PrintJuly 9, 2009
Obama uses his kid to make disarmament statement at G-8 Summit
President Obama's daughter Malia raised some eyebrows at the G-8 Summit when she was photographed wearing a T-shirt with the peace symbol silk screened on the front. The symbol is usually associated with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament which played a prominent role in the 1980's in opposing deployment of medium range missiles in Europe.
Today, they oppose missile defense for the Czech Republic and Poland as well as supporting massive cuts in the US arsenal.
Charlotte Spratt of the Daily Mail has the story:
Just 48 hours after the U.S. President signed agreements with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to reduce weapon stores, 11-year-old Malia Obama was spotted wearing not one, but two T-shirts with an anti-nuclear message.
She wore the tops emblazoned with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's famous logo as her father prepared for three days of G8 talks in Italy.
First there was a grey T-shirt bearing the CND logo to visit the Colosseum in Rome with her mother Michelle and seven-year-old sister Sasha. Then during the visit she swapped it for a mottled white and grey top also bearing the logo.
The symbol, designed for the CND in 1958, is now widely used to signify peace and is also an international sign for anti-war protesters.
I will say this for Obama. He is consistent. When he was a student at Columbia University, he was apparently a big advocate of the nuclear freeze - unilateral on the part of the west if necessary.
Should we assume that the president was unaware of his daughter's choice of clothing? Does it matter? We are to believe that neither parent saw Mailia's dress before she went out to be photographed by a gazillion photographers? There are few parents who don't check what their children are wearing before they leave the house so unless we have been misled into thinking the Obama's are just a typical American family, either Father President or Mother First Lady knew full well what the child was wearing and approved.
Since the president insists on using his child to make a political statement, I would say that it matters a great deal considering that he is seeking to shelter his daughters as much as possible from the press in other areas.
I guess he only means when he is not using them as a billboard for his leftist views.
