Coffee from a Cardboard Cup

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________

For Immediate Release March 8, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND THE FIRST LADY

AT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY RECEPTION

East Room

4:52 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you so much. So I get to speak first while he stands and watches. I love this. (Laughter.) Look at me adoringly. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I can do that.

MRS. OBAMA: With sincerity. (Laughter.) Anyway.

I’m thrilled to see everybody here. Welcome, welcome. This is a wonderful event as we celebrate Women’s History Month at the White House. It’s so exciting. (Applause.)

And let me start by recognizing all of the amazing leaders who have taken time out of their very busy days and schedules to be here with us today. We have our Cabinet Secretaries, congresswomen and other leaders who are serving as such powerful role models for the next generation.

But we have some of the members of the next generation here, as well, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge some of them, as well. We’ve got young people here from the Girl Scouts, from Mount Vernon. (Applause.) From Mount Vernon and Hayfield Secondary in Virginia. (Applause.) From High Point High School in Maryland. (Applause.) From Eastern High School. (Applause.) And Georgetown Visitation here in D.C. (Applause.) All of you stand. Everybody stand. (Applause.)

I had a chance to meet with each and every one of them, to get a hug and a picture, and we talked. They are beautiful, they are inquisitive — yes, it was a hug, it was a good hug. (Laughter.) And what I told them is that they should make sure they take advantage of this evening by making sure that they take time out to meet all of you extraordinary women, right; that they come up and introduce themselves with confidence; and that you make sure you have a little fun, right? So you’re going to make that promise.

Make sure you get to meet everyone here today, because today all of you are joining the long line of incredible women who have graced these halls both as visitors and as residents, from admirals and actresses to civil rights pioneers — my good friend, Dorothy Height, is here. (Applause.) Nobel Prize Winners — you name it, this house has hosted some of the most accomplished women and some of the most accomplished Americans in the history of this country.

But we’re here today not just to pay tribute to leaders and icons and household names. During Women’s History Month we’re also here to honor the quiet heroes who’ve shaped this country from the very beginning. We honor the women who traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in those courtrooms, to be the first ones in those boardrooms, to be the first ones on those playing fields, and to be the first ones on those battlefields.

We honor women who refused to listen to those who would say that you couldn’t or shouldn’t pursue your dreams. And we honor women who may not have had many opportunities in their own lives, and we all know women like that: Women who poured everything they had into making sure that their daughters and their granddaughters could pursue their dreams; women who, as the poet Alice Walker once wrote, “knew what we must know without knowing it themselves.”

All of us are here today because of women like these who came before us. And during this Women’s History Month, may we recommit ourselves to carrying on their work for our own daughters and granddaughters, and also for our sons and our grandsons too.

Now, speaking of sons, it is my pleasure to introduce one of the few men in the room — (laughter and applause) — my husband, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: That would be me. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Please, have a seat. Let me begin by just thanking some of the people who are participating here today. Michelle mentioned my outstanding Cabinet members, the extraordinary members of Congress and people who are in our senior White House team. I also want to thank Ms. Kerry Washington for emceeing today. Give Kerry a big round of applause. Where is she? There she is. (Applause.)

Ms. Katharine McPhee, who’s going to be performing a song in the program. Where’s Katharine? She’s around — she’s practicing. (Applause.) She’s here, I just saw her.

Secretary Madeline Albright is here today. (Applause.) and Ms. Mozhdah Jamalzadah is also going to be here performing a song in the program, so we want to thank her, give her a big round of applause. (Applause.)

And then there’s this lady here. (Laughter.) FLOTUS, that’s what we call her — FLOTUS. (Laughter.) She is — I’m biased, I acknowledge; but I think she’s a pretty good First Lady. (Applause.) Don’t you think? She’s pretty good. (Applause.) And I’m very sincere when I look at you adoringly. (Laughter.)

The story of America over the past 200 years — past 233 years is one of laws becoming more just, of a people becoming more equal, of a union being perfected. It’s a story of captives being set free and a movement to fulfill the promise of that freedom. It’s a story of waves of weary travelers reconsecrating America as a nation of immigrants. It’s a story of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters making the most of that most American of demands — to be treated the same as everybody else. And it’s a story of women, from those on the Mayflower to the one I’m blessed to call my wife, who looked across the dinner table, and thought, I’m smarter than that guy. (Laughter.)

The story of America’s women, like the story of America itself, has had its peaks and valleys. But as one of our great American educators once said, if you drew a line through all the valleys and all the peaks, that line would be drawn with an upward curve. That upward curve — what we call progress — didn’t happen by accident.

