11 and 14 year old daughters on vacations without him? Just with a secret service known for visiting prostitutes during idle times. Dad of the year right there. Dad Of The Year.

X said...

want privacy? live a private life. stay out of the public. don't want eye contact? then avert your eyes.

machine said...

Brave Sir Robins...

jacksonjay said...


Just with a secret service known for visiting prostitutes during idle times.

Saint Barry loves to comment on how those daughters are protected by men "with guns"!

Amartel said...

Bbbbbut I thought politics was personal.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

They can have their privacy when their vacation isn't on my dime.

THIS times 1000.

In some ways I do feel bad for the 'girls' because they didn't chose to be the children of the President and do lose their privacy. As children of public figures who are living off of OUR tax money and who are spending in a way that gives drunken sailors a bad name, their normal lives are on hold.

HOWEVER, I do blame their greedy grasping corrupt parents, who could have chosen a vacation for them that would be more in line with what the average person would consider reasonable. One that didn't require an entourage that would make Marie Antionette blush. One that didn't cost MILLIONS of dollars, while their parents are forcing the rest of us to suffer and making kabuki theater out of the sequester by punishing the American public and releasing illegal alien CRIMINALS upon us as retribution.

Sorry girls. You don't get to have privacy if you are taking MY/OUR money.

Anonymous said...

Before they go to college, children should vacation with their parents.

Chef Mojo said...

Boyle should get any bad karma coming his way. Having said that, however...

Karma. She is a bitch, ain't she? But she bites one way and then another. And another. When she really gets wound up, nothing escapes.

The leftists and their press set the precedent with Bush's and Palin's kids. Time for their side to feel it.

Anonymous said...

If this first family actually vacationed TOGETHER, it would save the taxpayer a bundle.

Anonymous said...

why do these kids get a motorcade when no other personal vehicles are allowed on the island?

Unknown said...

Deserve their privacy ? Really ?!
When you and your wife have made everyone else's children, directly or by proxy, fair game for your media whores, when you have directly penalized everyone else's children with your collectivist giveaways to your cronies and every tax eating leach in existence, when you have deliberately denigrated and insulted the only country that would, and did, offer you opportunities for success beyond even your imagination. After all of that and more, these children should be afforded that which this president, first lady, and their drooling sycophants don't and haven't shown anyone else ? Not in this lifetime, never.

Patrick said...

My brief review of Breitbart's comments showed lots of bad things about the Pres, not his daughters.

Unknown said...

Edward Lunny
You are sooooooo right. Thank you for summing it up so nicely. I'm going to "borrow" your comment any time we get the Obama's-children-are-off-limits speech.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

When the Bush daughters ordered a Piña colada or was it a Margarita, I forget which, it was big news.

Good for the goose... or something.

Anonymous said...

"And since POTUS is the ultimate father figure...."

Meaning we are a nation of mindless dependent kids.

Or we are the "red Indians" who were supposed to trust the Great White Father in Washington. A little irony there, a black White Father.

The first time in my life I actually feel throwing up on what I read.

Joe said...

The kids don't deserve privacy, they deserve safety. This a monumental difference.

Nevertheless, the criticism of this folly is legitimate. Obama makes hay about the expense of White House tours (which I think are kind of dumb anyway) for kids the same age as his children, while blowing FAR more money on trips those same kids could probably never afford.

See also Biden blowing money on extravagant trips to Paris.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Like how the media respected the Bush daughters privacy?

stengle said...

"the Breitbart writer who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things"

Is this how the legal profession argues a case, that something is 'essentially' correct or not. It doesn't seem very precise to me, and somewhat open to interpretation. The man either did invite or didn't invite.

I used to think the law was about things being a little more defined, but clearly I am wrong.

Anonymous said...

"essentially"

Is that a legal term?
Or is it a weasel-worded, implication and smear kind of word?

steve said...

I don't agree with taking personal shots at the girls, but when you take exotic vacations on the public dime during a time of great hardship, then yes, that's newsworthy.

Roost on the Moon said...

That president Barrack Obama sure pushes some buttons around some parts. People are pretty worked up about those kids going on vacation.

