In June last year, Barack Obama gave the best speech on fatherhood that any politician in the world has ever given. He spoke of his own fatherhood: “now my life revolves around my two little girls” and describes how his concern for them pushes him to think about poverty, racial equality, gender equality, international cooperation and climate change. He was candid in his admission of his own shortcomings: “I have been an imperfect father…..I have made mistakes and will continue to make more; wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now.”
Obama made a series of proposals in that speech which are now part of his family policy agenda, set out on the White House website.
Here are some of the highlights:
- $100m funding for fatherhood programmes and domestic violence prevention
- 24 hours of leave each year for parents to participate in their children’s academic activities at school; leave for workers who care for individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and leave for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.
- $1.5bn to help every State to set up maternity and paternity leave arrangements.
- Promotion of flexible working to businesses – making the business case, helping business to change and financial incentives for telecommuting.
- Expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership to 570,000 families a year.
Thanks to Chris Brown of the National Fatherhood Initiative in USA for tipping me off about this.
Here are some more things to enjoy from Obama’s oratory on fatherhood:
“Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honour how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.
“But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is 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.
“As fathers and parents, we’ve got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework, and replace the video game or the remote control with a book once in awhile.
“We should be making it easier for fathers who make responsible choices and harder for those who avoid them. We should reward fathers who pay that child support with job training and job opportunities and a larger Earned Income Tax Credit that can help them pay the bills.”
Here is the famous video of Obama’s girls proposing a new dog for the White House and accusing their father of leaving his work bag lying around.
