Obama Wants Future Generations To Be Used To Having Female Presidents

President Barack Obama speaks at the newly designated Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, formerly known as the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, on National Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in W... President Barack Obama speaks at the newly designated Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, formerly known as the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, on National Equal Pay Day, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Washington. The museum says the house was erected more than 200 years ago. The National Woman's Party bought the house in 1929 and uses it as its headquarters, advocating for equality and full political representation for women. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he wants children to be “astonished” when they realize that there had been no female presidents at one point in the nation’s history.

Obama’s comments were part of the ceremony to commemorate a monument dedicated to women’s equality at the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum in Washington.

“I want young girls and boys to come here 10, 20, 100 years from now to know that women fought for equality, it was not just given to them. I want them to come here and be astonished that there was ever a time when women could not vote,” Obama said. “I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women earned less than men for doing the same work.”

Obama’s comments came after Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with Mic News that he would like to see a woman in the White House. Neither Biden nor Obama have endorsed a Democratic presidential candidate this election cycle.

“I want them to be astonished that there was ever a time when women were vastly outnumbered in the boardroom or in Congress, that there was ever a time when a woman had never sat in the Oval Office,” Obama added.

Latest Livewire
59
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. That’s our great President!

    Now, can you imagine any Republican legislator, governor, state or local representative or current nominee EVER saying things like this???

    No…I didn’t think do.

  2. I love my President. Most pro woman President ever!!

  3. Me too. I’m gonna miss him terribly.

  4. I wonder if, behind these recent subtle (and not-so-subtle) comments, is a growing frustration with the attacks from the Sanders campaign. Obviously a sitting POTUS whose former SOS is running to take his place would seem to lean toward that candidate, but I think PBO has done a good job keeping quiet on it until the last month or so. Perhaps Bernie’s Greatest Hits are getting under his skin a bit.

    I can’t recall anybody in the administration making the same references to the first Jewish president, or the first Socialist president, but then again I don’t know if the media has asked those questions.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

53 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for david_e_brown Avatar for doremus_jessup Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for sooner Avatar for feathered_head Avatar for brooklyndweller Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for mjv135 Avatar for mymy Avatar for chammy Avatar for manhattan123 Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for jinx_tpm Avatar for mantan Avatar for geofu54 Avatar for darcy Avatar for kfraz43 Avatar for eatbees Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for machoneman Avatar for livingdeadgirl Avatar for woland66

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: