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Obama for America

"Happy Mother's Day" +
  2:35 web video from May 13, 2012.

[Music] Obama: I think it's important to recognize that moms come in a lot of different shapes and sizes.

You know my mother was the single most important influence in my life.  I saw her struggles as a single mom.  She taught me the values of hard work and responsibility but also compassion and empathy, being able to look at the world through somebody else's eyes and stand in their shoes.  She was somebody who recognized that those of us who have some talents or have been given opportunities that we've got to give something back, and I'll always be indebted to her for that.

My grandmother, she was very different than my motherxxmuch more sort of stoic and you know very much displayed her Kansas roots, but was a constant source of strength for all of us.  Here's a woman who grew up in the Depression, never had the opportunity to go to college, worked her way up as a secretary to become a vice president of a bank, and frankly if there hadn't been a glass ceiling she probably could have taken over the bank.

Michelle's the best model I know.  She cares deeply about family.

Obama clip: This is my wife Michelle.  Michelle: Hey.  I'm his date.

Obama: She combines the ability to make the kids feel completely loved with a real sense of being able to provide the kids limits.  She's pretty good at it.  The proof is in those girls, who are magical.  And I'd like to say that I have something to do with it but I think that in fairness I've got to give her most of the credit.

Obama clip: I've decided not to let you go.  Michelle: Okay.

Obama: That model of strong, responsible women, but also incredibly loving women has been a great gift for my girls because they can see every day the contributions that women are making in their own family, and I think that gives them an enormous amount of confidence as they go forward.

The issues that mothers face, those are issues that matter to all of us...  So families count on women having equal opportunity.  That's the reason why something like the Affordable Care Act was so important because a lot of times women are paying more for their health care.  That's why I signed the Lily Ledbetter Act to make sure that people got an equal day's pay for an equal days work.  Because when we do that, that's not just good for women, that's good for our country, that's good for families everywhere.

Obama: Happy Mother's Day to every single mother out there.

Notes: A bit of double meaning in Obama's closing line. 

This video is much more robust than the Romney campaign's "#MothersDay."  That video is a tribute to Ann Romney, which is fine, but Mitt Romney is the candidate, so it would have been more on point if he had talked about his mother and about Ann.  Notice also how Obama is able to weave a couple of policy points into this video.