WebProNews

Tag: malia obama

  • Malia Obama Acts As Translator During President’s Trip To Cuba

    Malia Obama is learning that being part of the first family means you sometimes just don’t get to relax and enjoy that tropical vacation, aka your dad’s historic trip to Cuba.

    Malia Obama actually worked this trip as President Obama’s Spanish translator.

    Pete Souza, official White House Photographer, has widely documented the Obama’s trip to Cuba on Instagram.

    On Monday he posted this shot, which was captioned, “The President and Malia share a laugh as Malia translates Spanish to English for her dad at a restaurant in Old Havana.”

    Working girl! Malia Obama must be pretty good to translate for the president.

    With only a few months left in President Obama’s term as the Commander in Chief, many are wondering just what Sasha and Malia Obama will do after they vacate the White House.

    Former special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and author of the book All the Presidents’ Children, Doug Wead, says he thinks they’ll do just fine.

    He said of growing up as a first kid, “They all struggle, as you and I do, as all of us do, with establishing a separate identity from their parents. That whole process becomes complicated and corrupted by the extreme celebrity of the mom and dad. In any given moment, half of the country admires your mom and dad and half of them hates them. And that will always be.”

    An extraordinary first day in Havana. Click the link the bio to see the day in photos. #CubaVisit

    A photo posted by First Lady Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on

    However, Wead says it is thanks to the Obamas’ parenting skills that Sasha and Malia Obama will be successful.

    He said, “You really have to credit the Obamas as great parents, whatever your politics or your views of government.”

    He added, “I think they’ll be beloved by the nation, honored by the nation. There’s just genuine bipartisan admiration for them.”

    What do you think will be next for Sasha and Malia Obama?

  • Sasha Obama Meets “Deadpool” Star Ryan Reynolds, Gets Thumbs Up from Malia Obama

    Sasha Obama and sister Malia attended their first state dinner at the White House this past week. While there, Sasha came face to face with a very handsome–and very popular–Hollywood celebrity.

    Ryan Reynolds, the actor who currently stars in Deadpool, was invited to the state dinner because he hails from Canada. The actor met Sasha Obama as the guests circulated–and while they were talking, Malia Obama gave her sister a rather sarcastic thumbs up.

    Malia and Sasha Obama were mentioned in speeches given by their dad, as well as by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the state dinner.

    “It’s also touching to meet Malia and Sasha, who are here at their first State Dinner,” Trudeau said. “And quite frankly, the memories for me of being a kid and not being old enough to attend these kinds of events with my father almost makes me wish I had gone through my teenage years as a child of a world leader—but not quite.”

    While it was no doubt flattering to be mentioned by the guest of honor at their first state dinner, it likely wasn’t nearly as exciting as meeting Ryan Reynolds.

    The reactions on behalf of both Malia and Sasha Obama when meeting the movie star were priceless.

    Ryan Reynolds attended the state dinner accompanied by his wife, actress Blake Lively.

  • Malia Obama Receives Apology from Brown University Students for Beer Pong Photos

    Malia Obama has received an apology from students at Brown University who took pictures of her allegedly playing beer pong while visiting the school’s campus.

    It was via an editorial, published in the university paper, The Brown Daily Herald, that the apology to Malia Obama was issued.

    Titled Sorry, Malia Obama, it was published on Tuesday.

    “The college application and selection process is stressful for most students who go through it, but one can only imagine how much the stress multiplies when the whole nation is watching. That is what Malia Obama is experiencing right now,” the editorial reads. “News outlets as prominent as the New York Times are covering her touring process, and students at elite colleges across the country cross their fingers and chat over dining hall food about how cool it would be to go to the same school as President Obama’s daughter.”

    It was while visiting Brown University that someone took a Snapchat photo of Malia Obama that later circulated in many media circles.

    The Brown University editorial noted that students there didn’t necessarily realize how quickly their posts featuring the picture of Malia Obama could go viral.

