Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama......

[y2kitty]

To get her a meeting with Justin Bieber:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2011/05/13/justin-bieber-to-meet-with-911-victim-per-barack-obamas-request/

What ever happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country"?

 

[iheartscience]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I find it charming (and I don't say that as a fan of any party in this transaction!). It's the kind of thing that humanizes the Administration, generates a lot of goodwill, and probably took 15 minutes of a staffer's time. I have no doubt the WH LOVED the opportunity to do this. You have no idea the things people write a President requesting. This one seems pretty tame, and unless the WH mail system has drastically sped up, was probably sent way before OBL was caught!

As for the mom, I'm also guessing she would do anything for her daughter who lost her father in a horrible way at such a young age. Or, more likely, didn't know her daughter was even sending the letter.

 

[iheartscience]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Do you know of any 14 year olds who aren't totally entitled? Because I can't say that I do...that's kind of a defining characteristic of teenagers. Or at least the ones I've met!

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Do you know of any 14 year olds who aren't totally entitled? Because I can't say that I do...that's kind of a defining characteristic of teenagers. Or at least the ones I've met!

I guess I am off to tweet the President and ask for the pony I never got.

 

[iheartscience]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Do you know of any 14 year olds who aren't totally entitled? Because I can't say that I do...that's kind of a defining characteristic of teenagers. Or at least the ones I've met!

I guess I am off to tweet the President and ask for the pony I never got.

Can you ask him for a 3 carat diamond for me while you're at it?

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Do you know of any 14 year olds who aren't totally entitled? Because I can't say that I do...that's kind of a defining characteristic of teenagers. Or at least the ones I've met!

I guess I am off to tweet the President and ask for the pony I never got.

Can you ask him for a 3 carat diamond for me while you're at it?

Absolutely!

 

[Miss Sparkly]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Agreed. Just because her father died on 9/11 doesn't make her any more special than any other child who lost their father. If she were asking for a memorial service for all the fathers or something along that line then it would be different. She has the early beginnings of a politician

 

[minmin001]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

wow, I can't believe she is using her father's death to meet a pop star... this makes me so mad. I mean I can understand if she want to kick on bin laden's ass before we shoot him but to meet a pop star? really?

 

[slg47]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

ditto to the bolded part...

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Are you all upset at the Obama Administration for taking the opportunity to get some good publicity by doing this?

Because, I promise you - they are not unhappy about this turn of events. Not one bit.

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Are you all upset at the Obama Administration for taking the opportunity to get some good publicity by doing this?

Because, I promise you - they are not unhappy about this turn of events. Not one bit.

No, I think I've been pretty clear that I am indifferent to President Obama doing this and I dislike the girl and her mother.

 

[somethingshiny]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I think it's pretty awful too.

In my opinion, a 14 yr old is too old to just let this fly. If she was 8, sure, whatever. But, 14 is old enough to know that she's milking this situation.

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

SHE MAILED A LETTER.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They get thousands of letters a day and the mail is opened by volunteers.

No one had to answer the letter. Or they could have mailed a kind form letter with an autopenned photograph.

But clearly someone in the White House thought this was a good idea.

Best I can tell from that short article, the WH was not put on the spot. There was no media campaign to try and pressure them to arrange a meeting. It was a letter (no matter how foolish - at least request to meet someone cool!) that they decided to answer.

 

[lbbaber]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I think the 14yr old part got me too. If she was 8, I would have said "cute" but being that she is old enough to actually DATE him it seems a little off. President Obama the match maker?

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

SHE MAILED A LETTER.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They get thousands of letters a day and the mail is opened by volunteers.

No one had to answer the letter. Or they could have mailed a kind form letter with an autopenned photograph.

But clearly someone in the White House thought this was a good idea.

Best I can tell from that short article, the WH was not put on the spot. There was no media campaign to try and pressure them to arrange a meeting. It was a letter (no matter how foolish - at least request to meet someone cool!) that they decided to answer.

You are right. After reconsidering I think the President is pathetic to use this situation.

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

SHE MAILED A LETTER.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They get thousands of letters a day and the mail is opened by volunteers.

No one had to answer the letter. Or they could have mailed a kind form letter with an autopenned photograph.

But clearly someone in the White House thought this was a good idea.

Best I can tell from that short article, the WH was not put on the spot. There was no media campaign to try and pressure them to arrange a meeting. It was a letter (no matter how foolish - at least request to meet someone cool!) that they decided to answer.

You are right. After reconsidering I think the President is pathetic to use this situation.

At least that's consistent!

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Oh, and thing2of2 he still hasn't answered my tweet about your 3 carat diamond and my pony.

