Obamas in 2009: 'Hey, Give the Kids Some Privacy'; Obamas in 2010: 'Hey, Our Kids Have Braces, Dance to Hip-Hop and Want to Save the Tigers!'

After parading their kids all over the place during the election in 2008, the Obamas lamented their lack of privacy once they got to Washington.

During the interview, a candid Malia talked about decorating her new bedroom and giving her father advice on greeting her friends. Afterwards, Obama said the publicity hadn't been "healthy."

Well, forget that. Bet you didn't know their television and computer time and every other intimate detail of Malia and Sasha.

Twelve-year-old Malia Obama wears braces, toots a flute and is after her father to save the tigers. Younger sister Sasha, who is 9, shoots hoops like her basketball-loving dad and dances hip-hop.

Both girls get up at 6 a.m. to get ready for school.

Barack and Michelle Obama put their girls off-limits to the news media after they moved to the White House, saying they wanted to keep their daughters' lives as normal as possible. But tidbits about the private doings of the youngest children to live in the White House since the Kennedy family do dribble out. Often they come from a surprising source: Mom and Dad.

So as with everything they do, it's do as we say and forget what we said last year. Oh, and if you look at us cross-eyed, it's racist or you're picking on our kids.

The first lady is also guilty of breaching the privacy wall she and her husband put up around the girls.

"Malia's one issue for her father is saving the tigers," Mrs. Obama told an audience of young children visiting the White House. "So we talk about the tigers at least once a week and what he's doing to save the tigers." Tigers apparently are Malia's favorite creature.

Mrs. Obama also has revealed that:

_Both girls play the piano; Malia also plays the flute.

_Sasha likes to dance hip-hop. The girls also are working on their tennis game.

_They are not allowed to watch TV during the week, and weekend viewing is limited.

_The girls can only use the computer during the week if they need to for school assignments.

The White House says the Obamas are just behaving like, well, parents when they talk about Malia and Sasha.

That's all well and good, but don't go around using your kids as political pawns to drum up sympathy for dreadful public approval.

Random thought: How long until we see Save the Tigers legislation?