    “Some of the tweets include photographs of her that were clearly taken when she was not looking. Many of them mention her presence at a party, where she was seen taking shots and playing beer pong,” the editorial continued. “The motivation to take these pictures was obvious: being at a party with the president’s daughter was an exciting, unexpected moment that many of us wanted to share with our friends. We often do not think about our tweets and Snapchats reaching anyone besides our friends and followers, and certainly not news outlets with wide circulation like Buzzfeed. Many Brown students were surprised and embarrassed to see themselves cited in the articles, as other Brown students posted them on Facebook with disappointed captions that criticized their peers for not simply leaving the 17-year-old alone on her college visit.”

    The editorial ended saying it was “a shame” that Malia Obama was outed trying to enjoy an evening as a prospective college student.

    “Malia did not choose to grow up in the White House, and it is unfair that everything she does at just 17 years old is subject to such harsh scrutiny,” the editorial concluded. “While the chances of her selecting Brown have probably decreased since the publication of those articles, if she does ever come back to Brown, hopefully next time we will ‘have more chill.’”

    How much trouble do you suppose Malia Obama was in after these photos of her allegedly playing beer pong surfaced? Do you think there will be a lot more secret service members tailing Malia if she visits any more colleges?

  • Malia Obama: Did the President’s Daughter Play Beer Pong?

    Malia Obama reportedly engaged in some normal college fun of late. The daughter of President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama has been visiting colleges recently, and it seems she either took part in a game of beer pong during one such visit–or stood awfully close to those who were playing.

    It was while at Brown University that Malia Obama is shown in a recent photo obtained by The Daily Caller. A table filled with Red Solo cups of beer sit on a table adjacent to the president’s daughter.

    Buzzfeed reports that an anonymous Tweeter claims, “Malia obama was taking shots and playing beer pong at a party last night LOL.”

    Of course most everything related to the topic has since been removed from social media.

    Malia Obama is just doing her best to be a normal teenager. And like it or not–teenagers party. When they visit college campuses, where many of the students are of legal age, even those who are too young to drink legally take part.

    Brown University isn’t the only college Malia Obama has visited. She has also been to Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Stanford, the University of California, Berkeley, New York University, Tufts, Barnard, and Wesleyan.

    Do you suppose Malia Obama played beer pong at all these colleges?

    Are there a few Secret Service agents in big trouble because of Malia Obama’s recent fun?

  • Lena Dunham: Malia Obama Works On Set of ‘Girls,’ May Have Helped President’s Daughter Get Internship

    Lena Dunham may have been instrumental in helping Malia Obama get her summer job. Of course the fact that she’s the president’s daughter didn’t hurt either.

    It seems Malia is a big fan of Lena Dunham, and when the Girls actress visited the White House a while back, the first daughter admitted as much to Dunham.

    “She’s a fan, and she mentioned that to Lena [Dunham] when she came to the White House,” a source close to the production said in a recent interview with Us Weekly. “I’m not sure how long she’ll be interning for. It’s a bit of a trial thing for her. They’ve known each other and discussed for a while. Lena and her get along great.”

    So far Malia Obama has delivered coffee to Lena Dunham and her cast mates and crew, and has helped keep fans away from the Girls set.

    Working for Lena Dunham isn’t Malia Obama’s first celebrity encounter, however. Last summer she interned for Halle Berry on the set of Extant.

    At the end of this summer, Malia will return to her final year at the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. A year from this fall she will head to college.

    She will no doubt impress her new friends–as well as those she’ll spend her senior year with–when she dishes on what it was like working all summer in such close proximity to Lena Dunham.

    But then again, she’s Malia Obama. People are probably already a bit in awe of her for being President Obama’s daughter.

    Do you suppose she might shower her BFFs with merchandise or souvenirs signed by Lena Dunham at the end of her summer internship?

