Discourse Analysis #3

Obama, Barack. “Promoting Responsible Fatherhood.” Speech. 21 June. 2010. Youtube. Accessed on 28 Feb 2011.

Obama talks about fatherhood and personal responsibility. Men should balance the need of their families with the demands of their jobs. His question to all was how can we all come together to help fathers meet their responsibilities to our families and communities? He goes on talking about fathers are role models for a household. Fathers are teachers, coaches and mentors. Children who grow up without a father is most likely to live in poverty. Kids are more likely to drop out of school,wind up in prison, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home and become teenage parents themselves. Obama has a point but I disagree with that list. My father grew up without his dad and he finished high school, did not wind up in prison, never took a drug in his life or abused alcohol. He became old enough to have a kid and he’s the best father I can ever ask for. Leaving a family leaves a permanent scar on the child’s heart. Father’s are to give a kid everything they never had and more.

I believe that fathers should make their kids a priority in their lives. Father’s also set examples for us to follow and build a child’s character. They teach us trust in life and to enter it with confidence. I think that fathers should step up and take care of their obligations. Everyone has responsibilities in life but the men should also be there to help their girlfriend or wife with the baby. Obama really tries to enforce and raise awareness about responsible fatherhood and working to re-engage absent fathers with their families. Obama wants these men to be caught up in their child support payments and to reunite with their children.

I agree with Obama and what he has to say but I remember that he did vote against giving medical care to babies born alive after an abortion attempt. Did he not just go through an entire list of what “good fathers” are? He worked against efforts to ban the practice of leaving babies who survived failed abortions to die. There’s a lot of issues in the government such as funding for schools, how are these children supposed to share book, pens if there’s a lack of teachers and funding.

The bias I found in this was that it was kind of a contradictory of his actions and words. He tells these fathers to support single mothers and their children. This speech was mainly the coercion of men to support women that are not their wives and children that are not apart of their lives. The underlying values of this speech is that people don’t realize how how it is to be a father and that women are successful with a father being involved. I get what Obama says about a father being involved and having a hug impact on the child’s life. The world views this speech as something not to be proud of since other issues come into account like funding for school and the abortion issue. I agree that father’s take full responsibility of their actions and pay for child support. If you have sex, you should be able to be a man and step up to the plate.