First Family: Life in the White House

The first family this week: 15 headlines you may have missed

They're role models

• The first post-modern first couple? (New American Media)
• The Obamas are "black swans" (Huffington Post)
• "The first lady of the United States is brown like me" (Austin American-Statesman)
• The price of "faux-familiarity" (The New York Times)
• Ebony editor: "They are the president and first lady of the people" (NewsBusters/NBC)

They're cool

• Sasha, Malia may increase attention paid to tween set (USA Today)

They're fashionable

• First family wears wool (Weekly Times)
• Sasha's inaugural ball dress helps raise money for children (MyCentralJersey.com)
• The importance of letting their hair down (KNX)
• Book to chronicle Michelle Obama's style (Washington Times)
  

They eat well

• Eating locally stimulates the economy (Marie Claire)
• What may be on the first family's menu (Caymanmama.com)

They're entertaining

• Jonas brothers want to fly on Air Force One (OK!)
• First family could bring diversity to TV shows (Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier)

And they're friendly to animals

• National Park Service removing raccoons from West Wing (The Herald)

Sasha, Malia take first trip on Marine One as family heads to Camp David

The Washington Times describes the departure:

The Obamas were joined by Michelle's mom, Marian Robinson, and an unidentified young friend of Sasha's. Lucky friend. ...

Malia walked out at the rear of the Obama family and appeared bashful. Her father, after making his brief remarks striding by the cameras, noticed her walking with her head down and put his arm around her as they walked the 50 or so feet to the helicopter.

It was the first flight on the presidential helicopter for Mrs. Obama and the two young girls. Mr. Obama made his first trip on board the aircraft Thursday on the way to speak to House Democrats in Williamsburg.

And it's the first time for the Obama family at Camp David, a presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first used the retreat, and President Eisenhower named it Camp David in honor of his grandson.

Related: Former White House usher says every first family has to adjust to life 'in the fishbowl' (CBS)

Obamas watch Alvin Ailey perform at Kennedy Center

The Associated Press reports:

The president and his wife, Michelle, took daughters Malia and Sasha to see the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance on Friday night at the Kennedy Center. ...

The first family got a warm welcome. As they entered their box seats -- designated with the presidential seal -- the crowd gave them a standing ovation amid cheers and snapshots. ...

The Obamas were accompanied by Attorney General Eric Holder and his wife, Sharon Malone, and Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and his wife, Michelle.

Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, saw Alvin Ailey earlier in the week from the presidential box, with Kaye Wilson, godmother to Sasha and Malia, who is coming to the White House once a month to "cook family favorites and twist Malia's hair."

Obama says first family is waiting until spring to adopt dog

In an interview with Anderson Cooper about Tom Daschle's withdrawal and the economy, President Obama was also asked about the first family's pet.

Cooper: ... What's the latest on the dog search?

Obama: We are going to get it in the spring. I think the theory was that the girls might be less inclined to do the walking when it was cold outside.

Cooper: Portuguese water dog? You don't know yet?

Obama: You know, we're still experimenting.

Related: Favorite names for the first dog (SFGate.com)

Previously:

• What the Obamas should name their new dog
• Hopeful Trainer-in-Chief offers obedience tips for White House dogs
• Canines across the country vie for position of Top Dog

Why Sasha and Malia should get a larger allowance

Kiplinger's personal finance editor Janet Bodnar suggests Sasha and Malia should get a raise as a way to help children learn about fiscal responsibility:

With all due respect, I'd like to suggest that the Obama kids need a fiscal stimulus (your father will know what that means, too). I'd recommend that you get weekly allowances equal to half your age -- that's $3.50 for Sasha and $5 for Malia. 

That might sound like a big raise, but in return I'd expect you to take on extra responsibilities with your money. ...

I read that you're expected to make your beds but that your mom is satisfied if you "just throw a sheet over them." Sounds easy enough. Here's a suggestion you're probably not going to like: I don't think you should get paid for doing such chores. Kids should pitch in because their parents need help around the house -- even when it's the White House. ...

Why am I bothering to tell you all this? Because, at ages 7 and 10, you could be the poster children for learning to manage your own money and set an example for other kids. ... you could take on more personal responsibility -- something your father talked about in his inaugural address. If more grown-ups had done those things, we wouldn't be faced with such a big mess to clean up.

Ty retires Malia, Sasha dolls, renames them Mariah, Sydney

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls seemingly inspired by the Obama girls have been retired by Ty. The paper says:

A Ty spokeswoman declined to comment, but the company's Web site featured pictures of the dolls marked with the word "retired.''

