President Barack Obama is missing out on part of his oldest daughter's life: her college campus tours as she tries to figure out where to study in two years.
He was absent when 16-year-old Malia toured Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley last summer. Her mother, Michelle Obama, accompanied the high school junior on recent visits to New York University, Barnard College and her father's alma mater, Columbia University.
One possible explanation for Obama's absence is that presidents attract attention wherever they go and their presence could detract from the visit.
Practically everywhere they go, presidents are accompanied by helpers and advisers, Secret Service agents, drivers, doctors, reporters and others who travel in his protective security bubble.
"It's hard to tour college campuses with that moving office in tow," said Lisa Caputo, former press secretary and deputy assistant to President Bill Clinton. "It brings a lot of attention, which is really not the point of the visits."
It's easier for presidential children to take these trips with their mother or other family member, she said.
Obama checked out Stanford's picturesque, palm-tree lined campus in Palo Alto, California, last week when he addressed a cybersecurity summit there.
"I've got to admit, like, I kind of want to go here," Obama said of Stanford. "I was trying to figure out why it is that a really nice place like this is wasted on young people who don't fully appreciate what you got. It's really nice. And everybody here is so friendly and smart, and it's beautiful. And what's there not to like?"
Obama said his administration is "infiltrated" with Stanford people, including National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, and said he's always heard about everyone riding bikes around campus and hopping into the school's many fountains.
"Let's face it, I like Stanford grads," he said, adding that Stanford "is the place that made 'nerd' cool."
Read more:
Obama Daughter Tours Colleges Alone or With Mom, Not Dad