Obama Delivers Powerful Father's Day Message

The Obama family celebrated Father's Day together, attending services at Chicago's Apostolic Church of God.

Obama delivered a speech on fatherhood from the pulpit, and he didn't shy away from confronting difficult issues

"Too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are MIA. Too many fathers are AWOL. Missing from too many lives and too many homes. They've abandoned their responsibilities, they're acting like boys instead of men, and the foundations of our family have suffered because of it. You know and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African American community," he said, delivering his straight-talking message to the African American congregation.

Obama continued, showing his commitment to confronting problems directly with honest solutions

"We can't simply write these problems off to past injustices. Those injustices are real. There's a reason why our families are just in disrepair, and some of it has to do with a tragic history, but we can't keep on using that as an excuse."

We need to be honest with ourselves if we are to rally together around the common causes of our time. Showing himself as the unconventional democrat that he is, Obama said it's not just government that we need to look toward to solve our problems, we must also look to ourselves

He recognized that the government has to change in order to improve the economy and schools, which is why he's running for president. But, he added, "The change we need is not just gonna come from government. It's not just gonna come from a president. It's gonna come from us. It's gonna come from each and every one of us. We need families to raise our children. We need fathers to recognize that responsibility just doesn't end at conception. That doesn't just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."

A powerful Father's Day message indeed.

Best,
D. Tree

(and in case you missed my morning post about Barack Obama being named "Father of the Year" click here to check it out).