Obama Campaign Site Uses First Family Photo Despite President's Concerns Over Mixing Family and Politics

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Malia, left, and Sasha, right, sit for a family portrait in the Oval Office, Dec. 11, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

A page on President Obama's campaign website that solicits email addresses and zip codes of potential supporters features a recent photo of the first family despite the president's claims he doesn't like his family being on the political scene.

During a Super Bowl Sunday television interview, the president lamented his family's inclusion in the political arena. "You know, as a husband one of the things -- and a father -- one of the things that is toughest for me is that my family gets brought into this political realm which isn't always very pleasant," the president said in the NBC interview. "And, you know, that weighs on me."

On the president's campaign website, barackobama.com, an official White House Christmas photo of the first family taken last December in the Oval Office is prominently displayed under a solicitation for email addresses and zip codes. The question "are you in?", an Obama 2012 campaign slogan, also appears over the picture and the top of the page features and Obama-Biden logo.

The Obama campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president and first lady have sought to keep the news media from putting Malia and Sasha in the spotlight, only occasionally allowing them in the public eye. At the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Obama daughters appeared on stage after Michelle Obama's speech to greet her and talk to their dad through a video connection to the convention hall.