The dolls, which debuted in January, were criticized by Michelle Obama and others for using the names of the two Obama children, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10.

A company representative first told reporters that the dolls were inspired by the Obama girls after company founder H. Ty Warner saw the daughters and thought they were "cute.'' The company later backed off that storyline, saying that the monikers of the African-American dolls -- Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia -- were chosen because they "are beautiful names.''

The Obamas weren't buying it, releasing a statement that "we believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.''

Related: Maker of Obama art dolls 'thinks twice' about making dolls of kids (Baltimore Examiner)

Update:

• Ty has renamed the dolls Marvelous Mariah and Sweet Sydney (People)
• Lawyers plan to limit commercial use of first family's image (UPI)

Previously:

• Slate's Bazelon: Obamas are walking parenting-press tightrope
• Washington Post columnist: Michelle Obama should "embrace" Sasha, Malia dolls
• Tribune writer: Obama dolls a sign of racial progress
• White House calls Ty's Sasha and Malia dolls 'inappropriate'

Video from 2004: Meet the Obama family

"Entertainment Tonight" has published a video flashback to 2004 that shows Barack and Michelle Obama explaining television cameras and boom microphones to a much younger Sasha and Malia. At the time, Obama was a newly elected senator and the family was excited about having a post-campaign weekend together. These days, they're excited to all be living in the same house again.

First family goes bowling, plays basketball at White House

In his Sunday interview with Matt Lauer, the president described how the first family is relaxing in the White House:

One of the first things the Obamas did as a family was to check out the one-lane bowling alley in the White House's basement. "The bowling alley doesn't seem to be improving my game," Obama told Lauer. "I wanted to use the bumpers, but Michelle [said] that's only for the kids."

He added that they've also played games of Horse [H-O-R-S-E] on the White House basketball court, and that he's looking forward to trying his hand at horseshoes on the pitch on the White House lawn.

Time with the family is vital to Obama as he handles the pressures of trying to lead the U.S. out of its economic turmoil and grappling with decisions involving U.S. troops battling in two different countries. But Obama told Lauer that when it comes to Sasha and Malia, he never had much worry about how they would adjust.

"You know, I think that we are going to be OK," he said. "Malia is 10, so three years from now she is 13 -- who knows what happens to teenagers?

"But if there is a pair of kids who can handle this weird fishbowl, it's those two. Nobody's cooler than my two girls. They seem to take whatever comes with happiness and steadiness."

Peanut butter contamination hits Obama close to home, president orders FDA review

As more peanut products are recalled due to possible contamination, the president says he is ordering a complete review of the Food and Drug Administration. He told "Today"'s Matt Lauer:

"At bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe when they eat peanut butter." ...

Obama said Sunday that he had a personal stake in the problem with peanut products, especially peanut butter, because "that's what Sasha eats for lunch probably three times a week." Sasha, 7, is the president's younger daughter.

"I don't want to have to worry about whether she's going to get sick as a consequence to having her lunch," Obama said.

Malia, Sasha joining clubs, basketball team at Sidwell

President Obama spoke about his family's life in the White House during Matt Lauer's pre-Super Bowl interview:

LAUER: How they doing?

OBAMA: You know, they -- I said this I think in an earlier interview. People think I'm cool. Nobody's cooler than my two girls. They just seem to take whatever comes with, you know -- happiness and -- steadiness. And they're loving school. They're making friends. In fact, they've got a -- they've got some friends from school over -- today and -- they've already joined some clubs. And Sasha, you know -- I think maybe to endear -- myself to her, she -- she decided she wanted to join a basketball team. So -- what more could I want?

LAUER: Are you getting to take part in some of the routines? So I was thinking, you know, you've been on the road basically for two years, although you got home a lot.

OBAMA: Right.

LAUER: Now you're all under the same roof basically for 12 days. Are you there for breakfast? Do you -- do you get to read them a story at night, tuck them in bed? How's it going?

OBAMA: It's the best deal -- of -- of this whole thing is it turns out I've got this nice home office. And -- at the end of the day, yeah, I can come home, even if I've got more work to do, I can have dinner with them. I can help them with their homework. I can tuck them in. If I've gotta go back to the office, I can. But -- I'm seeing them now more than anytime in the last two years. And -- and that's been great for the whole family.

Related:

• What going to school at Sidwell is really like (Page Six Magazine)
• Have Obamas figured out how to get kids to make their beds? (The Sun News)