A Republican congressional staffer has resigned following a Facebook rant that urged first daughters Sasha and Malia Obama to “Try showing a little class" at a recent White House event. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
There was a political firestorm over what President Obama’s daughters wore at a White House event.
A Republican congressional staffer has now resigned under pressure after she urged Sasha and Malia to "try showing a little class.”
Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe said, "Democrats and Republicans over the years fall for this—don't go after the kids. Leave them alone."
Michaela Angela Davis said on CNN, "She literally kind of bullied girls on Facebook."
Thirteen-year-old Sasha and 16-year-old Malia appeared at the White House turkey pardoning ceremony wearing short skirts. They also looked kind of bored, like they'd rather be anywhere else.
That led Elizabeth Lauten, Head of Communications for a Republican Tennessee Congressman to write an open letter to the teens on Facebook. Writing, “Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you're both in those awful teen years, but you're a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. Act like being in The White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”
That led to an outpouring of anger directed at Lauten.
“Picking on children? You're a bully!,” reads one tweet.
“Children? Off limits!,” says another.
Keli Goff, political columnist for The Daily Beast told INSIDE EDITION, "Typically, it is an unspoken rule that the children of the president are supposed to be off limits. That is why these comments created such a firestorm. After all, Sasha and Malia Obama did not sign up to run for office, their father did."
Sasha and Malia aren't the first presidential daughters who've been picked on. Jenna Bush was caught in a photo yawning at her dad's 2001 inauguration.
The Republican staffer who criticized Sasha and Malia handed in her resignation Monday after issuing this apology: “I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager. I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were.”
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest was asked by the press on Monday, "Would you say that first children, first daughters in this case, are off limits?"
He replied, "I think a lot of people observed that a principal like that is pretty much common sense."
