President Barack Obama began a two-day visit to Minneapolis on Thursday sharing cheeseburgers with a local working mother and bringing a middle-class message tailor made to aid Democrats fearful of massive losses in the upcoming election. Obama said he shares the frustrations of people who went to college, work hard, and still struggle to buy homes, pay for child care, and dig out from student loan debt. “You are the reason I ran for office,” he told a crowd of about 350 people gathered for a town hall forum near Minnehaha Falls. In his early life, he said, “I was you guys … You are the ones I am thinking about every single day.”
Obama talked about progress his administration has made curbing greenhouse gases and making college more affordable, but devoted much of his time to touting the need for a higher minimum wage and equal pay and benefits for women. Those issues resonate strongly in Minnesota, where Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and a Democratic-controlled Legislature enacted the largest minimum wage increase in state history this year and approved a menu of economic protections for women in the workplace. “The idea that they would not be paid the same or not have the same opportunities … is infuriating,” Obama said of female workers. “If you are doing the same job, you should get the same salary. Period. Full stop.”
Pete Souza: President Obama greets people in the crowd following his speech at Lake Harriot Band Shell in Minneapolis
President Barack Obama greets audience members after he delivers remarks on the economy, at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis, Minn. (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama walks on the South Lawn of the White House upon his return to Washington from Minneapolis
President Barack Obama holds 6-month-old Olivia Hughes, granddaughter of ABC News reporter Ann Compton, on the South Lawn of the White House upon his return to Washington from Minneapolis
President Barack Obama waves as he and daughter Sasha walk out of BLT Steak after eating dinner
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive for the Marine Barracks Evening Parade
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, are escorted to their seats by Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos and his wife Bonnie Amos
President Obama pets Sgt. Chesty XIV at the Marine Barracks Evening Parade
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President Obama stands for the national anthem during the Marine Barracks Evening Parade
President Obama: “Had I not been able to get this passed, I would be sleeping on the couch.”
President Barack Obama signs into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 as First Lady Michelle Obama looks on at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington on December 13
In signing a new law today to improve the quality of school lunches, President Obama paid joking tribute to its most prominent supporter: first lady Michelle Obama.
“Had I not been able to get this bill passed, I would be sleeping on the couch,” the president said.
Mrs. Obama, whose major issues include fighting childhood obesity, laughed and said, “let’s just say it got done, so we don’t have to go down that road.”
The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a $4.5 billion measure, provides more free school meals to the pool, and gives the government more power to decide what foods can offered in those meals, as well as in school vending machines and fundraisers during school hours.
The Obama Diary 
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