He's already got a big decision to make: Should he buy the golden retriever-poodle his 10-year-old daughter wants or should his family go with another breed to be the First Pet?
As Illinois Senator Barack Obama busies himself with the task of getting ready to take over as the leader of the free world, he will do so as the father of two very young daughters -- Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, with whom he had a day-after-the-election breakfast before they headed off to school like millions of other kids their age across the country.
When's the last time a regular Nickelodeon viewer -- one who was concerned that her dad's massive ad buy in the 11th hour of the presidential campaign would mess around with her SpongeBob SquarePants -- and a Hannah Montana fan frolic in places where John-John and Caroline once tread? Never. The late 70s marked the last time someone under 10 resided in the White House, when 9-year-old Amy Carter moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But there was no Nickelodeon back then. And Miley Cyrus hadn't even been born yet.
As NBC's Brian Williams said on election night, "There will be young children in the White House for the first time since the Kennedy generation." I thought about that and recalled the iconic photographs I've seen of John-John peeking out from beneath his father's desk in the Oval Office. Of Caroline with her pony Macaroni on the White House law. Of Jackie Kennedy pregnant and looking glam.
Read the rest of this post at Mommy Track'd's Pop Culture and Politics column.
