Obama: My family approves of a one-term presidency

By Rachel Rose Hartman

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Though the president himself, his staff, and his supporters around the country are busy devoting everything they’ve got to his 2012 re-election campaign, Obama revealed Monday that his family isn’t necessarily as “invested.”

“Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, ‘You know, guys, I want to do something different,’ they’d be fine. They’re not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president. But they do believe in what we’re doing,” Obama told NBC “Today Show” host Ann Curry in an interview that aired Tuesday.

And the president revealed that even he sometimes feels like giving up.

You can watch the interview above.

“I’m sure there are days where I say that one term is enough,” the president said, but he added that what keeps him going is the unfinished work regarding energy, education, and other issues.

In the end, Obama said, if his family is happy, he’s happy.

“If the family is doing well, if Michelle is still putting up with me, then I’ve got enough energy to keep on doing the work that I’m doing.”

Many of the president’s potential 2012 rivals have been calling for Americans to make Obama a one-term president.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in March dismissed Obama as a one-term president over the issue of health care.

“Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America’s families,” Romney told a New Hampshire audience. “And that’s the reason why President Obama will be a one-term president.”

Last night, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) drew wide applause during a televised GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire for declaring: “President Obama is going to be a one-term president.”

Polls show that economic woes across the country and unemployment continue to drag down the president’s approval numbers.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed that after a brief “bounce” following the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, the president’s poll numbers are back down to a 47-46 approval rating. Polls taken in key swing states of Ohio and Florida this spring have shown that voters are split on whether the president deserves a second term.

2 Responses to “Are things getting too hot and Obama is looking for an excuse not to run in 2012? Works for me”

1. Florence Stone
   June 15th, 2011 @ 1:29 am

   Obama nearly had a stroke after his meeting with Netenyahu. He really came unglued, yelling so loudly everybody out in the hall could hear him, using the F word over and over again, so un-presidential: “What the F— was that. Never. Never again!” I recall the saying, “if you can’t take the heat, you better get out of the kitchen”. I think, based on Obama’s behavior that day, he needs to get the hell out. He cannot handle it.

2. Lonni
   June 15th, 2011 @ 4:41 am

   The fact that Obama is even making such statements reveals his lack of certainty about winning reelection. To use his family as an excuse to being “a one-term President” is aligned with his usual “blame others” mentality. I pray that he is a one-term President simply because he is not good for America….period.

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