Hopefully everyone has had a good week. Here in America, we celebrated Thanksgiving last week. Usually the modern tradition of this holiday is to eat everything in sight, and to sacrifice a turkey in the process. This year, however, I did not take part in any events of the kind. Ironically, though, if you ask me, that's exactly what I'm thankful for; I have enough thigh to last me at least one Thanksgiving without taking one from a poor unsuspecting turkey.
Instead, I have been devouring a story that sprung up from the White House last week. Ironically, it goes hand-in-hand with the festivities; President Barack Obama, alongside with his two daughters, continued a White House tradition of "pardoning" two turkeys, sparing them from "a terrible and delicious fate", in the words of the President.
You know, I kind of see it as a gag by the White House for them to be like "See? We're not that different from the rest of America. We can be funny and animal-friendly." And since it has been going on for over two decades now, it's not that big of a deal, and doesn't really call for much response from the public anymore.
However, this year was a bit different. A woman named Elizabeth Lauten, who happened to be the communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher, took to Facebook to give her personal opinion on the appearance and conduct of the two First Daughters during this ceremony. If you'd like to read exactly what she posted, you can find it here.
End of the story? She resigned on Monday.
I first want to say that I find it laughable at what seemed to me as her attempt to salvage her job. In the same link, you can find her apology statement, which she also posted on Facebook. She is so sure to mention her "many hours of prayer". Despite that having slight political relevance (because I think we can all understand that letting America know you're religious can have some positive impact on public perception), let's be sincere here and ask: what do you really think she was praying for? (I'll tell you what I think: it was to keep her J-O-B!)
Let's now go on to talk about what she said. She obviously does not take much of a liking towards the President nor his family (which isn't too surprising, since she is the staffer for a Republican congressman). But what she says goes beyond politics; she belittles their parenting. Which is one thing I don't approve of. It is one thing to disagree with one's views, but at the end of the day, both individuals go their separate ways. They don't know about each others personal life, therefore there is ABSOLUTELY NO right for either of them to criticize the way the other lives, talk less raise their families.
She also talks about "respect". Which is pretty ironic to me, because based on her comments, she has absolutely no respect for the First Family. On top of that, for her to go and post such a thing on a social media networking site tells me that she didn't have much respect for her job, either.
And the best statement: "Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar."
Does she realize how old these girls are? A spot at a bar?! They've barely reached the age where they are accepted at the grown-ups table for Thanksgiving, talk less making their way into a bar.
When you read her comment, you may think: "Damn. For her to write such statements, they must have been dressed very inappropriately." That's what I thought, at least. I figured the case was either that they were wearing plain blue jeans (and maybe not even nice ones), or just clothing that is considered inappropriate for public consumption.
But if you go watch the video (here is that link again), or even just skip forward to a part of the video where you could see their outfits, you would find nothing of the sort. Malia is wearing a sweater, a CUTE plaid skirt, and tights; Sasha is wearing a semi-formal dress and a cardigan. They aren't dressed like cats in an alley. I personally really liked Malia's look; it's the type of outfit that is not too dressy, but takes a few steps away from everyday casual-wear.
I think I can personally identify with the girls' mindset towards the event. I know that in my mother's business, she would have meetings once every few months. And when I was younger (starting around eight years old), I was always so eager and excited for it; I would dress up and everything, even though we were simply meeting at a food restaurant. But then time went on, and as years passed, it got repetitive, and held less meaning for me. Now, marking over ten years of having these routine meetings, I simply show up in whatever I felt like putting on that morning, stay in the background, and entertainment myself with my cellular device.
And it's the same case for these girls. They are 16 and 13 years old. They have to stand and watch their dad make corny jokes, which they have heard for years now. And on top of that: NO PHONES. Kudos to you two.
All in all, Lauten had it coming for her the moment she decided to hit that 'Post' button. I think this is a great example of the age-old saying, with a modern twist: Think before you post!
Don't worry! I'm not done! Check out the continuation of this now, here.
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