WASHINGTON — President Obama and his two young daughters have a message for Washington, based on years of Chicago winters: toughen up.

A dusting of snow — followed by melting temperatures, rain, sleet and then overnight freezing — packed much of the Washington area in ice yesterday. Schools throughout the region shut down, including Sidwell Friends, where Sasha and Malia Obama are enrolled.

"Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy, very quickly?" Obama asked yesterday at the White House. "My children's school was canceled today because of what — some ice?"

As reporters laughed, Obama added: "As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled.

"We're going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town."