Minimum wage jobs are a good starting point, but they should be a "temporary thing," Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Saturday, mocking President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle for comments they made about wanting their daughters to get such jobs.
"It's a chance to get started," said Paul at a San Francisco conference Saturday,
reports Politico. "It's a chance to get started. I see my son come home with his tips. And he’s got cash in his hand and he’s proud of himself. I don’t want him to stop there. But he’s working and he’s understanding the value of work. We shouldn’t disparage that.”
The prospective 2016 presidential candidate noted that his own sons work at delivering pizzas and at call centers.
In June, the Obamas
said in a Parade magazine interview that they want their daughters to follow their own footsteps and get minimum wage jobs.
"I think every kid needs to get a taste of what it’s like to do that real hard work,” Michelle Obama answered.
“We are looking for opportunities for them to feel as if going to work and getting a paycheck is not always fun, not always stimulating, not always fair. But that’s what most folks go through every single day,” President Obama added.
The president said his first four jobs were at minimum wage or close to it,including scooping ice cream for Baskin-Robbins and as a waiter in an assisted living facility.
And the first lady worked during her last year in high school at a bindery along with people who had worked there their entire lives, and said it gave her an "understanding that more is needed for folks to be able to cobble together a decent life on minimum wage."
However, the Obamas' oldest daughter, Malia, isn't flipping hamburgers this summer. At 16, she's spending her break
working as a production assistant on the set of Halle Berry's upcoming television series "Extant."
She is reportedly doing the typical tasks production assistants do, including going on runs for coffee and drinks for the cast.
Paul's comments about the Obamas and minimum wage were at the end of his three-day jaunt to San Francisco, where he attended a fundraiser for his Senate re-election campaign on Friday. Further, he's been involved in private meetings with technology industry experts as he looks to raise money from tech executives.
He said his efforts involved an uphill climb in a community dominated by Democrats.
"I come out here and people say we loved President Obama," said Paul at the conference, held at Lincoln Labs Saturday. "Why would you be? He’s not for innovation. He’s not for freedom. He’s for the protectionism crowd. He’s for the crowd that would limit the activities of these companies.”
Related Stories:
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.