parents

In a speech near his Chicago home today, President Barack Obama got personal. He talked of the importance of family, using himself and his own experience as an example.

Opportunity "starts at home," Obama said, according to a White House transcript. "There’s no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families -- which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood.  (Applause.)  Don’t get me wrong -- as the son of a single mom, who gave everything she had to raise me with the help of my grandparents, I turned out okay.  (Applause and laughter.)  But -- no, no, but I think it’s -- so we’ve got single moms out here, they’re heroic in what they’re doing and we are so proud of them.  (Applause.)  But at the same time, I wish I had had a father who was around and involved.  Loving, supportive parents -- and, by the way, that’s all kinds of parents -- that includes foster parents, and that includes grandparents, and extended families; it includes gay or straight parents."

"Those parents supporting kids -- that’s the single most important thing.  Unconditional love for your child -- that makes a difference.  If a child grows up with parents who have work, and have some education, and can be role models, and can teach integrity and responsibility, and discipline and delayed gratification -- all those things give a child the kind of foundation that allows them to say, my future, I can make it what I want.  And we’ve got to make sure that every child has that, and in some cases, we may have to fill the gap and the void if children don’t have that," Obama continued.

Then he praised marriage. "So we should encourage marriage by removing the financial disincentives for couples who love one another but may find it financially disadvantageous if they get married.  We should reform our child support laws to get more men working and engaged with their children.  (Applause.)  And my administration will continue to work with the faith community and the private sector this year on a campaign to encourage strong parenting and fatherhood.  Because what makes you a man is not the ability to make a child, it’s the courage to raise one.  (Applause.)"

And then education: "We also know, though, that there is no surer path to success in the middle class than a good education.  And what we now know is that that has to begin in the earliest years.  Study after study shows that the earlier a child starts learning, the more likely they are to succeed -- the more likely they are to do well at Hyde Park Academy; the more likely they are to graduate; the more likely they are to get a good job; the more likely they are to form stable families and then be able to raise children themselves who get off to a good start."