  • Malia Obama on ‘Girls’ Set in Daisy Dukes Gets Conservative Panties Bunched [Pics]

    Malia Obama turns 17 soon. If the responses to her latest activities from Conservatives are any indication, she will stir up vitriol on that side of the political aisle just as easily as her father did.

    Reports have hit that Malia Obama is interning for the HBO series Girls, starring conservative punching bag Lena Dunham. Photos of Malia on the set of the show wearing cutoff denim shorts hit TMZ.

    Malia previously interned on Halle Berry’s show Extant.

    Back in 2012, Michelle Obama spoke to People of Malia’s interest in filmmaking.

    “Malia has expressed some interest in filmmaking. Just like her father, she is an avid reader, and she enjoys movies. But she’s a freshman, so she also knows she has years in college to explore her interest.”

    In quick response, Young Conservatives derided the show and chided the President for what it presumed was personal influence in getting Malia an internship.

    “If Obama truly wants to see his daughter succeed in Hollywood, he should take a page out of Clint Eastwood’s book. Eastwood refused to use his power and influence to get his son, Scott Eastwood, jobs in movies and TV shows.”

    Breitbart’s readers took to the news with unmitigated fervor and glee:

    “A lying little no talent, just like her old man!”

    “If it were a Republican letting their kids hang out with Lena you could bet your backside CPS would be called.”

    “Soros is doing quite a lot behind the scenes.”

    “Isn’t Malia’s dad considered an oreo?”

    “Almost as stupid Michelle who looks like a linebacker with boobs giving 90 lb gymnast Gabi Douglas diet tips”

    “I hope he winds up like Mussolini!”

    President Obama himself spoke just last year of Malia’s specific fascination with Girls and her parents’ thoughts on it.

    “I’m at the very young end of the Baby Boom generation, which meant that I did not come of age in the sixties—took for granted certain freedoms, certain attitudes about gender, sexuality, equality for women, but didn’t feel as if I was having to rebel against something,” Obama said. “Precisely because I didn’t have a father in the home and moved around a lot as a kid and had a wonderfully loving mom and grandparents, but not a lot of structure growing up, I emerged on the other side of that with an appreciation for family and marriage and structure for the kids. I’m sure that’s part of why Michelle and her family held such appeal to me in the first place, because she did grow up with that kind of structure. And now, as parents, I don’t think we’re being particularly conservative—we’re actually not prudes. . . . But, as parents, what we have seen, both in our own family and among our friends, is that kids with structure have an easier time of it.”

  • Malia Obama: Who Taught Her How to Drive?

    Malia Obama: Who Taught Her How to Drive?

    Malia Obama didn’t go to a nearby Washington, D.C. driving school when she became old enough to drive. Instead, people from the Secret Service taught President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s older daughter to drive.

    Michelle Obama shared that little tidbit of information when she taped an interview with Rachael Ray for The Rachael Ray Show. The episode aired on Thursday.

    “The Secret Service [taught her], actually, because they wouldn’t let me in the car with her,” Michelle Obama said.

    On Monday, the first lady visited with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on Live! With Kelly and Michael and shared that Malia recently asked her a question about parking in a public lot.

    “I barely know now too so I have to check with other sources,” she said.

    Surprisingly, Malia Obama goes out driving on her own.

    “She always has security around. But in order for her to learn how to drive, she had to drive on her own. So once she was legally permitted to drive on her own, she gets in her car,” Michelle Obama said.

    The president and first lady allow Malia Obama to go out driving as part of their effort to allow their daughters as much normalcy in their growing up years as possible. It must be frightening, however.

    “Driving for Malia, I think, gives her a sense of normalcy, like the rest of her friends are doing. And my kids have got to learn how to live in the world like normal kids,” the first lady said.

    Surely Malia Obama is never far from the eyes of the Secret Service. If they taught her how to drive, they’re probably following along fairly close behind while she heads out on her own.

    Do you think it’s nearly as frightening for Malia Obama to go out driving solo as it is for her parents to allow her to do so?

