Obama tackles issue of absent black fathers

CHICAGO - Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city's largest black churches, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absentee father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying "we need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception.''

In an address that was striking for its bluntness and where the candidate chose to give it, Obama directly addressed one of the most delicate topics confronting black leaders: whether absent fathers bore responsibility for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. Obama noted that "more than half of all black children live in single-parent households'' a number that he said has doubled since his own childhood.

"Too many fathers are MIA, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,'' Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. "They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.''

Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who sat in the front pew, the presumptive Democratic nominee laid out his case in stark terms that would be difficult for a white candidate to make, telling the mostly black audience not to "just sit in the house watching 'SportsCenter,' '' and to stop praising themselves for mediocre accomplishments.

"Don't get carried away with that eighth-grade graduation,'' he said, bringing many members of the congregation to their feet, applauding. "You're supposed to graduate from eighth grade.''

Obama's themes have also been sounded by the comedian Bill Cosby, who has stirred debate among black Americans by bluntly speaking about an epidemic of fatherlessness in black families while suggesting that some blacks use racism as a crutch to explain lack of economic progress.

The address was not Obama's first foray into the issue. Obama has frequently returned to the topic of parenting and personal responsibility, particularly for low-income black families. Speaking in Texas in February, Obama told the mostly black audience to take responsibility for the education and nutrition of their children, lecturing them for feeding children "cold Popeyes'' for breakfast.

"I know how hard it is to get kids to eat properly,'' Obama said at the time. "But I also know that if folks are letting our children drink eight sodas a day, which some parents do, or, you know, eat a bag of potato chips for lunch - Buy a little desk or put that child at the kitchen table. 'Watch them do their homework.' ''

Sunday's remarks marked the first since he claimed the nomination in which he has addressed the problems confronting blacks in a comprehensive and forthright way. While Obama's remarks were directed at a black, church-going audience, his campaign hopes they resonate among white social conservatives in a race where these voters may be up for grabs.

On Friday, Obama announced that he would co-sponsor a bill with Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana that his campaign said would address the "national epidemic of absentee fathers.'' The legislation would increase enforcement of child support payments and strengthen domestic violence prevention services.

"We also need families to raise our children,'' he said at Sunday's service. "We need fathers to realize that responsibility doesn't just 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.''

Obama spoke of the burden that single parenthood placed on his mother, who raised Obama with the help of his maternal grandparents.

"I know the toll it took on me, not having a father in the house,'' he continued. "The hole in your heart when you don't have a male figure in the home who can guide you and lead you. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle - that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my children.''