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Watch Michelle Obama at the White House Summit for Working Families talk about her toughest time as a mother above. 

While President Barack Obama supports flexibility for working families, single mothers and pregnant women in the workforce, Republicans, who always claim to promote family values, continue to push back on the President’s critical domestic initiatives. Republicans are hypocrites – and they aren’t even trying to hide it.

“Parents who work full time should earn enough to pay the bills,” Obama said in a recent speech during the White House Summit for Working Families. “Even if Republicans in Congress refuse to budge on this issue this year, everyone knows America deserves a raise.”

The summit was hosted by the White House to circumvent a mean-spirited Republican-controlled House. It was designed to help families’ better balance work and spend more time at home. Obama announced a package of both public and private sector efforts that will protect pregnant working women, increase investments for research to understand the economic benefits of paid leave, expand apprenticeships for women, and make child care more affordable for working families.

The White House said since Obama grew up as the son of a single mother, paid off his student loans, and is raising two young daughters in a household with two working parents, he understands the value of hard work and the many struggles that American families face today.

“Many women can’t even get a paid day off to give birth,” Obama said. “Now that’s a pretty low bar. “When women succeed, America succeeds, so there’s no such thing as a women’s issue. … There’s a family issue and an American issue.” “There is only one developed country that does not mandate paid maternity leave,” Obama said, “and that is us. And that is not the list you want to be on by your lonesome.”

Obama signed a Presidential memo this week directing the federal government to expand access to flexible time for workers. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez will head a $25 million initiative to help people who want to enroll in job-training programs but don’t have access to child care.

“I take this personally because I’m the husband of a brilliant woman who struggled to balance work and raising our girls when I was away,” Obama continued. “And most of all, I take it personally because I am the father of two unbelievable young ladies.”

And what has Obama received for his efforts? The threat of a federal lawsuit by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) who says its necessary to declare President Obama’s executive orders unconstitutional. Obama has already signed executive orders to protect workers from being retaliated against by their bosses if they discuss their wages and has lobbied aggressively for an increase in the federal minimum wage. In a memo to House members, Boehner indicated the legal action would cover a number of issues but did not cite specific cases of executive overreach. Sources believe the lawsuit will be filed sometime in July.

“On matters ranging from health care and energy to foreign policy and education, President Obama has repeatedly run an end-around on the American people and their elected legislators, straining the boundaries of the solemn oath he took on Inauguration Day,” the memo said.

It’s a ridiculous for Boehner to sue the President, which of course is a feeble attempt to tarnish Obama’s legacy. Boehner insists that his impending suit is not about the impeaching the President, which some Republicans support.

In fact, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) said the House of Representatives could “probably” impeach Obama if the matter was brought to the floor.

The South Dakota Republican Party already passed a resolution to impeach President Obama. I don’t know if Boehner’s impending legal case has any validity in a court of law, but I do know this: It’s hard out there for a Black man in the White House.

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A Tribute to Black Families – I
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