  • Malia Obama’s Unauthorized Photo Creating a Buzz on the Internet

    An unauthorized photo of 16-year-old Malia Obama is creating a buzz on the internet.

    Pro Era, a hip-hop music collective based in Brooklyn, New York, posted a photo of President Barack Obama’s daughter on their Instagram account. The photo shows the teen wearing a T-shirt with the company’s red and green logo on the front, with her hands raised above her head.

    The White House has been very protective of Malia and her 13-year-old sister, Sasha, so the publication of the photo is surprising. In fact, the White House declined comment Tuesday, which some attribute as a sign of White House disapproval of the photo’s distribution.

    The only time the girls are authorized to appear in the media is when they are with Obama and-or first lady Michelle Obama. Otherwise, no mention of their name or use of their image is authorized.

    Bradley Bledsoe, a spokesman for Pro Era, told the Associated Press in an email that “the group received the photo from a mutual friend of Pro Era and Malia, and the photo is real.”

    There is no independent confirmation that the photo is real.

    Bledsoe also confirmed that Pro Era was never contacted by the White House.

    According to the AP, Michelle Obama contacted Ty Inc. to voice her disapproval of the company naming a pair of the popular Beanie Babies toys after the girls. The company renamed them following the First Lady’s complaints.

  • Malia Obama: Stanford or Berkeley Bound?

    Malia Obama: Stanford or Berkeley Bound?

    Malia Obama has reached that pivotal point in most teenager’s lives when it’s time to seriously consider the colleges to which she’ll apply. The 16-year-old daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will head off to college in the fall of 2016.

    President Obama has said in the past that Malia wants to be a filmmaker. The media reported last summer that Malia Obama toured two northern California rivals–both Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

    Berkeley, of course, is California’s flagship public university. It is known as a liberal enclave. It also has an internationally renown department of film and media.

    Stanford is a private university in Palo Alto, and is a far more conservative school. Chelsea Clinton and some Supreme Court justices including Sandra Day O’Connor graduated from there. At Stanford, students can major or minor in film and media studies. The university has more NCAA championships than any other U.S. school. Malia Obama is known as an athlete, excelling at tennis, so she might be a good fit for “Nerd Nation.” That’s the unofficial nickname for Stanford’s sports fans.

    Malia Obama certainly has a wealth of fodder for her college essay. She’s lived in the White House since she was just 10 years old, and that alone must be an education of sorts. She’s had a front-row seat to her father’s two presidential campaigns. She has traveled around the world, and met world figures such as Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai.

    Malia Obama’s parents are Harvard-educated lawyers with Ivy League undergraduate degrees–the president’s from Columbia and Michelle Obama’s from Princeton. That said, expectations for Malia undoubtedly run high.

    David Hawkins is an official at the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Arlington, Virginia. What did he have to say about Malia Obama with regard to her college applications?

    “Given the educational attainment of her parents, which is exceptional in itself, I can only assume she is going to be a bright and well-qualified student,” he said.

    What do you predict? Will Malia Obama be heading to Stanford or to Berkeley? Or might she surprise everyone and head somewhere completely unexpected?

  • Malia Obama Has A Protector In Jenna Bush Hager

    Malia Obama and her sister Sasha made headlines recently when a GOP staffer made some very controversial statements about them after their appearance at the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey, but former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager says the girls have a loyal friend in her.

    Hager dished about her time at the White House earlier this week, saying she understands what a difficult thing it can be to suddenly find oneself thrust into the spotlight as a teen.

    “I’m fiercely protective of them, obviously. I don’t think that it’s easy. It’s not a job that they wanted…I had a hard time (growing up in the White House), but it’s also a privilege,” she said.

    Elizabeth Lauten, former communications director for Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher, took to Facebook last weekend to share her thoughts on the teens and how they appeared at the Thanksgiving event, suggesting that they “show a little class”. It was announced earlier this week that she has resigned from her position.

