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Obama, Stop Acting Like a Child

Putting kids on TV was a blunder, but so was whining about it: Dowd

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 13, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

(Newser) – Caught up in a Fourth of July celebration, Barack Obama agreed to let his daughters be interviewed on "Access Hollywood," a turnaround from his position on his family's privacy and a big slip-up, writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times. But Obama compounded the error by expressing morning-after regret so vehemently that it just looked like the latest in a series of flip-flops.

Obama's exasperated looks during the interview, and comments to aides after it aired, show his regret at exposing his family. “We wouldn’t do it again, and we won’t be doing it again," he told Matt Lauer. Perhaps, Dowd suggests, Obama should take a cue from one of his daughter's responses, and stop doing what irks Mommy and Daddy: whining.

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama talks to his daughter Malia as they watch an Independence Day parade in Butte, Mont., Friday, July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In this May 3, 2008 file photo Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., top left, his wife Michelle and their two daughters Malia, top right, and Sasha arrive at the airport in Indianapolis.... (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama hugs his daughter Malia as they watch a Fourth of July parade in Butte, Mont., Friday, July 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sen. Barack Obama and his daughter Sasha watch an Independence Day parade in Butte, Mont., Friday, July 4, 2008. Sasha told an interviewer that her "dad doesn%u2019t like sweets." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Obama family goes Unplugged on Access Hollywood! (pt 1 of 4): The Obamas - Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha - sit down for their first family interview. (Insightful)

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Obama, Stop Acting Like a Child