President Obama on Fatherhood
Monday June 22, 2009
Last Friday, President Barack Obama hosted an event at the White House intended to start a “national conversation on responsible fatherhood and healthy families.” Read the New York Times article about the President's speech and you can read the speech itself from this Fatherhood Town Hall meeting. I, for one, am excited to see a man in the White House who recognizes his role, as the New York Times put it, as father-in-chief. I welcome the national discussion on responsible fatherhood and hope it will lead to a better and broader view of the role of fathers in our nation's families.
Comments
A “father-in-chief” in the white house isn’t novel, with but few exceptions, all the past presidents have been parents.
It would be welcoming to have open discussion and dialogue about responsible fatherhood but, I question the focus on obligation and responsibility without open discussion on privileges & rights of men as parents.
To speak of fathers’ rights after being made a parent doesn’t address to the absent right of choosing to become a parent in the first place. As an analogy, one would be arguing that slaves have rights, except the right to choose to become a slave.
Also absent is any discussion of accountability of the agencies created and responsible overseeing various functions of the courts and its appendages. How does one defend themselves against the “system”?