President Obama's Fatherhood 09' speech

President Barack Obama kicked off the 2009 Father's Day weekend with a string of events designed to "begin a national conversation on responsible fatherhood and healthy families," according to the White House. Much like first lady Michelle Obama's March celebration of women's empowerment, the day of bro-mance hits eight Washington-area nonprofits that mentor young men, and featurez teams of celebrities, businessmen, lawmakers and White House staff that range from Obama aide Reggie Love to Motorola CEO Greg Brown to DeWayne Wade of the Miami Heat.
"If we are honest with ourselves," he said, "we'll admit that... too many fathers also are missing--missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it."
In that previous speech Obama rattled off the stunning statistics for black families cleaved in two: Fatherless kids are "five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of school and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from homes."
In a classical preacher's cadence, Obama concluded that enough is enough: "We need [men] to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child—it's the courage to raise one."
Many campaign watchers, of all races, applauded Obama's speech as a "Sister Souljah moment" that showed the true value of a black presidential candidate: saying things that white politicians could not—or, as Jesse Jackson famously put it soon after, "talking down to black people." But these analyses missed the point: Black leaders, including Jackson, have been urging responsible fatherhood and stand-up-straight living for as long as there have been black pulpits to preach from. At the 2006 Essence Festival in Dallas, for example, televangelist and author T.D. Jakes said "Fatherhood is not optional.... Rather than focusing on the father’s that left, we need to focus on the ones who stayed."
Obama's "real talk" is nothing new—but his status as the "first father" gives him an unprecedented and unique platform. In an essay for Parade magazine and a proclamation released today, Obama declared that "honest and hard-working fathers are an irreplaceable influence upon their children." Of course, it's unlikely that Obama can singlehandedly change the statistics for deadbeat dads and out-of-wedlock births. But this year, the first black president has recruited some high profile company in his bully pulpit.
Dayo Olopade is the Washington Reporter for The Root. A video of the speech is below:

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