A 9/11 Message from Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden

The First Lady and Second Lady of the United States encourage all Americans to honor the service of the women and men of the United States Armed Forces by volunteering to offer support to veterans and military families.

You can learn more about volunteering to help veterans and military families, and find volunteer opportunities near you, at iParticipate.org and Welcome Back Veterans. Read more about the public service announcement in Jill Biden's entry on the White House blog.

LIVEBLOG: Conference Call with Dr. Jill Biden

The MOMocrats were invited to participated in a special conference call for a group of women bloggers, with Dr. Jill Biden, wife of VP Candidate, Joe Biden on Friday, October 17.  Dr. Biden is professor of English at Delaware Technical & Community College, and holds two masters degrees and a PhD in Education.  She is also well-known as a philanthropist for her work as the founder of the Biden Breast Health Inititative. 

Dana Singiser: Welcome and thank you for being on the call.  It's my honor and pleasure to introduce Dr. Jill Biden.  Dr. Biden has spent 30 years as an educator, 15 years at Delaware Tech & Community College, while raising a family.

Also on the call is Danielle Gray, Deputy Policy Advisor for the Campaign, who can help answer some questions.

Jill Biden:  Thank you for being here. I know that many of you are mothers and are working and have a lot to manage in a day.  I know, because I'm the mom of 3 kids, grandmother of 5.  Women are facing more and more hurdles in balancing work and family.  Women primary caretakers, taking care of their families, and often their own parents, like I have been doing for the past several months.  Yet, women do not get equal pay in the workforce, earning only seventy-seven cents to every dollar earned by a man.  Today, women are bearing an even greater burden than ever before.

I've been a teacher for 27 years.  Teaching is my passion. I still teach four days a week.  Even though this campaign is important, my students are also important...Some are raising kids and going to school.  Every day in class room, I see how my students struggle.  People don't realize that the economic problems and the credit crisis affects student loans, too, so many of them worry about how they can stay in school.  My students cannot afford 4 more years of George Bush.  None of us can.

Barack & Joe know what matters to Americans. What matters to Americans are decent jobs, the ability to pay the mortgage, access to affordable healthcare, and ending the war in Iraq.  Neither of them ever forgot where they came from, and will work for America's families.

 

Women's Leadership Forum: Dr. and Senator Biden Wow the Crowd

One of the highlights of the first day of the Women's Leadership Forum in Chicago was hearing from Jill and Joe Biden.  Even following the star power and sheer magnificence that is Oprah, Jill and Joe Biden were a treat.  There is a palpable affection and admiration between the two of them that seems all too rare in public figures, where the marriage seems more for show than substance.  Some political couples seem oddly matched or indifferent to each other.  Jill and Joe Biden, though, seem like the real deal.

Jill (or Dr. Jill) came out to introduce her husband, and did so with a mixture of admiration and good-natured ribbing.  She told the story of how she came home after receiving her PhD to signs on the front of their house saying, "Home of DR. Jill Biden."  It was the kind of thoughtful gesture that Joe was prone to do.

Joe Biden immediately told the story of one of his constituents, an elderly, straight-shooting woman named Mabel who told him after meeting Jill, "Boy, you are marrying up." 

He spent the next few minutes talking about what a smart, wonderful woman he is married to.  He said that when Jill decided to pursue her Ph.D, after getting two masters degrees while working and raising kids, she told him, "I'm tired of getting mail addressed to 'Senator and Mrs. Biden'.  I'd like to get mail to 'Senator and Dr. Biden'."  He cautioned us that if we ever send letters to their house to be sure to address it to "Senator and Dr. Biden".

Biden said that both he and Barack were influenced by very strong women growing up, and were blessed to have strong women in their lives now.  He said Barack could be measured by the fact that he's married to Michelle, a woman who is nothing short of amazing, someone beautiful, talented, and smart, and who has what his mother would call "a heart of gold."

He said that years ago, Senator Dianne Feinstein remarked to him that "All you guys who do well in the Senate have really strong mothers."