It came about because of daring, indomitable women. Women like Abigail Adams, who brought on the ridicule of her husband John by advising him to “remember the ladies” in our founding documents. Women like the pioneers and settlers who, in the words of one, said, “I thought where he could go, I could go.” Women like Dorothy Height and Sylvia Mendez and Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem and Sandra Day O’Connor and Madeline Albright, upending assumptions and changing laws and tearing down barriers. Women like Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, throughout her career, has put millions of cracks in America’s glass ceiling. (Applause.) It’s because of them — and so many others, many who aren’t recorded in the history books — that the story of America is, ultimately, one of hope and one of progress, of an upward journey.

But even as we reflect on the hope of our history, we must also face squarely the reality of the present — a reality marked by unfairness, marked by hardship for too many women in America. The statistics of inequality are all too familiar to us — how women just earn 77 cents for every dollar men make; how one in four women is the victim of domestic violence at some point in her life; how women are more than half the population, but make up only 17 percent of the seats in Congress, and less than 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.

These, and any number of other facts and figures, reflect the fundamental truth that in 2010, full gender equality has not yet been achieved; that the task of perfecting America goes on; and that all of us, men and women, have a part to play in bending the arc in America’s story upward in the 21st century.

I’m proud of the extraordinary women — and the extraordinary Americans — I’ve appointed to help take up this task. In addition to our outstanding Secretary of State, we’ve got Hilda Solis serving where the first female Cabinet Secretary, Frances Perkins, once served, at the Labor Department. (Applause.) We’ve got Kathleen Sebelius leading our Health and Human Services Department; Janet Napolitano running the Department of Homeland Security. Susan Rice is our ambassador to the United Nations. The chair of my Council of Economic Advisors is Christy Romer. We got Lisa Jackson, who’s doing great work at the EPA.

We have just extraordinary talent all across this administration. And from health insurance reform, to climate and energy, to matters of domestic policy, I’m seeking the counsel of brilliant women. And that list doesn’t include, by the way, the Justice I appointed to the Supreme Court — Ms. Sonia Sotomayor. (Applause.)

So, yes, I’m very proud to have appointed so many brilliant women to so many essential posts in our government. But I’m even prouder of what each of them is doing — and what all of us are doing — to make life better in America and around the world, because lifting up the prospects of our daughters will require all of us doing our part. And that’s why we’ve established a new White House Council on Women and Girls, chaired by my friend and senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, that will help make sure that every part of our government is working to address the challenges faced by women and girls.

At a time when women are on the verge of making up the majority of America’s workforce, the very first bill I signed into law — a bill named after Lilly Ledbetter — was designed to help keep America’s promise: If you do the same work as a man, you ought to be paid the same wage as a man. (Applause.) To help parents balance work and family, we’re offering states more support for quality, affordable child care and paid family leave.

At a time when we are waging two wars and fighting a global network of hatred and violence, we need the service of all those patriotic Americans who are willing to do their part. And that’s why Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen and top Navy officers decided to end an old barrier against women, so our skilled and brave Navy women, as well as men, can serve on submarines.

At a time when it’s still legal for health insurance companies to discriminate against the victims of domestic violence in eight states plus the District of Columbia, we’re seeking health insurance reforms that would finally rein in the worst practices of the insurance industry. And I’m also proud to note that I’ve appointed the first White House Advisor on Violence against Women, Lynn Rosenthal. (Applause.)

At a time when the jobs of tomorrow will go to workers with the knowledge and skills to do them, we’re ramping up efforts to educate our young people in science and technology, engineering and math, and we’re making a special effort to recruit women to those fields — because I want to see more teenage astronomers like Caroline Moore. In fact, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has launched a new partnership with Spelman College to train women engineers and help put them to work rebuilding our highways and our infrastructure.

And since today happens to be International Women’s Day, it’s also worth mentioning what Secretary Clinton, and Ambassador Rice, and this administration are doing on behalf of women around the globe. We lifted what’s called the global gag rule that restricted women’s access to family planning services abroad. (Applause.)

We’re pursuing a global health strategy that makes important investments in child and maternal health. We sponsored a U.N. resolution to increase protection for women and girls in conflict-torn countries — to help make it possible for more women like Mozhdah, who traveled from Afghanistan to join us here today — to reach for their dreams. We created the first Office of Global Women’s Issues at the State Department, and appointed Ambassador Melanne Verveer to run it. (Applause.) We’re investing $18 million — we’re investing $18 million to combat the unconscionable cruelties being committed against girls and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And next month, I’ll host an entrepreneurship summit to help fulfill a commitment I made in Cairo; a summit that will focus, in part, on the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Muslim communities around the world.

