--- title: GOP's Mike Huckabee Questions the Obamas' Parenting of Sasha and Malia description: He chastised the Obamas for encouraging their daughters' love for Beyoncé. canonical: https://time.com/3665383/huckabee-questions-obamas-parenting/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-13T15:25:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:26.191Z article:section: Politics og:title: Huckabee Knocks the Obamas for Encouraging Their Daughters to Like Beyoncé og:description: Parenting advice and criticism from a potential 2016 presidential candidate. og:url: https://time.com/3665383/huckabee-questions-obamas-parenting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt828da053370c6fb9/69877999cd6848c367099108/huckabee1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7360 og:image:height: 4140 og:image:alt: Citizens United And Americans For Prosperity Foundation Host Leading Conservatives For Freedom Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Huckabee Knocks the Obamas for Encouraging Their Daughters to Like Beyoncé twitter:description: Parenting advice and criticism from a potential 2016 presidential candidate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt828da053370c6fb9/69877999cd6848c367099108/huckabee1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Huckabee Knocks the Obamas for Encouraging Their Daughters to Like Beyoncé > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=967988f0-97de-450c-b469-e39a38ae8ea6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Mike Huckabee's Three-Day Tour of Israel [Watch (HLS stream): Mike Huckabee's Three-Day Tour of Israel](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZJCJ85HQ.m3u8) (5:24)  _Published 2009-08-19. The former Arkansas governor toured Jerusalem and the West Bank as the guest of a controversial group that advocates Jewish settlements_ by [Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People Contributor Jan 13, 2015 3:25 PM UTC  Mike Huckabee speaks at the Freedom Summit on April 12, 2014 in New Hampshire. Mike Huckabee speaks at the Freedom Summit on April 12, 2014 in New Hampshire. Darren McCollester—Getty Images by [Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People Contributor Jan 13, 2015 3:25 PM UTC First, it was [Beyoncé](http://www.people.com/people/beyonce%5Fknowles) and [Jay Z](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:JayZ,00.html) up for [scolding by conservative Republican Mike Huckabee](http://www.people.com/article/mike-huckabee-slams-jay-z-beyonce-pimp-obama). Now it’s Barack and [Michelle Obama](http://www.people.com/people/michelle%5Fobama)‘s turn. In an interview about his [new book](https://fbmacmillan.com/smp/godgunsgrit/index.html), _God, Guns, Grits and Gravy_, Huckabee tells PEOPLE he doesn’t get how the Obamas can encourage [their daughters’ love for Beyoncé](http://www.people.com/article/michelle-obama-frozen-daughters-too-old). Especially, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister says, if the president and first lady ever actually listened to the lyrics to – or seen a [performance of](http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/package/article/0,,20768375%5F20780110,00.html) Beyoncé’s steamy “Drunk in Love.” The Obamas “are excellent and exemplary parents in many ways,” Huckabee says. “That’s the whole point. I don’t understand how on one hand they can be such doting parents and so careful about the intake of everything – how much broccoli they eat and where they go to school and making sure they’re kind of sheltered and shielded from so many things – and yet they don’t see anything that might not be suitable for either a preteen or a teen in some of the lyrical content and choreography of Beyoncé, who has sort of a regular key to the door” of the White House. Beyoncé, Jay Z and their daughter, Blue Ivy, [were at the White House last January](http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2014/01/20/beyonce-randi-rahm-michelle-obama-birthday-party/) for Mrs. Obama’s [exclusive 50th birthday bash](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20777715,00.html) and the first lady has taken her girls to several Beyoncé concerts. The singer, criticized in Huckabee’s book for “obnoxious and toxic mental poison in the form of song lyrics” and dance moves “best left for the privacy of her bedroom,” was also featured prominently at the president’s [second Inauguration in 2013](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20666808,00.html). The first lady’s office had no response to Huckabee’s comments. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/mike-huckabee-questions-obamas-parenting) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com)_,_ [_read the whole story at People_](http://www.people.com/article/mike-huckabee-questions-obamas-parenting)_._ ## Transcript [00:00] >>I've been here. This is my eleventh visit to Israel; [00:04] the first one dating back to 1973. I'm not here representing [00:09] the government. I had no position in the government. [00:11] >>Former Arkansas Governor and Fox News personality [00:14] Mike Huckabee recently toured the West Bank in East [00:18] Jerusalem. The trip was organized and sponsored by a [00:21] group called American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a [00:24] religious Zionist organization specializing in education. [00:28] >>Here Jacob stood. He looked all over [00:32] the land. You can see-- [00:34] >>Mr. Huckabee was treated to a wide range of experts [00:36] and dignitaries who enlightened him about the [00:39] complexities of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict from the [00:42] perspective of the Israeli rights. [00:44] >>If we come back to this land is a fulfillment of the [00:49] promise of God. [00:52] >>Safe inside this bullet proof tour bus, Mr. Huckabee and [00:56] journalists learned a different lexicon. [00:59] >>So much on how we live today's that intonation so [01:00] settler is a bad word, but the word settle [01:05] is not such a bad word, right, or the word occupy for [01:07] example, right. You go to the bathroom on an airplane so [01:09] it's occupied. Is that such a bad thing? I guess it is. [01:12] >>He wasn't touring the occupied territories, but the [01:15] liberated territories. [01:17] >>I think that the important question is to the Palestinians: [01:22] Need a place to call their own, if that's very important, then [01:26] that should be accommodated. But can't it be [01:29] accommodated on the exact same property that the Jews [01:32] currently occupying? The answer is no. It can't. [01:36] >>This isn't the separation wall behind Mr. Huckabee, but [01:39] rather the security fence. [01:41] >>I come here for the opposite purpose of provocation. I [01:44] come here really to say that there ought to be some [01:47] illumination to the unique situation that Israeli's face [01:52] given their own homeland. [01:52] >>Hello. [01:52] >>How are you doin'? [01:55] >>After all, this isn't the West Bank, but rather Judea and [01:59] Samaria as it is known in the Bible. [02:01] >>Here is the land, which was promised to him [02:05] from-- [02:07] >>Above all, the trip was a lesson on how to successfully [02:09] create public relations and Israeli PR firm has hired to [02:13] invite journalist to nearly every event. [02:16] >>In my land especially no private land was taken [02:20] from the Palestinians. No home-- Palestinian's house was [02:23] evacuated. [02:25] >>Although Mr. Huckabee didn't openly declare his [02:27] candidacy for the 2012 Presidential election, this trip [02:31] maybe the first signal that he is shoring up his base to one [02:34] day seek the Republican nomination. In the Bible Belt, it is [02:38] in the stoop political move to be seen as pro- Israel. [02:40] >>He's not even in his own view a year ago. That's what I [02:44] think. It's so remarkable. [02:46] >>Makeshift press conferences were held with Israeli flags [02:49] in the Temple Mount in the background with still [02:51] photographers nearly assaulting each other to get the [02:54] money shot. [02:54] >>Come on man. Fox-- [02:57] >>I wish that we were as concerned about Ahmadinejad [03:01] building nuclear devices as we were about 20 families [03:04] moving over to the Shepheard Hotel. [03:05] >>Go home! Go home! Go home! [03:10] >>Go home! Go home! Go home! [03:14] Go home! [03:16] >>The only snug came in in the form of this protest outside [03:19] the reception held for Mr. Huckabee in the mostly [03:22] Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East [03:25] Jerusalem. A small group of peace activitist organized [03:28] outside of a hotel purchased by the American doctor, Irving [03:31] Moskowitz in the 1980s. Two Palestinian families recently [03:35] had their homes demolished nearby making way for a new [03:38] Jewish settlement. -[ unk ] [03:39] >>You're not one in here. It's [03:44] not your money. [03:46] >>Stop it. [03:47] >>This people in there having their dinner are sabotaging [03:49] the chances of us ever reaching a peaceful solution. [03:52] >>He's good for trying to destroy [03:57] the possibility of a Palestinian capital and [04:01] history. This is the neighborhood outside of the old city that [04:03] will be the capital of a Palestinian-- [04:03] >>This way, it will not [04:07] bring peace to Israel, it will bring heirs of war and we [04:11] cannot afford war in Israel even if Mr. Huckabee [04:15] thinks we do have to fight his [04:21] fight. -[ Foreign Language ] [04:25] >>This group supported Mr. Huckabee's visit. [04:29] >>American man bought this house. for Jewish people. [04:32] This is democracy. Why the Arabs can't buy in my city. In [04:35] my city, the can buy a whole fleet. Why can't I buy in our [04:40] capital city one house? [04:42] >>President Obama has, of course, come out against [04:44] settlement expansion in both the West Bank and East [04:47] Jerusalem, which hasn't furiated some Israelis. [04:50] >>This is apple city of the Jewish nation not of the Arabs. [04:56] >>Before the reception ended, Mr. Huckabee was whisked [04:59] out and driven back to his hotel. The protest and counter [05:02] protest continued. As darkness fell over East Jerusalem, [05:07] violence erupted between the two sides. Four arrests were [05:10] made. 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