    “Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play. Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department,” she wrote.

    Obama has had no comment on the social media post.

  • Kendall Jenner and Sister: Should They Be on ‘Time’ Magazine’s List?

    Kendall Jenner and little sis Kylie Jenner made Time magazine’s list of ‘Most Influential Teens.’ Some people don’t believe the Keeping Up With the Kardashians stars deserve a spot on the list. What do you think?

    Amidst the naysayers, however, is supporter Wendy Williams. The talk show host points out why Kylie and Kendall Jenner made the list.

    “They are influential to teens!” Williams said on her talk show last week. “Either teen girls want to look like them…or dress like them.”

    “They follow them on Instagram. They should be on this list, that’s all!” she added.

    Kylie and Kendall Jenner were beyond thrilled–and quite honored–when they learned they landed a spot on Times ‘Most Influential Teens’ list.

    “We are so honored to be included on the Time magazine list of ‘Most Influential Teens,’” Kendall and Kylie Jenner said during an interview with E! .”There are incredible teens on this list and we are so proud to be in their company.”

    Time said of the two girls, “Together, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians co-stars hosted red-carpet events, released clothing and nail polish lines and even published a dystopian young-adult novel this past summer (though yes, they had some help). But they’ve had solo success too—Kendall with modeling (she’s walked the runway for designers like Marc Jacobs) and Kylie with pseudo-entrepreneurship (she’s launching a line of hair extensions and hopes to get into acting).”

    No, Kylie and Kendall Jenner didn’t earn a Nobel Peace Prize, like Malala Yousafzai, who is the youngest to ever have won one. She won for her activism for women’s education. Others making the list include New Zealand singer Lorde, Little League baseball star Mo’ne Davis, Malia Obama, Jaden Smith, and Austin Mahone.

    Oh, come on–if Austin Mahone and Jaden Smith made this list, how can anyone question the validity of Kylie and Kendall Jenner making it, too?

  • Malia Obama Turned Sweet 16 on the 4th of July

    Malia Obama turned sweet 16 on Friday–the 4th of July. The daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama is just one of several White House daughters to celebrate this milestone birthday while their dad was in office.

    Twins Barbara and Jenna Bush turned 16 while their father George W. Bush was president. Chelsea Clinton–who is expecting her first baby in the coming months–turned 16 when Bill Clinton was in office. Who can forget little Amy Carter who skipped through the White House during Jimmy Carter’s one-term White House reign? She turned sweet 16 at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., too.

    And then there’s Susan Ford, whom the media heard little about, except maybe for that 16th birthday milestone. Her mom Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after Gerald Ford took office, so Susan took a bit of a back seat to the media reports.

    And Lyndon B. and Ladybird Johnson’s two daughters Luci and Lynda both celebrated their sweet 16 birthdays in the White House, too, when their dad stepped into the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

    Even though all of these young girls–most of them grown women now–celebrated these milestone birthdays while their famous fathers were president, times have definitely changed from Luci and Lynda Johnson to Malia Obama. The president and Mrs. Obama strive for normalcy for both Malia and sister Sasha Obama.

    “They really want normalcy, and the White House isn’t normal,” Michelle Obama said during an interview with Jimmy Fallon a few months ago.

    “The truth of the matter is, they have more freedom than maybe we might have anticipated,” President Obama said.

    He added that he doesn’t worry as much as he thought he might–especially about the prospect of dating.

    “I’ve got men with guns following them around all the time,” he told Steve Harvey a while back.

    So exactly how did the Obama family celebrate Malia Obama turning 16? Well, Pitbull entertained on the White House Lawn as part of the annual 4th of July event there. That’s not a bad way for a teenager to celebrate her big day.

