Barack Obama says Malia, Sasha’s time in White House ‘shut down their interest in public service’
Former President Barack Obama doesn’t see his daughters getting into the family business.
In a Monday interview on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” Obama said his daughters’ experiences growing up with Secret Service has probably “shut down their interest” in pursuing the White House. Malia, 22, and Sasha, 19, spent eight years of their life in the White House starting at ages 10 and 7.
“Them as teenagers having Secret Service guys follow them when they were going out on dates I think probably has shut down their interest in public service,” Obama said.
He says their young ages during his two terms may have been too traumatic for them to ever return.
“They still have PTSD from guys talking into their wrist microphones and glasses as they’re trying to go to a music concert,” he added.
Obama said his daughters would have to have a “tolerance for nonsense and silliness and meanness” to take on the job of president, but he said he would still be proud of them if they decided to run for office.
“I want to protect my girls from that stuff. I think they are probably going to find other ways to serve rather than run for office themselves,” he said. “But you never know. If they decided to do it, obviously I would be extraordinarily proud of them.”
Malia and Sasha Obama have taken an interest in activism. In a November interview with People , the former president said his daughters participated in Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
“I didn’t have to give them a lot of advice because they had a very clear sense of what was right and what was wrong and (of)Â their own agency and the power of their voice and the need to participate,” Obama told People.
“Malia and Sasha found their own ways to get involved with the demonstrations and activism that you saw with young people this summer, without any prompting from Michelle and myself, on their own initiative.”
He added: “I could not have been prouder of them.”