People magazine loves Obama. In the top right corner of the June 20 issue is a picture of the president tenderly sitting with younger daughter Sasha on the White House lawn and the words “President Obama On Being a Good Father: Plus Exclusive Family Photos.” Inside are five pages of pictures of adoring daughters getting moments with Daddy...by Obama’s White House photographer Pete Souza. The newest one’s from last August.
The White House pictorial also comes with an essay titled “Being the Father I Never Had, by Barack Obama.” People touted “In an exclusive Father’s Day essay, the elementary school basketball coach – and president – tells how growing up without a dad made him want to be the best parent he could.”
Captions on the large photos (like one of the president and older daughter Malia on a swing set) took sentences from the “essay” like “I’ve tried so hard to be there for my children.” The whole article should have a disclaimer “Paid for by Barack Obama for President.” The Time Warner folks ought to put it on their election-finance reports.
Obama boasted, “This year in addition to being President, I took on a second job. I was an assistant coach for Sasha’s basketball team. Every Sunday we would bring Sasha and her teammates together for clinics and drills.” That sounds awfully normal – but New York magazine reported this February that his coaching debut didn’t sound so normal:
President Obama helped coach his daughter’s basketball team Saturday morning when the usual coach couldn't make it. Sasha Obama missed her dad's coaching debut, since she's on a ski trip in Colorado with her mom. No word on who won the game, but there was no pressure on the young players to excel or anything. Only the president of the United States coaching.
FoxNews.com reported that Obama held Sunday clinics for Sasha's team at the White House "and even brought in professional players. Washington Mystics star Alana Beard attended one of them."
