Obama Promoting Responsible Fatherhood

“Fathers [need] to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child, but the courage to raise one,” wrote Barack Obama in the popular Parade magazine.

The American president has just launched a big campaign promoting responsible fatherhood. He knows best what the lack of a father means. His father left the family when Obama was two years old. Later, he met his father only once when Barack junior was 10.

Almost one fourth of American children are raised without their fathers. Among Afro-Americans, the numbers are from 50 to 60 percent. According to researchers, those children are more likely to become drug users, teenage parents and when reaching adult age, they have trouble getting involved in long-lasting relationships.

During the last few decades, there were many U.S. presidents who underlined the role of fatherhood on Father’s Day. But Obama has broken the record of activity in this matter. He devoted half of Father’s Day to meetings with young fathers, where he spoke about the role of family. He has also written an article about himself as a father for the very popular Parade magazine.

“I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence – both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill,” underlined the president in Parade.

For one of the government offices, Obama has recorded a 30 second film promoting fatherhood. He says: “To be a good father is the most important job in a man’s life. But it doesn’t have to be hard […]. Go to a park or visit a zoo, help your child with homework, […], sit down to eat dinner. The smallest moments can have the biggest impact on a child’s life.”

Obama finished the ad with the words: “Take time to be a dad today.” This slogan has became the motto of the U.S. government’s campaign promoting fatherhood (the spot can be seen on the website www.fatherhood.gov).

This year, Obama has not mentioned the fatherhood problems of the Afro-American part of society. He talked about this issue in one of his most important speeches during the election campaign last year. On Father’s Day he was appealing to young black men to become responsible and mature enough to deserve to be called men.

The respected comedian Bill Cosby for years has led a campaign in support of real fatherhood. He has devoted books to this subject, he is visiting black neighborhoods and taking part in highly popular meetings where he is saying that racism has too often become an excuse for black Americans, and that without young black Americans taking responsibility for their families, Afro-Americans are going to remain the U.S.’ poorest group in society.

Obama’s campaign has been met with applause, but also some criticism. One internet user, Nancy68, wrote a comment under the president’s article in Parade [on their website]. Her opinion is that Obama is not Superman. He sacrificed his children for his career and she does not believe that one can be both a good father and a good president of the United States.

Indeed, Obama has tried to be like Superman. He can be seen with his daughters, Malia and Sasha, very often: dining out, going to football matches. Last week, on Father’s Day, he took the girls out for ice cream. He was criticized for choosing to eat ice cream instead of worrying about the events in Iran.