Obama’s 10-year old is “too grown”?

I know that the remarks of Sandra Rose have been analyzed and talked about a lot this week (and it’s only Thursday!), but I felt like I had to throw in my 2 cents…

"Malia does not conduct herself like any 10-year-old I’ve ever met. Malia tells Menounos that she has dibs on one of the bedrooms in the White House when (not if) her daddy wins the presidency. Miss Malia knows how she’s going to decorate her room and everything."

She’s 10!  If my dad was running for president, I’d think that he was going to win too (regardless of all the politics surrounding it–it’s the "he’s my daddy, he’s a superhero!" idea that a little kid gets).

I think that it’s really great that Barack and Michelle Obama have raised such an articulate daughter who is unable to be intimidated by ACCESS HOLLYWOOD and all the media hoopla that is surrounding her family.  It was pretty amazing how unconcerned these two girls were with the camera and that they did not shy away from questions.  I really want to ask Sandra Rose:  What do you want from them?  Did you expect them to be the stereotypical "gangster" kids from Chicago?  Did you expect them to shy away and look down at the ground and want to hide?  She probably would still criticize them.  "Oh look, Barack and Michelle are bad parents!  Look at how their kids conducted themselves!  Couldn’t they be more mature?!"

It was amazing that these two girls were so confident at this day and age!

In a society that has been drenched in teen sexuality (i.e. Miley Cyrus and VANITY FAIR, Juno, etc.) and all the self-confidence issues that young girls are facing, kudos to the Obama family for raising two articulate and confident young girls.  Shame on Sandra Rose for thinking that they should have done otherwise!  Her blog criticizes anyone who has been defending the Obamas (she makes particular mention of Stella Foster, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times who, from what I understand, is a very wonderful woman).

Shame on Sandra Rose for thinking that it’s a bad idea for any girl to be confident and articulate and mature!  Maybe if there were more children with her abilities, people wouldn’t complain so much about the "sad state of American youth".

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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