Media: We normally wouldn’t bother writing about the president’s daughter, but the story of Malia Obama’s spring break deserves mention if only because it’s troubling on so many levels.

First you have to wonder about sending a 13-year-old to drug-war-torn Mexico to frolic with her friends. It doesn’t strike us as the wisest move, given the potential risk to her and those around her.
Then there’s President Obama’s indifference to the country’s perilous financial situation.
With deficits topping $1 trillion, you’d think he’d set an example by scotching a trip that required 25 very expensive Secret Service baby sitters. Surely there were less costly places for her to go.
If Obama had been a Republican, you can bet such profligacy would be the talk of the town. But when a newswire mentioned Malia’s trip, the White House demanded the stories be taken down from various sites where they had appeared, reminding them that the Obamas want their children kept off-limits.
Fair enough. Children should not be media targets simply because their parents are politicians.
But given the costs involved and the location of the vacation, this was a legitimate story.

Yet rather than defend their own news judgment, editors started deleting it. Politico even stripped out details of Malia’s trip in a story about how the White House had pushed to have the other stories removed.
It made no sense. The news was already out there, so deleting the story only created more interest in it.
And awareness of Malia’s location was widespread enough that the White House felt compelled to issue a statement after the Mexican earthquake letting everyone know she was safe.
There’s also the double standard at play here. Obama routinely thrusts his daughters into the limelight whenever it suits his own political interests, as he’s doing in his campaign ads, and as he did when he invoked their names to justify bashing Rush Limbaugh.
Obama can’t have it both ways. Either his daughters are off-limits, or they aren’t.
Then of course there’s the blatant media bias at work. Reporters show far less deference to the children of prominent Republican politicians. Just ask the Bush twins or any of Sarah Palin’s kids.
In the end, this was more about an Obama power play over the media than it was about his daughter’s safety.
That the media were so eager to give in is the most worrisome aspect of all.  (article)