Obama Did Not Flub His Daughter’s Age And Who Cares If He Did

Before I defend the president, I have to reveal that I’m horrible with ages. Earlier this week I wrote something here at Mommyish about how my first daughter was born in 2006. My husband called me and gently reminded me that, well, no she was not. Try 2007. I’ve routinely forgotten the precise date of our anniversary. I prefer to remember it as “mid-September.” Which I think is close enough. Now onto the President.

Yesterday, in the midst of a press conference he probably wishes went better, President Barack Obama said something like:

“You know, Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. Malia is 13, Sasha is 10.”

And he was trying to make a point about how awful the Republicans are for holding the same position against raising the debt limit that he held in 2006 or something. But the media are focused not on the general theme of the presser but instead something much more serious. Here:

Obama flubs daughter’s age

Oops! Obama messes up his daughter’s age”Ž

Obama gets his own daughter’s age wrong”Ž –

Come on. Technically they’re right. Malia is 12 years old. But she turns 13 on Monday. Monday. Can’t we round up our children’s ages? I’m so bad with the whole topic that I generally round my own age up to the next five-year interval. I’m not joking. I’m not 40 but I tell people I am because it’s easier than remembering whether I’m 36 or 37. The 40 answer will work for another couple of years.

While the country is going down the economic crapper and we have a whole host of other problems, why would we waste any energy worrying about whether President Obama got his daughter’s age right? Whatever else you may say about the man as a politician or leader, he’s clearly an active and involved father. I doubt Malia is upset with him even if he did get her age off by a bit.

Photo via White House Flickr.

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