We’re doing all of this not only because promoting women’s empowerment is one of the best ways to promote economic development and economic success. We are doing it because it’s the right thing to do. I say that not only as a President, but also as the father of two daughters, as a son and a grandson, and as a husband.

Growing up, I saw my mother dedicate most of her life to promoting the rights and well-being of women overseas; to empowering them to take more control over their economic lives and be able to empower their families as well. I saw my grandmother work her way up to become vice president at a bank in Hawaii, starting as a secretary, never had more than a high school education. But I also saw how she hit a glass ceiling, and had to watch as men, no more qualified than she was, rise up the corporate ladder.

Before we got to the White House, where we are grateful for the extraordinary support that we receive from the White House staff, I’d see the challenges Michelle faced as a working mom. And as usual, she handled it with grace and skill, but she’d be the first one to tell you it wasn’t always easy balancing the responsibilities of being a hospital executive with those of being a mother, and sometimes worrying about the girls when she was at work, and sometimes worrying about work when she was with the girls.

And today, as I see Sasha and Malia getting older, I think about the world that they — and all of America’s daughters — will inherit. And I think about all of the opportunities that are still beyond reach for too many young women and too many of our brothers and sisters — too many of our sisters and mothers and aunts — all of the glass ceilings that have yet to be shattered.

We have so much more work to do, and that’s why we’re here today. I think about this because it reminds me of why I’m here. I didn’t run for President so that the dreams of our daughters could be deferred or denied. I didn’t run for President to see inequality and injustice persist in our time. I ran for President to put the same rights, the same opportunities, the same dreams within the reach for our daughters and our sons alike. I ran for President to put the American Dream within the reach of all of our people, no matter what their gender, or race, or faith, or station.

If we can stay true to that cause, if we can stay true to our founding ideals, then I’m absolutely confident that the line that runs through America’s story will, in the future, as it has in the past, be drawn with an upward curve. And I’m especially pleased that these young ladies are here today because they’re the ones who are going to help bend that curve towards justice and equality.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

We managed to get a few things done this weekend. We finally got Clair’s room in decent shape - she almost 1.5 years old now, after all. I forgot to take pictures of the room, but basically, two simple pieces of furniture allowed us to organize her clothes and her toys for just over 100 Euros. I spent a good part of Saturday pulling her room apart, building up the furniture and then putting it back together. I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Matthias made a HUGE batch of bolognese sauce in the slow cooker (most of it is now frozen for ease of use in the coming weeks). He did this a few weeks ago and it was a life saver when he was sick for a week. Now the freezer is stocked once more so we always have an easy, healthy option for dinner even when we feel really lazy. Thanks to mom and dad for that slow cooker for Christmas!

While he was going nuts in the kitchen, I organized Clair clothes and toys from her first year. I have her clothes sorted by age in three month increments in big storage bins. The photo below shows what I did. There are actually some clothes missing because our nephew Maxim is making use of some of the smaller sizes at the moment. I am not the most organized person by any means, but trying to keep a baby’s stuff sorted out has forced me to get on top of things. The piles of clothes were just taking over to the point of irritating me and making it impossible to know where anything was. I finished organizing this just as she is growing out of the next size of clothes. Thanks goodness her rate of growth is slowing down a bit. I couldn’t keep up with the pace she made in her first year.

Aside from that, we have just done a bit of strolling this weekend. There was a snow storm yesterday, so aside from a quick walk into town just to get out of the apartment, we stayed warm and dry at home. Yes, it is March, and we had another snow storm! The weather was leading me on last week because my body was starting to be convinced that spring is coming. The sun was out, and I could even where a light jacket without a hat! But, bam, winter is back….. stupid snow.

I also did a crazy Yoga posture that I haven’t done in years today, it’s called Yoga Nidrasana, and it involves wrapping your feet around your head. It was easier today than it has ever been. I think part of that is because I recently read about an easier way to get into the posture than I had tried before. I think the other reason probably has something to do with having a little person being shot through my pelvis last year - that is bound to affect hip flexibility.

Anyway, here are some random photos….

Ever try taking a photo of a toddler interested in the camera? I got a good shot of her beautiful eyes and her snotty face.

