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1/16 - The Presidency

There was a real sense of nostalgia for me watching former president, Barack Obama’s, 2008 Fathers Day speech. I remember vaguely watching this speech with my grandparents. I just turned 14 a few weeks prior to this speech. There was definitely a difference for me in watching this, especially thinking of things from an adults perspective, and being in a political science class. I mostly favored when he stated, “The job of the father is to instill a sense of excellence in our children”.

Having my father permanently out of my life, due to a stroke a little over a year ago, along with becoming man of the family, I am able to relate to a lot of the responsibilities that Obama mentioned. He stated that the man is the foundation of the family, and without it we are weaker. Half of the black homes are single parent households. He says we should not blame this on past injustices, but more so blame the government for failing us. We needed a change in America and he wanted it to be known that that is why he was running. He also briefly spoke on the justice system using statistical terms saying that there is no room for margin of error, one strike and your done.

Along with breaking the cycle of single parent homes, the government should meet us half way. Affordable healthcare, and working school programs are just some of the points he made. We need to do our part also to achieve change. We need to understand an idea of responsibility, set our marks high, and stop defeating ourselves before we started. Those low expectations of our own lives are passed down to our children. Obama ended by telling a story of when he gave a speech at a college and was stumped when asked what does he live for. His response was when he was young, for himself, but as he got older it changed to himself and the type of world he is going to leave behind. How powerful are those worlds. That is the type of individual I strive to be and the type of responsibility I aim to uphold.

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