Family Matters?

    As I sat in my room doing my homework on Thursday night, I heard my mom call from downstairs, "Lily, come look at how old the girls look!" I thought maybe she was talking about a picture of my cousins or a family friend that I hadn't seen in a while, but I came downstairs to find the T.V. paused on a shot of Barack Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia. People follow Obama's campaign and his plans for the future, but it seems that many also pay close attention to his family and personal life.
     As we talked about in class, politicians aim to make themselves seem like relatable, self made people. Even Bill Clinton in his speech at the DNC quoted Bob Strauss who "used to say that every politician wants every voter to believe he was born in a log cabin he built himself." While many politicians use this technique to make themselves relatable to their fellow voters, other politicians, including Barack Obama, use their family as well to give them an edge up on the competition. Obama shows America his family man, father figure side, proving to people that he is a normal person just like everyone else. Many people in the United States who pay even the slightest bit of attention to Barack Obama know that he has two daughters. They probably also have no idea what either one of them sounds like because, well, we never hear them talk. What we do hear, is Michelle or Barack Obama speaking fondly of their daughters as the video camera briefly pans over their faces. Sasha and Malia Obama are characters in Obama's strive to win a second term in office. In fact, one of Barack Obama's opening lines in his speech at the Democratic National Convention was, "Malia and Sasha, we are so proud of you. And yes, you do have to go to school in the morning." This of course brought laughter to the crowd and most likely smiles to the faces of people at home who can totally relate to this comment made by this seemingly normal guy, who also happens to be the President of the United States.
     Of course the goal here is electability, but shouldn't there be more focus on the burning issues facing our country? Every candidate strives to make themselves seem like an approachable, relatable person, but in the big scheme of things, shouldn't there be more focus on who is actually in it to help our country?

Barack Obama and his family at the Democratic National Convention