Matthias’ masterpiece for weeks of goodness…..mmmmmm

My Masterpiece. Girl has a lot of clothes!! The four tubs are her clothes, and the one next to here are toys that she doesn’t play with because they are mostly for small babies. We are also packing away her first car seat. I don’t know how this will fit into are already cramped basement, but that is the task for this week.

A snapshot of springtime in Regensburg. It was bloody cold out there today.

Clair is turning into a communicative little person these days. I swear, seemingly over night, she is able to understand me. She also has her own ideas about how to do things and is pretty adamant about it. For example, if I am eating with her, she will get down off of her high chair and join me at the table kneeling on the chair next to me. Today she was amazing. I could ask her to do little errands, and she totally understood what I was asking and was tickled to show me that she could do it. I could also ask her if she wanted to do things by herself or if she wanted my help. Granted this is a little tricky given her limited vocabulary - I ask her yes or no questions. A very determined ‘NO’ means no, and a blank stare with the mouth slightly open, apparently, means yes. It was a slightly exhausting day because I am not used to having so much interaction with her on that level. She seemed to have been drained at the end of the day as well. I wonder what she will do tomorrow. I am hoping for lots of sleep…..

Anyway, I took this photo today to show how she sits with me at the table. This is why there are constant piles of laundry at our place. I have started stripping her down to eat sometimes because there is really no point in dressing her to eat unless I feel like changing her directly afterwords.

Matthias’ sister, Sandra, and our nephew Maxim have been here visiting us since Wednesday. Even though there are three adults and only two babies, it feels like we are out numbered!

Clair is a wee bit jealous of her mommy holding and cuddling with a little baby, but she is slowly getting used to it. She showed off when we were on Skype with Oma and Opa and was being really sweet with Maxim. She doesn’t try to hit him (much), and she pets his head and tries to give him things. It is sweet. She calls him ‘baby’, like she calls most cute little baby-like things.

It has been pretty relaxing having Sandra here. Her English is very good so we all ending up speaking a lot of DEnglisch. My brain gets a little mixed up, and when I went to see my friends Sarah and Andrea yesterday, I kept stumbling when trying to speak only English. Fortunately, both of them are fluent in DEnglisch.

Here are a few photos from the past few days. We’ve been handing around home, going to town and to the swimming pool. The kids loved the pool. Clair is finally warming up to the water and spent the most amount of time ever actually playing in the pools. Clair has a fabulous swimsuit cutesy my friend Liz in Phoenix. She was the best dressed toddler in the place until she pushed her swimming diaper to the limits and had to be changed into a fresh pair of disposable swim diapers for the last half hour (her swim diaper works - phew).

This January marks the hottest January ever recorded (The article is only in German, but I’m sure there is one in English out there somewhere). You might not believe that if you live in the blue stripe of cold weather going across most of the US and Europe….

Here are a few random photos. Clair modeling a new outfit from grandma and grandpa today. Her clothes have been building into a massive pile on the floor lately because I had to go through and switch out the old stuff. Once I went through it all, I found this great outfit that Clair got a few weeks ago in her big Christmas package. She looks a little tired in this photo because she is fighting something, I think. She keeps getting a fever since early Saturday morning. It goes down with some ibuprofen, but when it is up, she is an angry little girl (gets that from me). It started going up again right before her nap today. Nothing else seems wrong with her, so hopefully this passes soon.

Clair also has a (fake) coon skin cap somewhere around here! Once I find out where she stuffed that, I am going to get a photo. She has a way of hiding things in the most unexpected places.

Here is our little comedian with her doll named ‘baby’. Her great-great-aunt Sib made it for her, and she loves it. She needed to run around after her bath the other night and show baby apartment.

Here is my husband chilling out after a long week. He is making some home made spaghetti Bolognese and chicken soup. I love that he relaxes by cooking! Fortunately, he does it quite well so Clair and I are happy.

One of the things about living overseas is that some of the American ‘Holidays’ kind of slip by without realizing it. So, really, is it Superbowl Sunday? If it is, who is playing? Does anyone know if you can watch it online anywhere (for the commercials, of course)?

Did you hear that Apple finally invented a new device? Impressive.

I don’t mean life without the country of China. Every once in a while, I come across news stories that get very little press about some horrendous acts carried out by the Chinese government against it’s people. It goes beyond internet censorship that does get a lot of press, interestingly, to the point of what I would call mass murder. Often women are bear the brunt of these harshest of these acts. I won’t go into details here about the stories, but these stories usually touch me deeply every time.

