Barry, you are right on target.  It is certainly up to President-elect Obama and his wife to make the best decision possible for the education of their two daughters.  This is a private, family matter. But, as we both know, the media is anxious to make a story where there is none.

There’s no secret that Sidwell Friends has the kind of procedures and planning in place to handle high-profile students.  The last presidential child to attend that school was Chelsea Clinton, who was there a decade ago.  And many years before the daughter of President Nixon (Tricia Nixon Cox) went to school there.

If the pundits are smart, they will let this issue go.

The simple truth is that there will be many changes ahead when President-elect Obama takes the oath of office in January.  And, it’s also true that the lives of the First Family will change dramatically.  More scrutiny.  Less privacy.  Of course, it comes with the territory.  As President-elect Obama recently told 60 Minutes:  “One of the challenges I think that we’re going to be wrestling with is how to stay pretty normal.”

Longtime family friends predict the Obamas will do everything they can to maintain a ‘normal’ life inside the White House.  But as anyone knows, and as the Washington Post points out, that will not be easy.