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Barack Obama

WASHINGTON. — President Barack Obama and wife Michelle both worked minimum-wage jobs before they got law degrees: a character-building experience they said they also want their teenage daughters to share.
The president scooped ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, waited tables at an assisted-living facility for seniors and also worked as a painter. The first lady worked at a book binding shop.

“I think every kid needs to get a taste of what it’s like to do that real hard work,” Michelle Obama said in an interview with Parade magazine, slated to run on Sunday.
“We are looking for opportunities for them to feel as if going to work and getting a paycheck is not always fun, not always stimulating, not always fair,” the president said. “But that’s what most folks go through every single day.”

The first couple has taken pains to keep their daughters Malia (16), and Sasha (13), out of the public eye while in the White House. But Malia was recently spotted on the set of a CBS television programme, working as a production assistant for a day.

The Obamas gave the interview to promote a summit the White House is holding on Monday to discuss policies to help working families.
“There are structures that can help families around child care, healthcare, and schooling that make an enormous difference in people’s lives,” Obama said in the interview. — Reuters.