The search for black fathers

Eugene Robinson:

The subject is absent fathers. The implications for black America are dire. The fact is that "there are a lot of men out there who need to stop acting like boys; who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."

The speaker is Barack Obama, for whom fatherhood is a defining issue, both political and personal. Father's Day has come and gone -- new ties have been put away, new golf clubs tried out, new flat-screen televisions mounted -- but Obama says he will continue to talk about black fatherhood in an attempt to change self-destructive attitudes and behaviors.

"Many black men simply cannot afford to raise a family -- and too many have made the sad choice not to," Obama said Friday in what aides touted as a major speech.

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This is just so liberal and the excuse makes no sense. If black men cannot afford to raise a family can black women afford to do it by themselves? What Obama and Robinson are pushing are more liberalism and are using the irresponsibility of black sperm donors (they never earn the right to be called fathers) as an excuse. While he is right to talk about the self-destructive conduct of too many black men, he does them no service by giving them excuses.

Black men raised their children with their wives for generations when their employment prospects and income were much worse than they are today. Liberalism has much to do with the destruction of the black family and what Obama is suggesting is more of the things that caused the wreck to begin with. Responsibility does not start with an excuse.