And since when do 14 year olds wear skirts this short to meet the President?? She is to the right of him.

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I'll agree with you on that - wear more clothes! I'm regularly appalled at what people deem appropriate to wear to political functions (or anywhere else).

Do you remember the huge flip-flop scandal with the Northwestern Women's Lacrosse team, circa 2005? That was good times.

 

[iheartscience]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I hope you all get this outraged when people actually do awful things.

 

[ksinger]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

Do you know of any 14 year olds who aren't totally entitled? Because I can't say that I do...that's kind of a defining characteristic of teenagers. Or at least the ones I've met!

Yes, actually, I do. But it takes rather a lot of effort and consistency on the part of the parents to achieve this, and a goodly percentage of parents today are too unskilled or lazy to make that effort.

 

[suchende]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

As long as she stays off my lawn...

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

I hope you all get this outraged when people actually do awful things.

Oh I am. But I was also outraged by some of the letters in the book “I Live Real Close to Where You Used to Live: Kids’ Letters to Michelle Obama (and to Sasha, Malia and Bo).” , article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/opinion/28letterstomichelle.html.

Here's my favorite:
Dear Michelle,

Can I borrow some money so we can move into an apartment and buy a new Mustang convertible? I don’t mean to waste money. I will use some of the money to buy a drum set and have a cool pool. Can I have $10,000 to buy my passport to go to Las Vegas? Send me a picture of the White House and the statue of Abraham Lincoln.

— LUIS MOLINA, age 10, Los Angeles

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

[quote="thing2of2|

Can you ask him for a 3 carat diamond for me while you're at it?[/quote]

thing2...mean you didn't get a 3ct from Obama yet? well,i got mine last year.. since he did promise to spread the wealth.

 

[ksinger]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Eh, she's just a kid...I think it's cute that she asked and pretty great that President Obama made it happen.

See, I have the opposite feeling. It sickens me actually, that someone would have that sense of entitlement and waste the President's time with it. Hmm, he just had your father's murderer killed. Thank him, don't ask him to arrange a meet and greet with Bieber. But then again she's only 14 and probably doesn't know any better. Her mom should have stopped her then.

You know I kept thinking about this, and I really have to agree. Mom should have stopped this, the fact that it was the president offering is really irrelevant. THIS is exactly how we create 14 year-olds who feel like they're entitled. Entitled anyones of any age are created, and accepting that as "just the way things are" is really the great tragedy. It doesn't have to be that way, but first we have to believe that something else is possible. First a foremost would be to not reward that expectation.

As Sillyberry guessed, "she would do anything for her daughter who lost her father in a horrible way at such a young age", well there you have it. Something BAD happened, and if this mother ever had any ideas about how to raise her daughter and what she was actually trying to accomplish at the end of the process, they likely went out the window after the death of her husband, and in trying to compensate she caved, and now she allows her daughter to not only ASK a stranger for a pony, but to accept that pony should the stranger agree. What a lesson to teach. Lessee...she just taught her daughter that she really IS the bright hot center of the universe, that she deserves the attention of the president more than anyone else who has suffered a tragedy, and that banking on that tragedy pays off. (I bet military widows/widowers don't give their children a pat on the back and encouragement to ask the president for a pony....) This girl will probably be a professional victim - already on her way apparently - for the rest of her life.

I have sat back for the last 10 years now and watched a similar, slightly less tragic but much more common scenario where 2 parents divorced, and then played out their emotionally-unfinished divorce with the kid in the middle. Neither one of these parents consistently followed through on discipline or had any definite idea of what they were trying to actually DO, together or apart, and especially after the divorce gave this kid everything, unearned, in their battle for his love, and to assuage their guilt at divorcing. What do you think they have now at the 20 year mark? The poor kids has NO coping skills, is emotionally out of control, has no ambition, is scared to try anything, and just got convicted on a misdemeanor possession charge. They lost sight of their child and what was best for HIM, and now he is beginning to pay a terrible price for his parents' pathologies.

I understand that bad things happen, but that doesn't change right and wrong, or give a pass to behavior that in better times a parent would likely not tolerate. I know if I had asked the president (or anyone) for ANYthing (which I was expressly NOT allowed to do, BTW), my mother would have talked to me in private, and then very politely declined the gracious offer because it was inappropriate of me to have asked, and to accept would have undermined what she was trying to teach.

 

[sillyberry]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Why are we assuming that the mother had anything to do with this request? Is there something I've missed in the news stories about how this all came about?

(serious question)

Perhaps she should have intervened after the fact (I don't think she should have), but I don't know why we are talking about her as some horrible parent raising a bratty entitled child.

