I watched the first
2012 Presidential debate last Wednesday night. It was the first time I saw both
President Barrack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney together on one stage delivering
their case and messages to the public on who is the best person to do the job
as President of the United States. But I wonder what the two candidates are like as fathers. What their constituents say about their paternal role and policies. Here’s a quick comparison on the two candidates and their stance on fatherhood.
President Barrack Obama
Has 2 children
and married 20 years to Michelle Obama.
One of Pres. Obama’s aides
and close friend Valerie Jarrett said, Obama “wants to be the kind of dad he
never had.” President Obama told Essence Magazine, “I want my girls to know
that no matter what else is going on, they’re my first priority,”
President
Obama referred fatherhood as “my hardest, but always my most rewarding job…
Malia and Sasha may live in the White House these days,” he said, “but Michelle
and I still make sure they finish their schoolwork, do their chores and walk
the dog.”
President
Obama was raised by his single mother. His father Barack Obama Sr. divorced his
mother and abandoned the family when he was two. President Obama said in an
interview with ABC News, his experiences with his own father is “why I’ve tried
so hard to be a good dad for my own children.”
Barack Obama believes passionately in responsible fatherhood
and has been outspoken about the need for African-American fathers to step up
to their responsibilities as fathers. In 2008, he address the African-American
community saying, "We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not
end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the
ability to have a child -- it's the courage to raise one....”
President Obama sponsored the Responsible Fatherhood andHealthy Families Act of 2007 in the United States Senate. According to Obama's
2008 campaign website, this bill is designed to "remove some of the
government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child
support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state
bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and
support domestic violence prevention efforts. As president, Obama will sign
this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen
families." According to Politicfact.com, is not yet been signed into law.
Gov. Mitt Romney, Republican
Has 5 sons, 16
grandchildren and married 46 years to Ann Romney.
“Certainly a big part of the
Mitt Romney story is his family,” said Russ Schriefer, a senior Romney
strategist. “One of the real organizing principles of his life is his
relationship with Ann and with the boys.”
According to his eldest son
Tagg, Gov. Romney tried to keep his work separate from his home life. Although
he was working long hours, Tagg recalled, “When he walk in the door, he was
excited to see everybody… you didn’t know if he had a good day or a bad day at
the office.”
Gov. Romney’s five sons have
all taken an active role in his current and past campaigns for president. Their
level of involvement is a departure from Gov. Romney’s early political career
where the sons have taken a lower public profile to maintain their privacy.
Gov. Romney is also open in
his appreciation for his own father George Romney the former Governor of
Michigan and who also ran for president in 1968. In an interview in 2007, Gov.
Romney was quoted “I am a shadow of the real deal” referring to his dad George’s
successful career in politics and raising a family under the Mormon mantra, “no
other success can compensate for failure in the home.”
Below are Father's Day videos released by the Obama and Romney campaigns respectively that clearly presents the two candidates as regular dads.
References:
http://fatherhood.about.com/od/fathersandpolitics/p/Mitt-Romney-On-Fathers-And-Families.htmhttp://www.fatherhoodcoalition.org/cpf/inthenews/2003/MN_conservatives_on_Romney_0302.htm
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