President Obama talks work life balance
Who's more of a family man, Obama or Romney, Biden or Ryan?
All of them are working hard to make sure they are portrayed as one. It's encouraging to me that being viewed as "good father" is important to voters.
Yesterday, President Obama decided to hold an Ask Me Anything online chat on Reddit, a social online bulletin board. He took questions from the public and was asked about everything from who's his favorite basketball player to the most difficult decision as president to how he handles work life balance. He took the opportunity during his online chat to further polish his image as a family man.
On work-life balance he answered with this:
“It's hard – truthfully the main thing other than work is just making sure that I'm spending enough time with michelle and the girls,” he wrote.
“The big advantage I have is that I live above the store – so I have no commute! So we make sure that when I'm in DC I never miss dinner with them at 6:30 pm – even if I have to go back down to the Oval for work later in the evening.
“I do work out every morning as well, and try to get a basketball or golf game in on the weekends just to get out of the bubble.”
Along with work life balance, I found his comments on unemployment interesting.
A recent graduate from a top law school who said he/she was unemployed with a large student loan debt asked Obama what he was doing to improve the economic outlook for young people. “We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you,” the Reddit user said. Obama said he understood how tough it was for recent graduates in the US but said the Republican Party would only cater to the interests of the wealthy.
“The other party has two ideas for growth – more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we've put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers,” he wrote.
“These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse.
I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year.
I don't promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don't be discouraged - we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more."
Obama had lots to say on other topics too. You can read the full interview by clicking here.
By the way, President Family Man, who had just finished an rally in Charlottesville, chose to sign off the online chat this way: "Speaking of balance, I need to get going so I'm back in DC in time for dinner."