obama meets with single mom, 'the person we are working for' - charcoal pit

The paper was stamped with the seal "back from the Oval" and although the scribbled note at the bottom was not signed, the clear handwriting was clearly President Obama's.
"This is the person we work for," Obama wrote . " He turned his assistant's attention to Tarne Benjamin, Delaware's single mother, who was trying to get herself through her studies.
After reading an email that Benjamin wrote to him last summer, Obama instructed his personal assistant to distribute a print out to all his senior advisers.
Obama sometimes asks his staff to investigate specific issues he has learned from American letters, but he rarely shares a series of personal notes he experiences every night.
Until recently, it was even more rare for him to see these writers.
But on Thursday, during his trip to derwilmington, Obama bought hamburgers for himself and Benjamin at a popular restaurant, charcoal pits.
Obama recently held a meeting with the author of the letter.
This summer, he had lunch with a mom who worked in Minnesota and coffee with a college student in Texas.
Benjamin told Obama in her email to raise 5-year-
Being an old daughter working full time
Time private banker and DeVry University.
She wrote that she worked six days a week for $15 an hour.
After paying the rent and the child's support, she managed to make a living.
But she didn't want to drop out.
Critics of Obama have denied that. to-
Face the meeting as a political gimmick.
Obama's aides say what Obama wants to highlight is how American workers are squeezed today.
"His frustration is that people are ignoring the situation with Tanei," said a senior consultant . ".
In July 7, Benjamin, 22, did not consider politics.
She is writing a diary, as she often does, to speak to a person who she takes pictures in front of her while writing.
She sat down in bed with her laptop and typed, "Sir.
"I am a beautiful single mother. year-
"Old girl," she wrote.
"I got married and divorced when I was 16. . .
She explained how she worked full time during her college years.
She wants a degree in business and human resources.
"I am doing my best to raise my daughter better than before," she wrote . ".
But her rent is over $800, her baby.
Sometimes care costs more than that.
In addition to the tax and medical insurance deducted from her salary.
After applying for a food voucher, she found herself earning too much to qualify.
She wrote: "I can't imagine going to the streets with my daughter, and I'm afraid that will happen.
When she turned off her laptop, she remembered that she had an email address from the White House.
She voted for Obama in her first election in 2012, after which she signed up for an email from the re-elected president.
She pressed the "send" key, which made her feel much better.
"I thought he had a large group of people reading his letter," she said . ".
"I think maybe someone will read it, which is different for me.
On the other hand, someone from the communications office picked it up via the "Contact Us" link on the White House website.
The document is for the president only.
About a month later, a print was sent to a clear purple folder along with other letters.
The next day, it went back to the same folder, and now it gets cluttered when the president sorts out cards, pictures and envelopes.
The White House staff, Anita Decker Brekenridge, reviewed this and found the directive, "cc to senior advisor.
The letter was delivered directly to Dennis McDonough, director of the office.
For a few days, the people mentioned in the meetingpronounced tuh-NAY). Fast-
Looking forward to meeting some of his pen pals with the president this summer.
So far, all three of them are careers. oriented women.
This happens to be a key Democratic population in the fall elections.
When a visit to Wilmington appears on the president's schedule, everyone knows who they will be looking for lunch.
He told his staff that he wanted to spend an hour with Benjamin despite their schedule falling behind.
Benjamin chose her burger because she was nervous at first.
But then they started talking about her letter and what touched the president when he read it.
He told her that he admired her commitment to finish her studies.
He said it reminded him of his late mother, Ann Denham, who was an ambitious student who, while developing her career, had once received help from the government to take care
Benjamin later said: "My letter reminds him of his mother and how she took care of him when she was a child.
When the president told the story, she found herself suffocated, she said.
They gave a hug and Obama gave a speech on infrastructure investment in port Wilmington.
She said she watched him walk away and wondered if her now 6-year-old daughter, Arona, would also have great things in the future.
"She did it," Benjamin said of Obama's mother . ".
"Maybe I can.