Obama giving voices to those children raised without fathers......kids who normally have no say!

[FrenchieCat]

When folks get bent out of shape because Barack Obama dares discuss the issue of Fathers not taking responsibility for their children, he speaks from experience. He is one of those children whose father didn't take responsibility for him. He knows how it feels. He knows how much it hurts to feel that your parent doesn't care enough about you to make sacrifices that parents are supposed to make, i.e, financial or emotional.

Barack Obama has walked in the shoes of those children, and therefore, he has every right to comment on the issue.

As a child whose Black father also left my mother when I was very young, never to be heard from again until his death......I say, Yo go Obama!

and in fact, I resent those who have not experienced the feeling of having a father out there somewhere not caring about you in any real meaningful way. It is not a good feeling, I would not wish it on any child.

Also see this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801363.html

[FrenchieCat]

1. Obama: I'm not gonna tell you what you want to hear.....

I'm gonna tell you what you need to hear.

[Common Sense Party]

11. I applaud Obama for daying what needs to be said and lived.

I just find it interesting that when Bill Cosby says the exact same thing, he is trashed around here.

[Hieronymus]

12. Obama and Cosby are both right. They are both successes, showing it's

attainable

[sandnsea]

2. People don't get married to qualify for medicaid

and other benefits, which moves the father away from the family unit. I like that he knows this as well, and has programs to help fathers become financially successful too. We've made a huge mistake labeling fathers as "deadbeats". Most of them had no more ability to care for their children than the mothers did.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I think that using condoms might help.......and getting rid of the

"That doesn't feel as good" needs to go.

That's part of the problem.....and we need someone who is going to address the entire issue head on.

All Americans can only benefit by truth.

[sandnsea]

7. I think boys need to think about "getting pregnant"

the same as girls. That's a cultural shift, in the entire culture. I know more young white girls who are raising kids alone than that are married or with the father.

[Kittycat]

4. I was raised by a single mom, with no site of a father

Until she married my stepdad when I was nearly 13. I get what Obama was saying, and I applaud him for saying it. All the snide comments about it are either made by partisans, people who are guilty of it themselves, or are dealing with other 'issues' of their own. Because if you were ever raised in a struggling, single family household, or by grandparents so your mom could work (as in my case) - you know immediately what he's saying.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Yep. And he was putting those children first......

before the comfort or harship of the missing parent.

Kids just don't get a "choice" one way of the other. They are the victims, not the parents (no matter how young they are). Sure, shit happens, but my father never bothered to contact my brother or I for all of those years. I may be stronger for it (I'm sure my mother is), but not everyone is. :(

[Kittycat]

8. So true Frenchie, So true.

I was 24 before my real dad wanted to meet me, and by that time - I never could summon the courage. I think I cried one too many tears over the rejection through the years. Now that I'm married, in my 30's and have two little boys - I wonder if I should even tell him that he has grandchildren. I can't see for our own benefit why it would matter, but at times I feel guilty for cutting him off at this point. Two wrongs? I don't know. My husband and I just had this conversation last week about what to do in that regard, and kind of left it open-ended for me to decide. I just can't.

[barack the house]

6. Any great speech made by Obama will spun out of shape by the media. He must keep doing them...

As long a s he keeps his message strong their message gets weak.

[rove karl rove]

9. good speech IMO

and he was right - it's important to children to have a father growing up. He didn't and still regrets that.

[Blue_Roses]

10. my spouse's father abandoned

him and his sister and left him with an alcoholic mother. Those words Obama spoke were a message to us all. It's about damn time a political leader addresses this.

[loyalsister]

13. Thanks

Raising expectations for fathers who are physically present has it's own value.