I have to be frank, when Jesse Jackson speaks ill of someone for what they have said, I probably agree with the person Jackson is speaking ill of. This is one of those times. Barack Obama gave what I thought was an excellent speech on Father’s day, reminding the African American community, and America in general, that it takes two parents to raise a child. Obama realizes that although his father was not an integral part of his life, his success despite of that is the exception and not the rule.

Speaking from my own experiences, I can honestly say that without my father in my life I would have probably wound up in jail, if not worse. It was my father who dragged me out of a bad situation when I was 19 years old, something my mother probably could not have done. Despite my political differences with Obama, he seems like the type of man who would have done the same for his child.

The speech he gave on fathers day reminded the African American community that in order to help your community, it is important to raise your children properly. It is necessary to be a part of their lives, steer them down the right path, offer advice when they need it as all children do. Rather than pandering to the African American community and blaming any failures they may have suffered as individuals, Obama was man enough to be honest with them and remind them they only need look so far as the mirror to explain many of lifes hardships.

Almost one year ago today I cited a study which stated that nearly 80 percent of children living in long term poverty live in some type of broken family or with a never married parent. Barack Obama’s speech on Father’s day reminded that African American community of this when he said:

But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing - missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled - doubled - since we were children. We know the statistics - that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.

After giving this speech I could not find one conservative blog which found any fault in his statements, to the contrary I found only praise. For Jesse Jackson however, those words were not words of advice, that speech was simply about Obama talking down to black people.

O’Reilly said after the video:

O’REILLY: ‘We held back some of this conversation… we didn’t feel it had any relevance to the conversation this evening. We are not out to get Jesse Jackson. We are not out to embarrass him and we are not out to make him look bad. If we were, we would have used what we had, which is more damaging than what you have heard’…

Would certainly be interesting to find out what Jackson had to say about Obama’s comments, but I am sure i would disagree with him.

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Barack Obama, Election 2008, Video