Fast forward to my perfect little life (compared to, say, the life of someone living in rural China). I look at the bottom of my coffee cup to the inevitable stamp “made in China.” From clothes, to dishes, to furniture, so much of it is made in China, and my consumption, in some part, contributes to suffering of the Chinese people. I can’t do much about the top-end politics of how my countries interacts with the emerging super power, but I can do something about my habits of consumption.

I am somewhat aware of where the stuff I buy comes from. I have a mix of things that were a bit more expensive because they were made in Germany or Western Europe with explicit mention about the conditions in which they were produced, and I also have a lot of things made in China. I’d like to decrease that second part until I can live with the idea of contributing to the government of China. I also realize that things are less black and white than painted here (as Chinese prosperity grows, there may be more chances for people there to win their freedoms, etc), but I still want to cut back on consuming Chinese made products.

Any ideas out there? I find that, generally, buying less stuff is a good start, and when I have to buy stuff, I have to read really carefully. I used to think that sticking with major brands helped, but it doesn’t anymore. That little ‘made in China’ stamp has a way of sneaking in there when I thought I have bought something from elsewhere. Has anyone had success in this? It would be nice if they had something similar to ‘conflict-free’ diamonds for Chinese products.

As an aside, I saw a headline about some video the Glenn Beck is promoting about the ‘truth’ behind communism. Apparently, he thinks it is a big secret that Stalin was probably the worst mass murderer in history and the Che Guevara was an actual violent revolutionary. Long story short, from what I saw, the video kind of implied that communism is really bad and that the liberals (AKA Obama and elitists) have been trying to spread lies that communism is great and that Stalin is a hero!!!! OK, that last bit may just be my cynical extrapolation of where the video goes, but you get the idea. Anyway, I was thinking about the people this video was marketed toward (I suspect I am not one of them), and I wonder if the video will inspire them to take a similar stand against Chinese products since China is the largest communist regime ever. Will crazy-eyes Beck try to raise a boycott against Wallmart and most other discount retails who thrive off of Chinese imports? That would be an interesting twist. I suspect it will most likely be blamed on Obama and no one will be asked to sacrifice their cheap stuff, but it could happen.

It’s been a while since I have posted photos, so I thought I’d play catch up today. I do upload them on to our photos sight, but if most of you read blogs like I do, you will never go there.

First, I just had to share this quote from this article in the NY Times by Sandra Tsing Loh about the disappearing Art of Wife (A phrase I love, by the way), “the work I do at home is no longer a gift, but the labor of a mediocre colleague whose performance could be better.” I think this is the best description of our contributions to the house work I have read. I’ve always described us as both doing a half-ass job, so together it almost comes to a whole-ass worth of work.

Anyway, pictures.

First, Clair checking her email in a fabulous new outfit from her Aunt Louise. Matthias stuck an Apple sticker on her kiddie computer to make it into an imaginary Macbook. The screen ooks a lot more like a Linux machine though.

I finally took Clair sledding with our friend Micha and her family. I couldn’t tell if she had a very good time. She was crying most of the time, but some of the crying was because she was scared, and some of the crying was because she didn’t want to stop. Between crying she did say ‘weee’ as we went down the hill.

Clair doing ‘upside-down baby’ (one of her Yoga poses, as I call them).

Clair discovered Sesame Street, and mainly Elmo, this week. I showed her some UTube videos of Elmo, and she was mesmerized. I got an episode of Sesame Street from itunes, and she has watched it a lot lately; actually, it is how I can have enough time to eat breakfast. She says, ‘La, la’ when she wants to see it because of Elmo’s song (which is all about the la, la, la, la). I signed up on Sesamestreet.org where I can compile a bunch of video clips of my favorite ‘classic’ Sesame Street moments. I loved Sesame Street when I was a kid, so much so that my brother and I would fight because I didn’t want to watch anything else, and we only had one TV. I have to admit that I still like it. The episode I have on the ipod is a newer one and it was interesting to see how they have updated it. Anyway, when Clair’s friends Nathan and Luca came over with their parents last weekend, they watched it together and the parents could actually talk - TV is amazing.

This is a rather long video showing how Matthias gets welcomed home in most evenings. Clair goes crazy running back and forth for a while. He can gauge her excitement on whether or not she wants to hug him. When he first gets home and he asks for a hug, she usually says, “Nein, nein, nein, nein” and keeps running around. After a few minutes, she calms down and then runs into his arms (which I didn’t catch in this video).