We have to remember that it's usually women who are making the health care decisions for their families.... True equality would mean making sure that there's equity in terms of how insurance reimburses certain procedures; making sure that we have preventative care that's covered so women can get their mammograms and Pap screens without extra charges.

Much of what we do with our kids is social and that's good, and we shouldn't stop all that. I mean, how boring would it be that, no, we can't eat anything out so we're just going to go home and sit in the closet and wait to the next day.

I've always tried to make sure that what I do really connects with the broader agenda of what my husband is trying to do.

And I come here as a daughter, raised on the South Side of Chicago - by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me.

Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much. They didn't begrudge anyone else's success or care that others had much more than they did, in fact, they admired it.

With this new initiative, Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the United States. And what I hope every company will do going forward when it comes to the ads they show and the food they sell they're asking themselves one simple question: Is this good for our kids?

Hope is necessary. It's a necessary concept. And Barack Obama didn't just talk about hope because he thought it was just a nice slogan to get votes.