Obama girls to make their beds
2008-11-26 22:51
Washington - The first daughters will not be spared the "ethic of responsibility" their father has pledged to usher in when he becomes president in January.
But the burden will be lifted for some members of the White House staff, who've been told to lay off Sasha and Malia Obama's beds.
"That was the first thing I said to some of the staff when I did my visit" to the White House, Michelle Obama told ABC News, in an excerpt of an interview with the incoming first couple to be broadcast in full later on Wednesday.
"They said 'the girls, they're so great'. I said, 'you know, we're going to have to set up some boundaries, because they're going to be able to make their beds.'"
Obama daughters Malia, 10 and Sasha, seven, will be the youngest children to live in the White House since the Kennedy family in the 1960s.
Their parents have frequently expressed concern about enabling the girls to grow up in a "normal" way inside the ultimate power bubble of the White House.
That means picking up their rooms, making their beds and staying on top of their homework, the self-styled mom-in-chief told the network.
"That's going to be one of their goals. You don't make their beds. Make mine. But skip the kids. They have to learn these things," she said.
In the same interview president-elect Barack Obama said he hoped to usher in "a return to an ethic of responsibility" as he chastised auto executives for flying corporate jets to seek bailout money in Washington, and urged bank executives to forego their end-of-year bonuses as millions of Americas struggle with the economic downturn.