See what he said yesterday concerning African-Americans in this country and the family:
"Addressing a congregation at one of Chicago's largest black churches, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absentee father to deliver a message to black men, saying, "we need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception." Obama addressed one of the most delicate topics confronting black leaders: whether absent fathers bore responsibility for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. He noted that "more than half of all black children live in single-parent households," a number he said has doubled since his childhood. "Too many fathers are MIA, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes," Obama said to 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, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told the mostly black audience not to "just sit in the house watching 'SportsCenter' " and to stop praising children 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."
Amen! Keep preaching it.
Now perhaps Barack Obama only said this for political reasons--to appeal to the political center, to try and win an election. Perhaps he believes none of this. Or maybe he believes it's the truth. We don't know. But he said it. And down the line, if necessary, we can try to hold him to it. And if nothing else, this shows yet again that the conservative argument concerning the importance of the family and how it's been neglected too often in the African-American community has hit home. Conservatism remains alive and well in this country.
