Terence P. Jeffrey
CNSNews.com
10/3/2011
First Lady Michelle Obama said at a fundraiser in Providence, Rhode Island, on Friday night that a bank where Barack Obama’s grandmother had worked discriminated against her for nearly two decades “because she was a woman.”
However, the Washington Post reported earlier this year that Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, had been the first female vice president of the Bank of Hawaii.
Meanwhile, Barack and Michelle Obamas’ 2009 tax return, posted on the White House website, indicates the Obamas inherited almost $500,000 worth of the bank’s stock from the president’s grandmother.
At the Friday fundraiser, held in a private home, Mrs. Obama explained why President Obama wants everybody to get a “fair shake.”
“Or can we rebuild our economy for the long term so that work pays, and responsibility is rewarded, and everyone—everyone–gets a fair shake and does their fair share?” Mrs. Obama asked, according to an official White House transcript. “That is the choice we face. Those are the stakes.
“But believe me, Barack knows this all too well,” Mrs. Obama continued. “He understands these issues because he’s lived them. He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. And when things got too tough for her, his grandmother stepped in, waking up every morning before dawn to take the bus to her job at the bank.
“And his grandmother worked hard, and she was good at what she did,” said Mrs. Obama. “But for nearly two decades, he’s [sic] watched as she was passed over for promotions. Why? Because she was a woman. And she watched men no more qualified then she was–men she actually trained–climb the corporate ladder ahead of her.
“So believe me, Barack knows what it means when a family struggles. He knows what it means when someone doesn’t have a chance to fulfill their potential,” said Mrs. Obama…
