Outrage After a Photograph of Malia Obama Surfaces
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 3: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the assembled press as he walks with his daughter Malia on his family’s return to the South Lawn of the White House January 3, 2016 in Washington, DC. The first family is returning from their two week Hawaiian vacation (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)
Malia Obama, former president Barack Obama’s eldest daughter, is set to move to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend Harvard after taking a gap year between high school and college. The 19-year-old has been in the news lately after being photographed kissing a young man before a football game and blowing smoke rings. Many people are in outrage that the media would not allow children of presidents to have any privacy. Ivanka Trump spoke out against the incident, tweeting that “Malia Obama should be allowed the same privacy as her school age peers. She is a young adult and private citizen, and should be OFF limits.” Chelsea Clinton followed up by saying, “Malia Obama’s private life, as a young woman, a college student, a private citizen, should not be your clickbait. Be better.”
Twins Jenna and Barbara Bush were in the same place as Malia and Sasha about fifteen years ago. While George Bush was in the White House, these girls were walking around college campus with the Secret Service, which is authorized by law to offer protection the children of presidents up to ten years after the parent has left the White House. Rumors say that Jenna would purposely try to lose her protection by going through red lights or by jumping in her car without telling the agents where she was going. The twins were also involved in a police investigation in 2001 for trying to buy alcohol with someone else’s identification card, marking the third drink-related incident during their father’s time in office.
The media also exposed President Donald Trump’s children, Eric and Donald Jr., for photographs taken with a buffalo and cheetah on a 2011 trip to Zimbabwe. Compared to these hunting images, critics believe Malia’s incident is minute and a common activity for countless teenagers. It’s easy to say that being a president’s child would be immensely difficult due to constant ridicule from reporters and the public. Malia’s position requires a great sense of responsibility, but at the same time she has a right to be a teenager and maintain a private life.
