Rick Santorum said President Obama set a bad example and potentially endangered American tourists by letting his daughter Malia go to Mexico on a spring break vacation.
Santorum told Glenn Beck that an American president should not send his own family into the area given State Department travel warnings for Mexico.
“What I would say is that the president’s actions should reflect what his administration is saying,” Santorum said in a phone interview with Beck. “If the administration is saying that it’s not safe to have people down there, then just because you can send 25 Secret Service agents doesn’t mean you should do it. You should set an example. I think that’s what presidents do. They set an example. And when the government is saying this is not safe, then you don’t set the example by sending your kids down there.”
Earlier today, Politico reported that several news outlets had removed reports on Malia’s vacation at the request of the White House, which has long asked the press to refrain covering the president’s children when not accompanied by their parents.
As Beck’s website, The Blaze, notes, there is no State Department travel warning in effect for Oaxaca, the popular tourist destination where the first daughter is reportedly vacationing.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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