Whether you love his policies or hate them, one thing is for sure. When it comes to the "Daddy Factor", President Obama gets high marks. Most Americans see him as a good father and a great role model for others. With that said, The White House is taking its fatherhood message on the road. It's time for a national tour. Read below from Dan Gilgoff at U.S. News and World Report:
The Obama administration is taking its effort to promote responsible fatherhood, which it launched with a White House town hall event just before Father's Day, on the road, hosting a half-dozen town halls in the next few months in different parts of the country. The first event will happen in Chicago next Wednesday. It will feature a videotaped message from President Obama, a roundtable and networking session for local nonprofit groups, presentations by administration officials, and a panel of local dads, according to an adviser for the effort.
"Given who's in the White House, we have a chance to do some very powerful messaging and role modeling on fatherhood," says Judy Vredenburgh, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, who is helping advise the effort. "This is a subject that the president feels strongly about, so we're moving in the momentum of Father's Day."
The nationwide tour is being managed by Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with input from the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Vredenburgh is a member of the council and sits on its task force for fatherhood issues.
"This might be the most culture-changing of all the initiatives" of Obama's faith-based office, says Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelical activist. "The old script was that conservatives care about fatherhood and families and that liberals don't. Here you have a Democratic, progressive president who is making fatherhood and family a huge priority, which helps to put the culture wars to rest."
Wallis also is a member of the president's faith advisory council.
Full link here.
The fatherhood issue is surely a way President Obama can get Evangelicals to pay attention to his message. Anything that has to do with making the family stronger is a good thing. What would make the fatherhood message more compelling is not necessarily a litany of new programs and increased government spending. Instead, if President Obama uses his presidential soap box to talk about values, our culture and responsibility,his message will resonate even more.