The XX Factor: What women really think.

But Didn't Barack Cash in on Sasha and Malia's Cuteness, Too?

The saga continues with the Sasha and Malia dolls that Bonnie thought were inevitable and Nina thought would be more fun if they wore miniskirts and traveled in space. First a Ty spokeswoman claimed that the company avoids naming their dolls for "any particular living individual" and chalked up the release of Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia to serendipity ("Sasha and Malia are beautiful names" that "worked very well with the dolls we were making," she said). Now it looks like Marjorie's call for the elder Obamas to stand up for the girls' privacy has been answered; the first lady said through her press secretary that she feels "it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes."

I'm all for protecting the girls' privacy as much as possible. But are they really private citizens? When Barack Obama brought his daughters on stage with him at campaign events, making them adorable little accessories for his Family Man ensemble, wasn't he making the choice to thrust them into the public eye? And when he writes open letters to them on their first day of school (which, as Emily pointed out, came off as fairly hollow and staged), doesn't he sacrifice some of the moral high ground in this debate over his daughters' privacy, some of his right to outrage when that privacy is breached?

It's tough, I'd imagine, to be the child of a celebrity. In the case of Suri Cruise or Shiloh Jolie Pitt, though, there was no choice; their parents were celebrities from a fairly young age, so any kids they had would necessarily grow up in the spotlight. With politicians, it feels a little different. Barack Obama didn't have to run for president. And no doubt when he decided to do so, one of the issues he talked through was whether it would be fair to Sasha and Malia (and for that matter, Michelle) to put them through that. Running for public office requires a pretty hefty ego—enough faith in yourself to think that your ability to make things better with a position of power override whatever damages you'll inflict on those around you, both from rampant attention from the media and splintered attention from yourself.

Do any of you moms hold it against him that he chose to go for it anyway, even though it would almost certainly make a "normal" childhood impossible for his daughters? Or is a selfless style of parenting just as damaging as one that could be labeled selfish? Being hounded by paparazzi and commodified by toy companies is bad, yes, but for all that, Sasha and Malia get to grow up with a front-row seat to the ultimate role models: a man and woman who put it all on the line because they thought they could make a difference in the world and were determined to take that as far as they could. Perhaps it's a good trade.