The XX Factor : obama family

Daddy's Little Girls Are Not for Sale

Marjorie Valbrun — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:26:00 GMT

Samantha, I don't think it's fair to compare Obama allowing his girls to accompany him on the campaign trail to the Ty Co.'s shameless marketing of Sasha and Malia dolls for profit. In American politics, it's standard operating procedure, and the expectation...(read more)

Curiosity

Hanna Rosin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:10:00 GMT

This is the word that stood out for me in Obama's list of values yesterday: "hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism." The rest have echoes in traditional and more safe political dialogue. But curiosity...(read more)

Can't Obama Just Talk to Malia and Sasha?

Emily Bazelon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:05:00 GMT

Why is Barack Obama writing an open letter to his daughters ? I guess when you become president, you talk to your kids via Parade magazine. Parts of Obama's letter to Malia and Sasha, 10 and 7, are the usual empty-ish rhetoric ("I want all our children...(read more)

The Obamas on 60 Minutes

Melinda Henneberger — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:32:00 GMT

Yes, it is embarrassing, but I am going to say it, anyway: How glorious to have a president I can not only stand to see on television , but would have watched over Desperate Housewives , had it come to that. I kept trying to think of the last time such...(read more)

Michelle Still Has Feminist Cred

Emily Bazelon — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:09:00 GMT

I am trying to decide why I don't share the distress that Rebecca Traister expresses on Salon in her thought-provoking essay about the "momification" of Michelle Obama. Traister criticizes the press for covering not her departure from her former job at...(read more)

Post-Election Washington Musings

Bonnie Goldstein — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:14:00 GMT

I am… Wondering why it takes a week to count fewer than 350,000 votes in Alaska. Anticipating D.C. getting its party plans on for our own version of Grant Park on Jan. 20. Witnessing spontaneous conversations in public places between white people and...(read more)

The Red Carpet

Hanna Rosin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:20:00 GMT

In all the idle chatter I picked up today about which private school the Obama girls might attend (see this New York Times story for the first guesses), one thing was absent: any hint of the gossipy, snarky tone that usually descends on a first family...(read more)