People really don't like him and his family. Must just be something about him. Seems like especially in rural areas! It must be because of the deficit. Rural people, especially southerners, really hate the deficit.

Mark said...

The responsible thing would have been to report on the vacation after it was over. Terrible to think about, but there are real national security issues involved in any activity the children of the President pursue. Yes, an expensive trip for his kids while he's denying other kids the opportunity to tour the White House is crude and as soon as his daughters were back home Obama should have caught hell for it. But publishing their whereabouts (especially when they're off-shore) is simply irresponsible.

Mark said...

Roost, you really don't have a well-stocked toolbox, do you?

Ann Althouse said...

"Or is it a weasel-worded, implication and smear kind of word?"

What do you think Boyle was up to? He didn't come right out and say, come on let's use the girls to trash Obama, but it's pretty obvious that's what he intended and that's what's going on over there at Breitbart.

Xmas said...

The trip is unannounced by the White House, but the girls are there. People are talking about the girls in social media, I'm sure photos of them are showing up too. They are the daughters of the President. This is news. Dumb, fluffy news, but news nonetheless.

It is also news as this trip is taking place while the President poor-mouths. The sequester is being used as an excuse to cut high-profile services, such as the White House tours.

test said...

who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy.

It's bizarre that you reach this conclusion. Everyone else is commenting on the cost.

firstHat said...

What do you think Boyle was up to? He didn't come right out and say, come on let's use the girls to trash Obama, but it's pretty obvious that's what he intended and that's what's going on over there at Breitbart.

I'm sorry, but if you seem to see something in that report that suggests any untoward behavior on the part of the girls, that is your problem. I don't think most of us blame the girls for partying with a bunch of girls their own age. It wasn't like he was outing a drinking binge or a sorority party. He was simply reporting the facts.

Anything beyond that is your own projection. You think he is saying something about the children (what exactly?). We (or most of us it seems) are smart enough to look beyond the children and realize that the girls were partying on tax payer dime while the parent that sent them there is telling the same tax payer that sacrifice is in order. The hypocrisy is what we focus on,not the children. Sorry your focus is so stunningly narrow to want to think badly about the children.

In the end, your post says more about you than about the reporter in question.

Cody Jarrett said...

Ann Althouse said...

"So Ann, Matthew Boyle doesn't deserve his privacy? Are you any better than him (in this case)?"

Keep working on it. Some day you may understand this blog.


Ooh. Standard reaction to being gored.
You just don't understand. I am smarter than you. And you. And you...and especially you over there.

Jesus.

Bruce Hayden said...

No, I don't think they deserve privacy as long as so much taxpayer money is going to pay for their vacations. They get vacations reserved for the rich and famous, at our expense. If the Omama's truly wanted to protect them, then they should have just taken them to Camp David, along with maybe some of their friends, which provides for golf, horseback riding, tennis, bowling, etc. Remember, this is the same Administration that cancelled public White House tours due to lack of money. They can send the kids to an exotic place out of the country, but can't afford tours of the People's House?

Meade said...

Smarter than Jesus?

In her defense, I'm sure she knows she isn't smarter than Jesus.

Really now.

Cody Jarrett said...

first you say:

Here's a picture of Matthew Boyle, the Breitbart writer who's essentially inviting his readers to say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy.

then you say:

Ann Althouse said...

"Or is it a weasel-worded, implication and smear kind of word?"

What do you think Boyle was up to? He didn't come right out and say, come on let's use the girls to trash Obama, but it's pretty obvious that's what he intended and that's what's going on over there at Breitbart.


Do you see the difference?

Is it mean things about the girls or about Barry?

Cody Jarrett said...

Oh Meade you're such a card!

gadfly said...

So the Obama girls called up their banker to obtain needed funds, called the resort to book an entire floor, called the Secret Service to arrange for security/transportation and not a single adult questioned their authority!

Right. So why does Althouse think any of this is about the girls?

exhelodrvr1 said...

Of course, this could be "tongue-in-cheek," since this post is actually promoting what she claims to be protesting.

Synova said...

Why would it be saying mean things about two girls who don't deserve it to point out that there is no way AT ALL that it's appropriate for them to be on a Bahama Spring Break. WTF?????? Spring Break vacations are expected for school children now?

