The son of a single-parent home himself, Obama chatted about his plan "to provide working families with tax cuts--to reduce the costs of child care and dependent care;" rhetoric about getting behind the rhetoric; and believing that the children are, in fact, the future.

After speaking for an hour or so, the man who might be called "Mr. President" by this time next year, hightailed it to a presumably opulent fundraiser in Atherton, the "California’s wealthiest ZIP code." Good thinking. No word yet as to who got to take home the lovely sprays of flowers.

Image credit: Maria J. Avila/Mercury News