GOP staffer resigns after criticizing First daughters
A Republican staffer will resign after launching a verbal assault on Malia and Sasha Obama as the two appeared at the president’s annual turkey pardoning ceremony last week at the White House.
Elizabeth Lauten, who served as a communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), created a rant on Facebook that went viral.
“Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events,” wrote Lauten.
She went on the call the Obama daughters, who largely stay out of the limelight, “classless.”
Many have argued Malia and Sasha were behaving like typical teenagers at the event. They appeared unamused by their father’s corny jokes and at one point Malia declined to pet the Thanksgiving turkey by simply saying, “Nah.”
Lauten has since apologized for her rant, admitting, “When I first posted on Facebook I reacted to an article and I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager.”
The president’s daughters have been singled out and ridiculed on other occasions. In 2010, Glenn Beck mocked Malia for asking the president about the BP oil spill clean up.
“Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?” said Beck, imitating the president’s daughter. “Ask ‘Daddy’ why he ‘hates black people so much.’ ” The conservative radio host also mocked Malia’s intelligence. “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?’ “
We can’t help but to wonder if the children would be enduring such criticism if they were white.
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