Let's say you're on vacation at a sea life park with your two daughters.
It's an unfair comparison, I know. You're not the President-elect, and you don't have an increasingly paparazzi-like media waving the flag of American democracy to justify its repeated attempts at violating the privacy of your young daughters. Just suspend your disbelief. Despite this, everyone's been walking around, so you offer the crowd a round of shaved ice.
Bad move, you see. First it was Beergate. Now it's shaved ice snowcones.
After the park visit, the Obama group was joined by the press pool — which arrived at the park about an hour after the Obamas but was not allowed in — as they stopped for a sandwich and shaved ice. The reporters refused an offer from Obama to buy them some shaved ice.
Because on this particular day, the press pool has been scorned and is absolutely beaming with self-importance. In a gross slap in the face to America's functioning democracy, President-elect Obama gave them the slip and took his daughters to a sea wildlife park:
The traveling press pool that accompanies high-ranking officials like the president-elect or the president is made up of about 15 representatives from all types of media — newspaper, magazine, radio, television. Those representatives report back on their subject's movements for the rest of the media.
Their purpose is to provide a public record of the official's activities, a vital service in a functioning democracy.
They know they're peddling images of Obama's children and acting like paparazzi, but justify their behavior on account of a "fine line":
The Obamas are trying to establish a level of privacy for Sasha and Malia, as previous presidents have done with their own children. But it's been more than 30 years since a presidential child has been under the age of 10, and the fine line between keeping the public eye on the president-elect while keeping the children's privacy intact is not always clear.
There is no fine line. The line seems abundantly clear to anyone I've spoken with about Sasha and Malia: leave the kids alone. The only folks who can't seem to get this concept through their heads are the media. But don't scorn them lest they portray you as neglecting American democracy or trying to bribe them with beer or snowcones.
To refresh your memory, this image from McCain Blogette of press members from the Bar-B-Q at McCain's ranch last year:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Edit, and this video of John McCain grilling "his famous ribs and chicken" for them: