The families, and especially the children, of the commander-in-chief are almost always considered off-limits by the media and the political opposition, and yet, some conservatives can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to Malia Obama.
In the wake of President Obama’s statement that he would support the selling of Plan B, a birth control product, to girls as young as 15, Fox News host Andrea Tantaros speculated about the sex life of the president’s 14-year-old daughter.
“Are they gonna put her on birth control? Because he’s very concerned with contraceptives and pharmaceuticals that are going in the mouths of everybody else’s 15-year-old daughter,” she said, according to Media Matters.
Tantaros also lashed out at the Obama administration: “They consider 15-year-olds to be women. They want to tell grown women what to do. They know how grown women feel. They have no idea how women feel. They should stop talking about it, because they have no clue.”
A history of mocking Malia
This is not the first time that the president’s eldest daughter has become a political punching bag for the right.
In just the first year of Obama’s presidency, Malia (then 11 years old) was subjected to crude and hateful insults after sporting a t-shirt with a peace sign on it during a trip to Europe.
According to Mediaite, commenters on the right wing site Free Republic referred to her as “a typical street whore” among other epithets.
In 2010, during the BP oil spill crisis, Glenn Beck mocked Malia for reportedly inquiring about the clean-up.
“Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?” said Beck, in a voice that was meant to mock Malia. Ask “Daddy” why he “hates black people so much.”
Beck went on to ridicule her intelligence, saying: “That’s the level of their education, that they’re coming to — they’re coming to Daddy and saying, ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’ ”
In 2012, when the president cited Malia and his younger daughter Sasha as influential in his decision to embrace gay marriage, Bristol Palin, the daughter of GOP firebrand Sarah Palin, attacked them in a widely criticized blog post.
“I guess we can be glad that Malia and Sasha aren’t younger, or perhaps today’s press conference might have been about appointing Dora the Explorer as attorney General because of her success in stopping Swiper the Fox,” Palin wrote.
Drawn into the guns debate
This year Malia and her sister were drawn into the gun control debate when the NRA aired a controversial ad which suggested the president was hypocritical for providing secret service protection for his children while he opposed their calls for more guns in schools.
The Obamas, like first families before them, have worked hard to shield their daughters from the media glare during the five years in office.
She will be 18 years old when her father’s second term ends.
Follow Adam Howard on Twitter at @at_howard