贝拉克·奥巴马：总统一职让我成为更好的父亲

People often ask me whether being President has made it more difficult to spend time with Michelle and our girls. But the surprising truth is that being in the White House has made our family life more "normal" than it's ever been.
人们常常问我，当总统是否让我和米歇尔及我们女儿相聚成为了一件更难的事情。但现实却令人惊讶，住进白宫让我们的家庭生活变得比以往任何时候都更加“正常”。

When Malia was born, Michelle and I were fortunate enough to spend a blissful three months mostly at home with our baby girl. But then Michelle went back to work part time, and I returned to my schedule of teaching at the University of Chicago law school and serving in the state legislature. This meant that I would often be away in Springfield for three days at a time. Even when I was home in Chicago, I had papers to grade and briefs to write and evening meetings to attend.
玛利亚出生的时候，我和米歇尔非常幸运，足足三个月的时间，我们与宝贝女儿一起待在家里，体验初为父母的喜悦之情。之后米歇尔回到她的兼职工作岗位上去，而我在芝加哥大学法学院的教学工作和我在州议会的工作也同时回到正轨。这就意味我得经常去斯普林菲尔德，并且每次都要待上三天。即便我回到芝加哥的家里，我也得继续工作：改试卷、写案情提要，有时晚上还要开会。

Things didn't get any easier when I was elected to the Senate and had to commute back and forth to Washington every week. Then our lives were thrown completely out of balance during a presidential campaign that kept me on the road almost constantly -- leaving Michelle to carry an even heavier load for longer stretches of time.
我当选为参议员后，工作变得更加复杂，我每周必须往返于芝加哥与华盛顿之间。总统大选之际，我几乎时时刻刻都在路上，这使得米歇尔不得不长期承受更重的负担，那时我们的生活完全失去了平衡。

That's why I call her the rock of our family -- because she is. She always has been.
这就是为什么我称她为我们家庭的基石——因为她确实是的，并且一直都是。