Prez meets with Kinsey Button at Magnolia Cafe in Austin [View all]

[bigtree]

President Barack Obama meets with Kinsey Button at Magnolia Cafe in Austin, Texas. Kinsey, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote the President a letter in January explaining her family’s struggle to lead a middle class life when both of her parents lost their jobs in the wake of the Great Recession





It was shortly after Christmas at Kinsey Button’s West Campus apartment when she became inspired to write the letter that led her to be chosen to introduce President Barack Obama in Austin on Thursday.

Button was watching CNN and saw a fight over the extension of federal unemployment benefits unravel in a partisan fight. Her parents, Mitchell and Tina Button, were both unemployed at the time, and the fight struck a chord with the 20-year-old University of Texas junior.





At the urging of one of the politicians on TV, she put pen to paper and wrote a letter to the White House.

“I felt that this topic just really hit home and it was really personal, so I wanted to make my voice heard personally by physically writing a letter,” Button said.


Ralph Barrera

"Paying for college is hard even if you have two employed parents. The reality was at the time both of my parents were unemployed but my dad recently got a job," said Button.

Button is into politics. She's studying public relations and hopes to one day become a press secretary. Button says she wants America and the president to know that paying for college and the unemployment rate are real issues that impact average American families.




petesouza @petesouza · 22m
President Obama talks with Kinsey Button at the Magnolia Cafe in Austin today