Who's paying for that?

Baron Zemo said...

Meade said...
Smarter than Jesus?

In her defense, I'm sure she knows she isn't smarter than Jesus.

Really now."

Of course she is smarter than Jesus. He always swung at a 3-0 pitch no matter how wild the pitcher was!

But she is definitively not as smart as Matty. Felipe maybe but not Matty. Just sayn'

Alex said...

No doubt garage & Inga are getting themselves all super outraged now.

Baron Zemo said...

I hope that one of the Obama girls ends up marrying a Secret Service agent like Susan Ford.

Only I hope it is a woman. Then we will see how Barry really, really feels about same sex marriage.

That would be fun!

roesch/voltaire said...

More sick journalism full of spite, just what this country needs.

Alex said...

rv - what goes around comes around. What you people wrought on the Bushes will come back a 1000-fold to the Obamas.

Synova said...

"let's use the girls to trash Obama"

is not the equivalent of

"inviting his readers to say mean things about the two girls."

Now, Sasha and Malia aren't to blame and I suppose that they may feel bad if they know people are mad about the ridiculous expense for a trip that most of us peasants could never even contemplate. It's not up to them to decide if this vacation is appropriate considering (for example) the cancelled WH tours, sustained high unemployment, and general economic hardship that so very many Americans have gotten used to as a never ending fact of life. It's up to their parents to decide that.

It's not the girl's fault that their parents chose poorly.

campy said...

rv - what goes around comes around. What you people wrought on the Bushes will come back a 1000-fold to the Obamas.

And the democrat who succeeds Obama will get it 1000x worse than that! And the democrat who succeeds the democrat who succeeds Obama will get it another 1000x worse! And the democrat who succeeds that democrat ...

damikesc said...

say mean things about the 2 girls who deserve their privacy.

When I'm not being fleeced to pay for a vacation for them nicer than me or my kids will be getting this year, sure.

Otherwise, fuck that.

Hell, Camp David is already owned by us and is quite nice. But, hey, got to let the Royals do whatever they want. They are vital.

I wonder how many WH tours their trip could've covered.

ed said...

@ Althouse

"Keep working on it. Some day you may understand this blog."

Keep working on it. Some day you may understand this blog.

tree hugging sister said...

He is "essentially" doing no such thing.

How right you are.

ed said...

@ Meade

"In her defense, I'm sure she knows she isn't smarter than Jesus."

Yes well we certainly all are agreed on that.

So.

I can't remember. Did Althouse ever defend the Bush twins? Excoriate the lefty media for making them such targets? Since you appear to have time on your hands pipe up and post a link.

damikesc said...

Professor, in the end, when Obama decided to act like a child because the rate of increase in spending was reduced --- he brought ALL of the spending he authorized into question.

HE released inmates from ICE prisons --- but can afford for his family and the VP to take lavish vacations?

HE shut down WH tours --- but his family and his VP can take lavish vacations?

If he wishes to cite the sequester as a reason for all that is bad, fine. He cannot expect people to not notice what spending is still going on.

SGT Ted said...

It is not a criticism of the daughters to point out their separate vacations. We aren't picking on little girls.

It is a criticism of their parents, who should know how this would look after they closed the childrens tours of the White House because of "lack of money". Their parents should have known better than to authorize this extravagance with public money.

This reeks of a Royalty mentality. No American worth their salt should put up with this crap from politicians when times are tough.

Don't try to make this about the daughters, althouse. Because it isn't.

A reporter was actually doing his job, part of which is to "Afflict the Comfortable", which describes our President.

But, seeing what passes for "reporting" these days of butt-kissing excuse making for Obama, it's no wonder you did not recognize it when some reporting actually happened.

Loren said...

The Bahamas? There was no where within the United States they could go on vacation? At least have the dollars being spent within our own economy?

Mel said...

I don't know how anyone thought this could be a private vacation in the age of Twitter & Facebook. People are posting that they saw the Obama girls at Atlantis. Some are posting photos.

