Obama: Keeping Secret Service 'With Guns Around At All Times' to Protect His Girls Was Incentive to Run Again

December 27th, 2012 7:59 AM

The anti-gun Obama isn't so anti-gun when it comes to protecting his own family.

During a predictably gooey interview with Barbara Walters on ABC's Nightline Wednesday, the President joked about his daughter Malia dating boys saying, "I always talk about how one of the main incentives for running again was continuing secret service protection so there are men with guns around at all times" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BARBARA WALTERS, HOST: Now, Malia recently got her first cell phone. Do you monitor it and see who she calls or who she texts?

MICHELLE OBAMA: I give my daughter at this age, I give her a long rope, you know, and there is monitoring because we have rules. But monitoring may be “You never know when I'm going to walk in your room and I'm going to definitely ask you, ‘Who are you talking to and are you talking about school work?”’

BARACK OBAMA: And they're not very good at lying. We joke sometimes about how, you know, Malia's getting to the age now, and boys start calling, and, you know, sort of, I always talk about how one of the main incentives for running again was continuing secret service protection so there are men with guns around at all times when…

WALTERS: Mr. President, boys can call the White House and say, “May I speak to Malia,” and they get put through?

OBAMA: Well, that’s part of the challenge with cell phones these days.


For the record, this interview was recorded a few days before the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Walters noted at the beginning of the segment that its airing had been postponed as a result of the shootings.

One has to wonder if the President's comment about wanting "guns around at all times" was one of the reasons for the delay.

Regardless, it's clear Obama has no problem with members of the Secret Service having guns to protect himself and his family.

Shouldn't the rest of the nation be accorded the same right?

Of less importance, shouldn't the media point out this hypocrisy when Obama calls for tighter gun regulations?

Or would that be too much like journalism?