Two of President Obama’s most trusted advisers still have to finish their homework before they can watch television.
Obama revealed last week that his historic change of heart to support same-sex marriage was in part inspired by talking with his daughters — ranging from availability of birth control to the importance of killing Osama Bin Laden.
And the frequent references also connect with voters, pundits said.
“Voters like a family man in a President,” sai dFordham University Prof. Monika McDermott. “There’s a strength there, but also a softness that is appealing.”
“People like hearing about his family and seeing him with his family,” McDermott added. “It’s a very warming, human aspect.”
When Georgetown University law student Sandra Fuke was berated by right-wing radio host Rush Linbaugh for her views on birth control, Obama mentioned his daughters as the reason he reached out to the woman at the center of the controversy.
“I thought about Malia and Sasha,” Obama said, “and one of the things that I want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about, even ones that I may not agree with them on.”
He said his daughters do not believe their friends’ gay parents should be treated differently than heterosexual couples — and that helped change his mind on same-sex marriage.
Obama also cited the girls as the reason why he opposed the morning-after pill being made available over the counter — and why he is fighting to lower student loan interest rates.
“When we should have been starting to save up for Malia’s and Sasha’s college educations, we were still paying off our educations,” Obama said this month.
The First Family is fiercely protective of their daughters’ privacy. Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, are both active students at the Sidwell Friends School, but they are rarely captured by White House photographers.
However, they are still seen — and discussed — far more often than other children who have recently called the White house home.
“It’s a very different dynamic,” said McDermott. “This feels like a family presidency and less like a Presideent who happens to have a family.”
And while Obama’s laudatory — and sometimes amusing — references to his wife and aughters clearly help him with female voters, there could be a downside, pundits warn.
“Obama opens up a slippery slope when he refers to his children when at other times says he wants them to have a private life,” said Boston University’s Tobe Berkovitz. “You can’t have it both ways.”
“I don’t think voters want to feel that (the girls) are being used as political surrogates on campaign trail,” added Berkovitz. “There could be a backlash.”
jlemire@nydailynews.com