Again - it is amazing the things people request from public officials at ALL levels, from the state house member to the president. I don't think this is anything new, either. I remember watching a TV show where they discussed how people came to the White House to visit Abraham Lincoln and ask for things. Perhaps this is a horrible display of entitlement, but by and large I just don't see it as a big deal.

I mean, should we end the Make a Wish Foundation? All those entitled sick kids using their terrible circumstances to meet athletes and movie stars and go to Disney World...

Full Disclosure: after the murder of my father I sent a request to Mark Cuban asking to meet him. My dad had season tickets and was a life-long Mavs fan. When I knew I was going to be at a game (my first since his death almost 4 years prior), I sent Cuban an email telling him my story, said I was going to be there and would love to get a picture with him. At the game he came over to meet me and I ended up getting a pass to go back and greet the players on the rope line out to the bus. Am I a horrible entitled brat? Maybe. Still one of my favorite life memories, though.

 

[ksinger]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Why are we assuming that the mother had anything to do with this request? Is there something I've missed in the news stories about how this all came about?

(serious question)

Perhaps she should have intervened after the fact (I don't think she should have), but I don't know why we are talking about her as some horrible parent raising a bratty entitled child.

Again - it is amazing the things people request from public officials at ALL levels, from the state house member to the president. I don't think this is anything new, either. I remember watching a TV show where they discussed how people came to the White House to visit Abraham Lincoln and ask for things. Perhaps this is a horrible display of entitlement, but by and large I just don't see it as a big deal.

I mean, should we end the Make a Wish Foundation? All those entitled sick kids using their terrible circumstances to meet athletes and movie stars and go to Disney World...

Full Disclosure: after the murder of my father I sent a request to Mark Cuban asking to meet him. My dad had season tickets and was a life-long Mavs fan. When I knew I was going to be at a game (my first since his death almost 4 years prior), I sent Cuban an email telling him my story, said I was going to be there and would love to get a picture with him. At the game he came over to meet me and I ended up getting a pass to go back and greet the players on the rope line out to the bus. Am I a horrible entitled brat? Maybe. Still one of my favorite life memories, though.

Where did I say that I thought the mother had anything to do with the request? I didn't. However, the mother had full control over whether her daughter should have asked, or whether she should accept. Or she should have control over that.

Other people have mentioned or complained that all (or most) 14 year-olds act entitled. I merely said that entitled people are created, not born, and are not a function of hormones. That's what the parent should be there for - to ensure against that, human beings of any age being a self-centered and selfish lot if left to our own devices. A single event in a lifetime is not going to create entitlement obviously, but from the number of people who feel that entitlement is the defining characteristic of adolescence, I assume that there are quite a few parents allowing stuff that reinforces that mindset...over and over and over. Maybe this girl and her mother are like that, or maybe this is an outlier in a life of being reminded that she ISN'T all that and a bag of chips, but too many things like this and you WILL get entitlement thinking. I ask you, who is in more danger of it - a child who is not allowed to ask strangers for gifts and to subsequently accept them, or one who is encouraged to do so? I know which one I would pick.

 

[y2kitty]

Re: Girl Whose Father Died on 9/11 Asks President Obama.....

Why are we assuming that the mother had anything to do with this request? Is there something I've missed in the news stories about how this all came about?

(serious question)

Perhaps she should have intervened after the fact (I don't think she should have), but I don't know why we are talking about her as some horrible parent raising a bratty entitled child.

Again - it is amazing the things people request from public officials at ALL levels, from the state house member to the president. I don't think this is anything new, either. I remember watching a TV show where they discussed how people came to the White House to visit Abraham Lincoln and ask for things. Perhaps this is a horrible display of entitlement, but by and large I just don't see it as a big deal.

I mean, should we end the Make a Wish Foundation? All those entitled sick kids using their terrible circumstances to meet athletes and movie stars and go to Disney World...

Full Disclosure: after the murder of my father I sent a request to Mark Cuban asking to meet him. My dad had season tickets and was a life-long Mavs fan. When I knew I was going to be at a game (my first since his death almost 4 years prior), I sent Cuban an email telling him my story, said I was going to be there and would love to get a picture with him. At the game he came over to meet me and I ended up getting a pass to go back and greet the players on the rope line out to the bus. Am I a horrible entitled brat? Maybe. Still one of my favorite life memories, though.

Not really the same situation at all. Your father had Mavs tickets and this is a connection you felt with him. It was very sweet of Mark Cuban to do what he did. You also didn't ask the President to arrange it for you. This girl's father's memory had nothing to do with a pop star who was 7 on 9/11. I pretty much think ksinger is spot on.