President Obama, speaking on Tuesday about the fictionalized movie version of a black man who worked for decades in the White House titled “The Butler,” had only words of praise for “my girl” Oprah Winfrey, who played a leading role.
He also went on to praise existing White House staffers for their service, saying that most must look at his presidency and his family’s stature with inspiration — a sort of ’look how far we’ve come’ moment, Politico reported.
“My girl, she can act,” the president said, adding that some of his favorite parts of the movie involved scenes with Miss Winfrey, Politico reported. “She’s just a wonderful actress.”
Mr. Obama said he got teary-eyed at times “just thinking about not just the butlers who have worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled, but because of Jim Crow, because of discrimination, there was only so far they could go.”
And yet they conquered, he said.
“With dignity and tenacity, they got up and worked every single day, and put up with a whole lot of mess because they hoped for something better for their kids,” Mr. Obama said, as Politico reported.
He also added that present-day White House staffers treat his family with nothing but respect.
“Part of it, I suspect,” he said, as Politico reported, “is they look at Malia and Sasha and they say, ’Well, this looks like my grandbaby,’ or ’This looks like my daughter.’ And I think for them to have a sense that we’ve come that far was a powerful moment for them and certainly a powerful moment for us. We love them to death. They look after us just wonderfully.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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