Obama: No one should fear when they pray
President Obama makes comments about the Kansas City shootings at a prayer breakfast this morning. More from CNN at http://www.cnn.com/ To license this and o...
By: CNN
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President Obama on Monday honored those killed in a weekend attack at two Jewish facilities in Kansas, saying no one should have to worry about their security while gathering with their fellow believers.
Obama noted that synagogues and temples across the country are taking extra security precautions following the shooting, adding: "No one should ever have to fear for their safety when they go to pray."
The president spoke during an Easter prayer breakfast at the White House and vowed that the government would provide whatever is needed to support the investigation. He urged Americans to stand united against "religious-based" violence.
"As Americans, we not only need to open our hearts to the families of the victims, we've got to stand united against this kind of terrible violence, which has no place in our society," Obama said. "We have to keep coming together, across faiths to combat the ignorance and the intolerance, including anti-Semitism that can lead to hate groups and violence because we are all children of God."
Three people were killed Sunday when a gunman opened fire on a Jewish community center and Jewish retirement complex near Kansas City. The man accused in the shooting is a well-known white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader who was once the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Officials were investigating the attack as a hate crime, although two of the victims, a man and his grandson, were not Jewish and were at the community center for a singing competition, relatives said.
Obama said the fact that the attack came as Jews prepare to celebrate Passover and Christians prepare for Easter makes the tragedy "all the more painful."
The president also recalled his meeting at the Vatican last month with Pope Francis. Obama said the pope's message of justice and inclusion, especially for the poor, is a reminder to live righteously and humbly.
The breakfast was attended by faith leaders including Al Sharpton, African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Vashti Murphy Mckenzie and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. They were treated to a performance by Washington Performing Arts Society's Children of the Gospel Choir and dined on mini bagels with lox and cream cheese and fruit parfait.
The annual breakfast continued a tradition that Obama started in 2010.
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The president reestablished an advisory council earlier this year to counsel him on the most effective strategies to teach kids the basics of finance.
John Rogers, who chairs the president's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, said: "We think we can get young people started as early as first grade. We want to get people involved and engaged so they can build financial capability over time. The same way they get language skills, math skills, science skills that build over time. You want your financial literacy skills to build in the same way."
Rogers is also chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, one of the nation's top money-management firms. He believes children should learn about the financial markets from a young age, just like he did: Rogers was 12 years old when, instead of toys, his father starting buying him stocks for every birthday and every Christmas.
As the founder of Ariel Community Academy, a top-performing K8 public school in Chicago where financial education is a key component of the curriculum, Rogers knows firsthand how this approach works.
Many studies show most Americans agree financial education is a good thing, yet it is not taught in most schools.
A 2014 survey by the Council for Economic Education found only 17 schools require high school students to take a personal finance course, and only six require them to be tested on these concepts. While the White House cannot mandate that financial education become mandatory in schools, Rogers said the advisory council is encouraging cities and states to look at other model financial education programs.
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The president reestablished an advisory council earlier this year to counsel him on the most effective strategies to teach kids the basics of finance.
John Rogers, who chairs the president's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans, said: "We think we can get young people started as early as first grade. We want to get people involved and engaged so they can build financial capability over time. The same way they get language skills, math skills, science skills that build over time. You want your financial literacy skills to build in the same way."
Rogers is also chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, one of the nation's top money-management firms. He believes children should learn about the financial markets from a young age, just like he did: Rogers was 12 years old when, instead of toys, his father starting buying him stocks for every birthday and every Christmas.
As the founder of Ariel Community Academy, a top-performing K8 public school in Chicago where financial education is a key component of the curriculum, Rogers knows firsthand how this approach works.
Many studies show most Americans agree financial education is a good thing, yet it is not taught in most schools.
A 2014 survey by the Council for Economic Education found only 17 schools require high school students to take a personal finance course, and only six require them to be tested on these concepts. While the White House cannot mandate that financial education become mandatory in schools, Rogers said the advisory council is encouraging cities and states to look at other model financial education programs.
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WASHINGTON (AP) After months on the defensive over his health law, a more combative President Barack Obama has emerged to fight about gender politics, leading to an election-year competition with Republicans for support from women.
No single group will be more important to Democrats' fortunes, say White House advisers, than unmarried women, who are likely to go Democratic if they vote, and that's far from certain when trust in Washington is low.
The president is trying to convince women that Democrats are more concerned about improving their financial standing in difficult economic times, and he charges Republicans with standing in the way. "Republicans in Congress have been gumming up the works," he said at White House event on equal pay.
"This isn't just about treating women fairly. This is about Republicans seemingly opposing any efforts to even the playing field for working families," Obama said.
Republicans say they have learned important lessons from previous elections where women helped put Obama and other Democrats in office. This year, the GOP is promising an aggressive counterattack.
The Republican National Committee plans to a new initiative, "14 in '14," to recruit and train women under age 40 to help spread the party's message in the final 14 weeks of the campaign.
Representatives from all the party committees the RNC and those supporting GOP candidates for Senate, House, governors and state legislators meet regularly to plan strategy and advise candidates.
They are encouraging candidates to include their wives and daughters in campaign ads, have women at their events and build a Facebook-like internal database of women willing to campaign on their behalf.
Responding to Obama's equal pay event, Republicans cried hypocrisy and pointed out that women on average make less than men on the White House staff. When the Senate voted on an equal pay measure the next day, every Republican voted no and said the law already protects women from being paid less than men.
The Republican Party committees are circulating figures showing that poverty among women has risen during Obama's time in office, while women's average wages have dropped.
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