I think the President's salary is enough to afford this vacation, although my tax dollars are paying for the security and that's a bit annoying while White House tours are cancelled because we reduced the increase in the amount of money we'll spend as a country this year over last. (Note that I had a very real 2% income cut in January and I didn't bitch about, I stopped buying lattes.)

What truly bothers me is that the Obamas are apparently fine with sending their children to foreign countries without either parent along. That's just bad parenting and makes me feel sorry for the girls. If you want your kids to see those sites/sights, fine, take them. If you want your kids to think you are throwing money at them so that you don't have to think about them, send them with someone else.

donald said...

Levi's Starks is a filthy right wing liar.

It's about 2 hours to Atlantis from DC.

That's all it takes.

Loren said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mrs whatsit said...

mrs whatsit said...
How does it invade the daughters' privacy to criticize their parents' spending decisions? The girls certainly should have a nice spring break with as much privacy as can possibly be accorded to people in the position their parents put these children in. As far as I can see, that's exactly what Sasha and Malia are getting: nobody is following them around sneaking photos of them on the beach, nor is anybody complaining about any choices THEY made. Instead, what's being criticized is decisions about how to spend public money that were made by their parents -- one of whom was elected by the public to decide how to spend public money, and both of whom have built up quite a history by now of extravagant vacation spending at our expense and that of our children. It's both dumb and dangerous to suggest that a public figure who spends public money extravagantly is beyond reproach just because he's spending it on his children. Spending public money is not a private matter.

campy said...

It's both dumb and dangerous to suggest that a public figure who spends public money extravagantly is beyond reproach just because he's spending it on his children.

Obama isn'tt beyond reproach for spending public money just because he's spending it on his children. He's beyond reproach because he's black and a democrat.

You bigots.

tiger said...

Really? The Breitbart writer is asking people say mean things about the kids?

Professor stop trolling on your own site; it's unbecoming.

mark said...

Mel said...
What truly bothers me is that the Obamas are apparently fine with sending their children to foreign countries without either parent along. That's just bad parenting and makes me feel sorry for the girls.

Can anyone of you imagine staying home and sending your 11 year old daughter with teens on a spring break trip like this? Are they hoping her 14 year old sister will act as the responsible parent? Because they are obviously not.

Any parent who would do this is insane. If one of us peasants did this there would be a chance of being visited by child welfare agents. They sent a 13 year old on a spring break trip to Mexico last year! Are they just hoping they will be murdered and free them up from being parents?

I'll say it again: Barack is nuts. And lefties trust a man who makes decisions like this about his daughters with decisions of running a country.

Bob said...

If democrats didn't want anyone talking badly about the children of presidents then they should have kept their mouths shut in the previous administration. Plus the visuals of our fax royal family vacationing at one expensive spot after another at a time of belt tightening deserves the scorn throw their way. I don't blame the kids but the judgement of the parents. I'll also admit that till this I did think the Obamas had shown good judgement raising their kids; but sending them to Atlantis looks stupid.

Amartel said...

Does the article invite readers to say mean things about the Obama girls? No, not even essentially.

That's a long comment section over there and there may be some mean comments in there somewhere if you care to dumpster dive. The most liked comment, the one at the top, has to do with how it must be good to be king. This is followed by various criticisms of Obama and Democrats generally, and the Obama parenting skill set and how it is lacking. Seems to me that Matthew Boyle is inviting critical commentary of Obama, not his kids.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the invitation is to open your liberal eyes to the "Let them eat cake" presidency. The president exploits his office like a Corrupt third world dictator or mayor of Detroit.

Gahrie said...

What do you think the reaction of Althouse and the Left would be if Pres. Romney had closed the White House to tours, then sent his wife to Colorado and his kids (or grandkids)on spring break?

Because of the complicity of the overly emotional (Althouse) and the politically corrupt (the MSM) the Democrats get the best of both worlds. They get to paint the Republicans as meaneys, and surpplant any coverage of the "Bourbon" presidency we are saddled with.

David said...

People, these are children. Simply leave them out of the exchanges of political spittle, even though their father has the poor judgment and bad taste to bring them into the discussion when it serves his purposes. It isn't whether they deserve privacy or public money is spent. They're kids.

