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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Obama: Men 'obtuse' on sharing family duties
Source: Agencies |
October 23, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
UNITED States President Barack Obama says his family is like a lot of others - in which the men "need to be knocked across the head every once in a while" in order to see imbalances between the time moms and dads put into raising children.
"There's no doubt that our family, like a lot of families out there, were ones in which the men are still a little obtuse about this stuff," Obama said on Wednesday.
He acknowledged things are different now for his wife, Michelle, and him given that they live in the White House with all its creature comforts and army of residence staff.
"Today's Obama family is obviously not typical," he said. "Five years ago, six years ago, though, we were having a lot of negotiations. Because Michelle was trying to figure out, OK, if the kids get sick why is it that she's the one who has to take time off of her job to go pick them up from school, as opposed to me?"
The president said he tried to learn to be better - "to be thoughtful enough and introspective enough that I wasn't always having to be told that things were unfair. That once in a while, I'd actually voluntarily say, 'You know what? Let me relieve this burden on you.' "
He's the first to acknowledge his efforts weren't entirely successful.
"The truth is that Michelle still had to make sacrifices of the sort that I did not have to make," Obama said.
"There's no doubt that our family, like a lot of families out there, were ones in which the men are still a little obtuse about this stuff," Obama said on Wednesday.
He acknowledged things are different now for his wife, Michelle, and him given that they live in the White House with all its creature comforts and army of residence staff.
"Today's Obama family is obviously not typical," he said. "Five years ago, six years ago, though, we were having a lot of negotiations. Because Michelle was trying to figure out, OK, if the kids get sick why is it that she's the one who has to take time off of her job to go pick them up from school, as opposed to me?"
The president said he tried to learn to be better - "to be thoughtful enough and introspective enough that I wasn't always having to be told that things were unfair. That once in a while, I'd actually voluntarily say, 'You know what? Let me relieve this burden on you.' "
He's the first to acknowledge his efforts weren't entirely successful.
"The truth is that Michelle still had to make sacrifices of the sort that I did not have to make," Obama said.
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