    Can you imagine what it must be like to be a teenager in the White House? Like all the young ladies who celebrated these birthdays before her, Malia Obama doesn’t have the freedom of simply picking up her phone and arranging to meet a group of girlfriends at the mall. She can’t accept an invitation to a new friend’s home or arrange to attend a sleepover at another teen’s house. Still she is enjoying opportunities that most 16-year-olds–and many adults, too–can only dream of experiencing. She’s been privy to a wonderful wardrobe, a Pitbull concert on her south lawn, and world travels.

    Life really isn’t so bad for Malia Obama. And to top it all off, since she’s now 16–she can apply for a driver’s license. Does it get any better than that?

    Image via YouTube

  • Malia Obama Works on Set of Halle Berry’s ‘Extant’

    Malia Obama, daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, worked on the set of Halle Berry’s upcoming sc-fi series Extant for a day. The aspiring filmmaker will be a junior in high school come fall, and was no doubt getting up close and personal with what her future work might entail.

    Malia clapped together the board that indicates the beginning of shooting a scene. The almost-16-year-old (Malia Obama turns 16 on the 4th of July) must have been completely enthralled by the goings-on on this Hollywood set.

    Extant is set to begin airing in July. In addition to starring Halle Berry it is produced by Amblin Television which was founded by Steven Spielberg. These two components add to the likelihood of the new series becoming an instant hit. How exciting will it be for Malia Obama to not only watch the show and know she spent a day on set, but to share that excitement with her friends as well?

    No one from the White House has yet commented on Malia’s exciting adventure. She attends Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., however it is far more likely that she was allowed this privilege because she is the president’s daughter than the chance that it was a school-related project.

    Some reports are indicating that Malia will work for the entire summer on the Extant set as Halle Berry’s assistant.

    Even though Michelle Obama is rather strict with Malia and sister Sasha Obama as far as watching television goes, Malia did admit during an interview about her famous dad back in January that she is a fan of the hit TV show Girls. Hopefully Mom will bend the rules a bit and allow the sisters to catch a few episodes of Extant when it begins airing next month.

    If nothing more emerges from Malia Obama’s visit to this Hollywood set, she will forever have the memories of a very exciting day away from the White House and away from school. Not many teens can file this kind of experience away in their memory banks.

    Image via YouTube

  • Malia Obama Hits the Streets with Driver’s License

    “One child is going to be driving this summer. Look out.”

    During an interview on Access Hollywood about the role of arts in education, host Billy Bush asked First Lady Michelle Obama about her daughters, ages 12 and 15.

    As most “normal” children, Mrs. Obama said that they are anxiously awaiting summer. She also added that Malia, the oldest, would be turning sixteen in July.

    So who will be teaching Malia to drive? Mom? Dad?

    When former President Bill Clinton was in the White House, he taught 16-year old Chelsea to drive, although he hadn’t driven a car himself in twelve years. Mrs. Clinton referred to the situation as “scary.”

    However, Mrs. Obama set the record straight, saying, “I think our [Secret Service] agents don’t want us driving with teenagers … Especially the president’s detail. I don’t think they want him in the state when she’s learning how to drive. We will fortunately be able to hand that responsibility over to someone else.”

    Most previous young adults who turned 16 while they were in the White House when their fathers were president did not learn how to drive because cars had not been invented yet.

    When John and Jacqueline Kennedy entered the White House, they brought with them a 4-year old and an infant, neither of which were close to driving. This was the first time children this young had been in the White House since Theodore Roosevelt’s family in the early 1900s.

    When asked if Malia was dating anyone, Mrs. Obama dodged the question.

    “You just want me to get pushed off the Truman Balcony,” she joked, suggesting that could be her punishment for saying anything about her daughters’ personal lives.

    Of course any parents, especially those in the public eye, have to be safe revealing any kind of information about their children. Two weeks ago, a suspicious vehicle was stopped and searched after trailing a motorcade carrying Malia and Sasha Obama. It was not made clear whether it was a mistake or intentional, but an “all clear” was issued approximately an hour later.

    Malia turns 16 on the July 4, the birthday of our nation. Sasha will turn 13 on June 10.