And the Bush girls were granted lots of privacy. They got in the news when they put themselves there especially by bad judgment and low grade law breaking. But even though they were college students and independent young women when their father was President, the press never even reported where they lived, what they did or where they were going to school.

Sam L. said...

Nah, I'll say mean things about their parents; the girls are not at fault.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Ann, I can't agree with you on this. The Breitbart article doesn't encourage hateful comment about the Obama children, and (at least when I clicked on the link) there was none.

The point is that this Administration continues to live large even as it's blaming those mean, obstructionist Republicans for the sequestration Obama himself signed, and claiming that stuff like public tours of the WH are just totally beyond our means, while a one-night $500K+ stay for the Vice President and who knows how big an entourage at a five-star Paris hotel is eminently doable.

If Amy Carter or Chelsea Clinton or the Bush girls went off on their own on way-expensive, taxpayer-financed foreign vacations during their fathers' respective Presidencies, I must say it was kept awfully quiet, and it's not as though those previous Presidents didn't have any sectors of the press antagonistic to them.

Dustin said...

It's more than fair to know how much we're spending lavishing luxury on Obama's family.

These people are not royalty. There is no reason for children that age to get trips to the Bahamas. I have no issue with the kids themselves.

We are dead broke as a country, and there's an elite class of folks who don't take this very seriously.

Unknown said...

Just reporting the facts -"Girls just wanna have fun" ...

Thinkers can make up their own mind.

virgil xenophon said...

Ann defending the indefensible...either that or, as said above, trolling her own site. Either way NOT a pretty picture..

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Ken Layne at Wonkette has this to say about the correct use of children in political discourse.

"I respect the rights of children to not be mocked on the internet just because their mom is a cow-demon. It’s not the kid’s fault."

This must surely be the definitive answer as to why/why not politician's kids are off limits.

You may remember this in reference to the ultra classy post he did about Trig Palin on his third birthday.

So how is this incident different. For one thing Obama's children aren't special needs kids. For another the Palins didn't take or carelessly use any of my money. to say about the correct use of

Gospace said...

Name one other president who sent minor children on vacation w/o a parent with them.

The Secret Service are not babysitters. Who's the responible adult guardian with a power of attorney to get them medical treatment if needed? I have signed forms for Scouts whenever we leave on a camping trip.

All kinds of newsworthy questions. If I sent my kids to Bermuda w/o being with them, you can bet child protective services would be knocking on my door.

Will said...

I did not appreciate $115k in taxpayer funds being spent last year to provide security in a country made more dangerous by Daddy's gun-running. To do it again (after $7 million taxpayer funds on Hawaii and $2.3mil on golf/ski over Pres Day) shows giant Tin Jug Ears or a willful desire to put a thumb in the taxpayer's eye. Probably both.

But more than that I am bothered that last year the WH succeeded in getting news outlets to remove legitimate news of Malia being in dangerous Mexico off the internet. As a prev commented noted, the girls being on an international trip is news and was leaking on twitter from fellow vacationers which is how Breitbart found out. I think if a WH asks to remove news they should be told "F You". Had that been done last year we night not be having a rerun now.

Girls can have privacy if they go somewhere in private and at their own expense. Dad wanted the job so he needs to tell the girls the limitations that HE has put them in.

From what we recently learned of Biden's two Half Million Dollar nights in hotels, this trip was probably not planned well in advance due to security. So Secret Service had to pay peak rates during high season to probably buy a floor or two of rooms at public expense to keep them "secure". Sorry Obama but that is just to much $ to ask or expect in this environment. Especially with his childish Sequester flogging. The Biden and Obamakid trips are showing that we clearly DO have a Spending Problem. It is asinine to spend like that. As a Scotsman it pains me.

Obama is supposed to be a good steward. I would not put up with this (footing large discretionary bill for kids trips) from any of the CEOs who work for me and certainly won't put up with it from a public servant.

LilyBart said...



The problem for the White House isn't so much the girls' privacy as it is that we might compare what Barack Obama's kids are doing this spring versus what the average American can afford to do.

In socialism, or any 'ism' where the ruling party is really in charge of our lives, the politicans and their families live a far, far better life than the people.

They'll get better medical than our kids too!