Family ’not invested’ in re-election bid

US President Barack Obama claims First Lady Michelle and family would be content if he chose not to run for the White House again in 2012 polls

Family 'not invested' in re-election bid

US President Barack Obama claims First Lady Michelle and family would be content if he chose not to run for the White House again in 2012 polls

US President Barack Obama said First Lady Michelle Obama would be the first to encourage him to do something "a little less stressful" if she no longer believed in what his administration was doing.

"Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, 'You know what, guys, I want to do something different', they would be fine," he said.

According to the US President, Michelle would be the first to encourage him to do something less stressful

"They're not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president."

There were, he conceded, days when he thought "one term was enough", but "if the family is doing well and Michelle is putting up with me I've got enough energy to do the work I am doing."

Despite the hothouse atmosphere of the White House, he said that his two daughters Malia (13) and Sasha (10), were turning out to be "poised, kind and well mannered".

Obama hit back at accusations that he was too calm or unemotional about people's economic hardship as "nonsense".

He said most Americans understood that he spent "all my time thinking about this stuff because I'm talking to these folks every single day".

With her husband facing a difficult re-election in November 2012 thanks to the poor economy, Obama has recently begun extolling his "tireless" work rate.

"He reads every word, every memo, so he is better prepared than the people briefing him," she said at a fund-raising event. "This man doesn't take a day off. I see the sadness and worry that's creasing his face."

She said the next 18 months of campaigning "is not going to be easy, and it is going to be long".

"Now more than ever we need your help to finish what we started," she told a luncheon in Pasadena organised by the Southern California Women for Obama.

Obama yesterday became the first sitting president to visit the US territory of Puerto Rico since John F Kennedy in 1961.
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His trip was designed to court the votes of the 4.2 million Puerto Ricans living in the United States, especially the 8,50,000 in the key swing state of Florida.

No beer stops
President Obama broke up a busy day yesterday in San Juan during his four-day trip with a quick food run but no beer. "I can't have beer in front of the press," Obama said during an unscheduled stop. "I've got to wait till I get home to have a beer." The president settled on a bottle of water to wash down a medianoche sandwich, that includes roast pork, ham and swiss cheese.