    Image via YouTube

  • Malia Obama Wears Affordable Topshop Dress in China

    Malia Obama posed for photos in Beijing, China on Friday wearing an affordable Topshop dress. The dress was a short-sleeve floral print mini. One source identified it as the “Crocus Crop Skater Dress” sold for around $138 by British fashion retailer Topshop.

    Malia paired the dress with black tights and flats. In the photo, she appears to be as tall as if not taller than her mother Michelle Obama who is wearing heels to match her bright red dress.

    Besides her mother, Malia was joined in the photo by sister Sasha, grandmother Marian Robinson and Chinese president Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan.

    This marks Michelle Obama’s first-ever trip to China. It is also the first time a First Lady of the United States has visited the country independently of her husband.

    She arrived on Thursday with plans to spend four days in Beijing before visiting tourist sites in the interior cities of Xi’an and Chengdu.

    “The relationships between the United States and China couldn’t be more important,” she said on Friday morning, “and having the opportunity to travel here, to listen, to learn, to hear more about the education initiatives here in this country and to share my travels with students throughout the United States is a very unique experience, and it’s one that I will never forget.”

    On Saturday, the First Lady made her first and only scheduled speech of the trip, at the Stanford Center at Peking University.

    In what is considered by many to be a thinly veiled criticism of China’s strict media censorship, she made the following remarks:

    “It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the Internet and through the media,” she said. “Because that’s how we discover the truth, that’s how we learn what’s really happening in our communities, in our country and our world.”

    In his introduction of the First Lady, Max Baucus, the newly appointed US ambassador to China, praised Twitter and Facebook in spite of the fact that both social media sites are blocked in China.

    The First Lady also cautioned against tamping down criticism of the government:

    “That’s how we decide which values and ideas we think are best — by questioning and debating them vigorously, by listening to all sides of the argument and by judging for ourselves. And believe me, I know how this can be a messy and frustrating process. My husband and I are on the receiving end of plenty of questioning and criticism from our media and our fellow citizens, and it’s not always easy, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Because time and again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all citizens can be heard.”

    The visiting party’s less politically-charged activities include learning to write Chinese characters, visiting the Great Wall, seeing the famous terra cotta warriors in Xi’an, and visiting a giant panda research base home.

    Their final scheduled activity is a lunch on March 26 at a Tibetan restaurant. Given the ongoing controversy over Chinese rule of the Tibetan population, this stop is considered by some to be an unspoken statement of support for the Tibetan cause.

    “We welcome the First Lady’s visit to a Tibetan restaurant, a demonstration of the long-standing American interest in the distinct Tibetan culture,” said Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.

    Image via YouTube

  • Malia Obama Visits Great Wall with Mother and Sister

    On the third day of their weeklong visit to China, Michelle Obama and daughters, 12-year old Sasha and 15-year old Malia, explored the Great Wall of China.

    The trip to Beijing, where Mrs. Obama met with Peng Liyuan, the wife of the president of China, marks the first time that a first lady has visited China independently.

    On the White House blog, Mrs. Obama wrote about she and her daughters’ experience.

    “To get to the Wall, we rode a cable car up a mountain (and we later rode back down on a long slide!).

    “During our visit to the Wall, I couldn’t stop thinking about what a massive undertaking it must have been to build it. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and peasants were given the dangerous, painstaking – and often fatal – task of carrying ton after ton of granite, brick, dirt, and wood through the forests, up over the hills, and down through the valleys to create this incredible structure. They did this year after year, decade after decade – and it’s because of their hard work and sacrifice that the Great Wall remains standing today.”

    In the spirit of modern technology, FLOTUS also posted a few pictures to Twitter.

    On the first day of their trip, Mrs. Obama and her daughters posed with President Xi Jinping and his wife at the Diaoyutai State guest house on Friday.

