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.
人們常常問我，當總統是否讓我和米歇爾及我們女兒相聚成為了一件更難的事情。但現實卻令人驚訝，住進白宮讓我們的家庭生活變得比以往任何時候都更加“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.
瑪利亞出生的時候，我和米歇爾非常幸運，足足三個月的時間，我們與寶貝女兒一起待在家里，體驗初為父母的喜悅之情。之后米歇爾回到她的兼職工作崗位上去，而我在芝加哥大學法學院的教學工作和我在州議會的工作也同時回到正軌。這就意味我得經常去斯普林菲爾德，并且每次都要待上三天。即便我回到芝加哥的家里，我也得繼續工作：改試卷、寫案情提要，有時晚上還要開會。

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.
我當選為參議員后，工作變得更加復雜，我每周必須往返于芝加哥與華盛頓之間。總統大選之際，我幾乎時時刻刻都在路上，這使得米歇爾不得不長期承受更重的負擔，那時我們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.
這就是為什么我稱她為我們家庭的基石——因為她確實是的，并且一直都是。