From The Corporate Shame Files

By Noah

While perusing the weekend papers, I found this from the once venerable Washington Post, Saturday edition, an article headlined: "First Lady Opposes 'Sweet Sasha" and 'Marvelous Malia' Dolls."
 
Now, the Washington Post no longer prides itself on uncovering any kind of corporate wrong-doing, so I can only surmise that, to them, this was just a light-hearted bit of filler, but, to me, it is so much more. The article opens with:

"First Lady Michelle Obama, who has described herself "first and foremost... Malia and Sasha's mom," has defended her daughters' likeness, saying that it is not proper for a company that makes the plush "Beanie Babies" to produce dolls called "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia." "We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes," Michelle Obama's press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said in a statement today."

I couldn't agree more. It's hard enough to raise any kid to be reasonably well adjusted and normal these days. Imagine growing up OK if dad is The President! And, having dolls named after you. It's different if you are an adult, and an adult in politics at that. We've had talking Bush and Clinton dolls. In MY mind, we've even had David Diapers Vitter dolls (He wets), Larry Craig Wide Stance dolls (He cries), even Mitch McConnell and Charlie Crist dress up dolls (Don't ask) with full ensembles, heals included. But, a child's ego is a fragile thing, easily crushed or just as easily over-inflated. I realize that people want a hat just like the one Aretha wore at the inauguration and their kids may want clothes like the ones Sasha and Malia wore, but, in my opinion, going and marketing dolls, use of likeness legal issues aside, is tasteless exploitation for a quick buck. The guilty party? Illinois based TY Inc.; the people responsible for attics, flea markets, and ebay pages full of Beanie Babies.

The Sasha and Malia dolls are described by the Post as having "soft brown skin" and "big eyes". Here's the kicker: Ty Inc.'s NAMELESS and utterly shameless spokescreep says that the dolls are NOT BASED ON THE OBAMA GIRLS! Yeah. I'm sure TY Inc. had these dolls, that just happened to be named the same as the Obama daughters, on the drawing board for, oh, say, 10 years, or even 2 years ago and, imagine the coinkydink: along come two little African-American girls in the White House with those very names! Who knew? This is a prime example of how, thanks to the example of the Bush administration, the "coloration" of spin became outright lies. Our corporations are now so arrogant that they not only try to change the meaning of specific words, they change the meaning of meaning and implication itself and try to coax us into buying into their crap. "Not based on."

Apparently, more and more corporate PR execs are coming into companies directly from the CorporateAssclowns.com placement service (a division of Horseshit Industries and nearly as bad as the GOP version of the same mentality). I next expect some PR flak to tell me that Keith Richards has never tried drugs, that Salt Water Taffy is good for your teeth, and that Britain doesn't have a National Drinking Problem.

The Washington Post continues:

Since Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, arrived in the national spotlight as their father, now President Barack Obama, ran for office, fascination with the Obama girls has grown intense with web sites devoted to photos of the girls, what they are wearing, what they are doing. The girls have become fashion icons. Thousands of people tried ordering the J. Crew coats the girls wore on inauguration day. Malia wore a blue coat with a blue bow and Sasha wore a guava colored coat with a tangerine scarf.

I get that. But, dolls? Fortunately, the President and First Lady give every indication of being great parents, but why make the job harder for any parent? Right now, Michelle Obama is reportedly focusing on getting the girls settled into their new lives in Washington. Isn't just being uprooted because of your dad's job and the magnitude of that job enough of a strain. Yeah, lots of kids go through it, but dolls named after you?
 
But wait. There's more:

On Thursday, Jenna and Barbara Bush, daughters of former president George W. Bush, wrote a letter to Sasha and Malia, giving them advice on living as "family members of a President" in the national spotlight.
 
"Sasha and Malia," the Bushes wrote in a letter published in the Wall Street Journal (Who else?), "it is your turn now to fill the White House with laughter... It isn't always easy being a member of the club you are about to join. Our dad, like yours, is a man of great integrity and love; a man who always put us first. We still see him now as we did when we were seven: as our loving daddy. Our Dad, who read to us nightly [from an upside down copy of My Pet Goat, no doubt], taught us how to score tedious baseball games. He is our father, not the sketch in a paper or part of a skit on TV. Many people will think they know him, but they have no idea how he felt [neither does he] the day you were born, the pride he felt on your first day of school [he probably doesn't remember], or how much you both love being his daughters [to each her own]. So here is our most important piece of advice: remember who your dad really is."

This note, purportedly from the Bush daughters, is no more than the latest in the Bush propaganda project, or, as they "SPIN" it, the Bush Legacy Project. It reeks of agenda mongering. My favorite line is a blatant attempt to ride on President Obama's coattails "Our dad, like yours, is a man of great integrity and love…" but, the rest of it speaks for itself. I just wonder which one of Dubya's speechwriters wrote it. It just doesn't read like it came from anybody's heart but then, that is easily explained when you understand that no one named Bush is born with a heart, or a conscience, for that matter. And, just do the math, the Bush twins were full grown 20 year olds by the time Dubya infested the White House. Please, someone tie their tubes. Another generation of Bushes polluting the world right down to the language itself is more that we can bear. Talk about revisionist history. I think I know what Bush "really is" and I don't need two twins who share one brain amongst them to tell me in the WSJ.