    Her oldest daughter, Malia, wore a high-waisted floral skirt and matching short-sleeve crop shirt for the occasion. Black tights and flats accompanied the outfit.

    Malia’s fashionable outfit was so popular that websites are posting links to show where fans of the frock can buy a similar one of their own.

    Not only has the First Lady and daughters wowed with their fashion elegance, but also with their personalities.

    “She is very warm and frank, and when she is talking to people she conscientiously listens to what they have to say,” said Wu Qing, a retired professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University after meeting with Mrs. Obama on Sunday.

    But this trip hasn’t just been about pleasure. So far Mrs. Obama has also visited a Beijing High School and a high school in the southwestern city of Chengdu. On Saturday, she visited Peking University where she promoted the free flow of information and freedom of speech and on Sunday, hosted a discussion about education with Chinese professors, students, and parents.

    “Education is an important focus for me. It’s personal, because I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents investing and pushing me to get a good education,” she said.

    Mrs. Obama, along with Malia and Sasha, will return to Washington on Wednesday.

    Image via Twitter

  • Obama Worries About Malia Using Facebook, Cites Privacy Concerns

    The President of the United States and the First Lady both have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts – Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+, and Tumblr too. And though the accounts are (mostly) maintained by campaign aides, you occasionally get a real post or tweet from the POTUS and the FLOTUS.

    But for President Obama, the social media love stops with the parents. According to him, the other members of the first family are not quite ready to join the world of Facebook.

    In a recent interview with MTV’s Sway Calloway, Obama said that his oldest daughter Malia does not have her own Facebook page. Why? He wants to protect her privacy.

    Here’s what he had to say, courtesy Yahoo News:

    “I’d worry about Facebook right now. I know the folks at Facebook obviously they’ve revolutionized, you know, the social networks. But Malia, because she’s well known, I’m very keen on her protecting her privacy…She can make her own decisions obviously later as she gets older, but right now, even just for security reasons, she doesn’t have a Facebook page. Dates, that’s fine, ’cause she’s got Secret Service protection.”

    Malia is 14 years old. The youngest Obama child, Sasha, is 11. She technically wouldn’t be allowed to create a Facebook account until she turns 13 – although Facebook has struggled with enforcing that term or service since its inception.

    Earlier this year, we reported that Facebook was considering letting in pre-teens, with some sort of strict parental controls of course.

    It’s sometimes odd to think about the life of a first child. Of course, we all recognize that their daily routine – going to school, hanging out with friends, even taking a walk outside is going to be completely different than a regular person’s routine. It simply comes with the territory. But the fact that operating a Facebook account, something that 1 billion people do on a monthly basis, is simply out of the question, makes you think about what it means to be in the political spotlight.

  • Malia Obama: Are Obama Kids Being Used For Votes?

    While President Obama and First Lady Michelle have famously said they prefer to keep their girls out of the public eye as much as possible–in an effort to give them as much normalcy as they can–the girls are now appearing in some campaign ads, and that has eyebrows raising all across the country.

    But the ads aren’t the first instance of Obama talking about his own family when it comes to political issues. He spoke about the impact his children had on him when it came time to make a decision about gay marriage, and publicly supporting it.

    “Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective,” he said.

    While some think the president is simply using the children to gain favor–and votes–some think he just wants to play up the fact that he is a family man and allow his girls to help his image as such.

    “Children have a kind of humanizing impact, and that’s really what Obama needs,” Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling, said. “Voters feel like things haven’t changed as much as they wanted. The economy still is not where they wanted it to be. He needs people to vote more on whether they like him or not, regardless of his record of accomplishment.”

    Sasha and Malia are the youngest children to reside in the White House since Jimmy Carter’s daughter, Amy, lived there in the ’70s; that could account for some of their popularity, as well. People are eager to see that the First Family is just like theirs, that the president and his wife deal with everyday issues while raising their children, just like we do. It may make a difference when voting time comes around, since ads created by Obama’s opponents will likely not have the same appeal.