A year ago this month, President Barack Obama did an interview with Men’s Health Magazine. On the topic of fatherhood, here’s what Obama said in coming to grips with being the father of America.
“I would like to think that most of the issues related to my father have been resolved.” “That’s part of what writing Dreams from My Father was about: understanding him, his own personal tragedy. He wasn’t a presence in my life, he was an idea that I had to wrestle with for a long time.”
“Somebody once said that every man is either trying to live up to his dad’s expectations or make up for his dad’s mistakes. And I’m sure I was doing a little bit of both. But I feel that somewhere in my late 20s or early 30s I sort of figured out what his absence had meant. It is part of what I think has made me a pretty good dad. I don’t think it would have too much of an impact on my decision-making as president. There’s no doubt that it has contributed to my drive. I might not be here had it not been for that absent father prodding me early in life.”
Nice words of a half Kenyan American man who was raised by his white American grandfather in beautiful Hawaii. Story republished from Shallow Nation. To purchase Obama’s Dreams From My Father, if you haven’t already read it, go here.
~Posted by Horiwood, Hollywood California USA. 11.15.09~
