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with me for photos in an online campaign to urge people to sign up for health-
care coverage. They made excellent ambassadors, impervious to criticism and
unaware of their own fame.

ike all kids, Sasha and Malia outgrew things over time. Since the first year of
Barack’s presidency, they had joined him in front of reporters each fall while he
performed what had to be the most ridiculous ritual of the office—pardoning a
live turkey just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. For the first five years, they’d
smiled and giggled as their dad cracked corny jokes. But by the sixth year, at
thirteen and sixteen, they were too old to even pretend it was funny. Within
hours of the ceremony, photos of the two of them looking aggrieved appeared all
over the internet—Sasha stone-faced, Malia with her arms crossed—as they stood
next to the president, his lectern, and the oblivious turkey. A USA Today
headline summed it up fairly enough: “Malia and Sasha Obama Are So Done
with Their Dad’s Turkey Pardon.”

Their attendance at the pardon, as well as at virtually every White House
event, became entirely optional. These were happy, well-adjusted teens with lives
that were accordingly rich with activities and social intrigue having nothing to do
with their parents. As a parent, you’re only sort of in control, anyway. Our kids
had their own agendas, which left them less impressed with even the more fun
parts of ours.

“Don’t you want to come downstairs tonight and hear Paul McCartney
play?”

“Mom, please. No.”
There was often music blasting from Malia’s room. Sasha and her friends had
taken a shine to cable cooking shows and sometimes commandeered the
residence kitchen to decorate cookies or whip up elaborate, multicourse meals for
themselves. Both our daughters relished the relative anonymity they enjoyed
when going on school trips or joining friends’ families for vacations (their agents
always in tow). Sasha loved nothing more than to pick out her own snacks at
Dulles International Airport before boarding a packed commercial flight, for the
simple fact that it was so different from the presidential rigmarole that went on at
Andrews Air Force Base and had become our family’s norm.

Traveling    with    us  did     have    its     advantages.     Before  Barack’s    presidency  was