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"Obama's ample self-regard is lapsing into hubris."

Oh, no! He's losing Andrew Sullivan! Sullivan's biggest complaint: that "Access Hollywood" interview with the daughters.

I was gob-smacked by the Obamas' decision to include their children in a soft-focus TV interview.

Displaying them in this way was bad judgment and poor parenting. Fame is a toxin. Children deserve to be protected from it as much as they would from lead paint.

No one should ever let their kids go on TV? Oh, come on. There's such a thing as overprotection too. I thought it was nice seeing and hearing from the daughters. They're perfectly charming and they reflect something about the man we're trying to understand.

I'm actually a little put off by Obama's expressions of regret about doing the show.

"I think that we got carried away in the moment," Obama told NBC Wednesday morning. "We were having a birthday party and everybody was laughing, and suddenly this thing cropped up, and I didn't catch it quickly enough, and I was surprised by the attention it got."...

Appearing on ABC Wednesday morning, Obama said he didn't think it was healthy for his two daughters to be so exposed.

"Particularly given the way it sort of went around the cable stations, I don't think it's healthy, and it's something that we'll be avoiding in the future," he said.

Why is he conceding that his judgment is so poor? How can someone who didn't anticipate that an interview like that would be all over the cable channels (not to mention the internet) expect us to trust him with national security? Or is it his modus operandi to do one thing and then, when he sees the pundits criticize him, change positions? (That's change you can't believe in.)

Speaking with CNN Tuesday, [Maria] Menounos, the Access Hollywood reporter, said the campaign had reached out to the show for an interview and her only goal was to show the Obama family dynamic.

"No one really expected them to open up so much," Menounos said of the daughters. "You know the campaign and their family were all huddled around and as surprised that the girls took over the interview as I was!"

Yeah, the girls were great, especially the confident, talkative older daughter Malia. (Nothing against the ice-cream-loving younger one.) Did anyone trash her? Did anyone say she was disrespectful? I haven't read the criticism. I'm just speaking for myself. I thought she was wonderful, and, as I've said before, seeing the family together has a powerful emotional effect on me. This is a natural, human feeling, but of course, the Obama campaign must be careful not to do too much.

Anyway, I'm old enough to remember how sublime it was to have the young Kennedy family in the White House. Americans felt a tremendous amount of pleasure seeing the beautiful wife and the adorable children there.

Children are an important part of the world. They have something to contribute to the culture before they grow up. They shouldn't be entirely hidden away in family and school enclaves. They should be out in public frolicking, having fun, and bringing joy to the world and breaking up the crusty solemnity of adult affairs. It's not wrong! And it seems morbidly fearful think that it is.

Full post as published by Althouse on July 10, 2008 (boomark / email).