Where are the absent black fathers? Have you read anything about the incarceration rate of black males in this country?

Since the "more cops on the street" tactic has been tried before many times, you can just read the race and incarceration statistics from that and extrapolate.

More cops on the street mean more absent black fathers, not fewer. It's never gone the other way, ever.

That's how it works now and I don't see that Obama has any Magic Anti-Racism Dust to sprinkle on the justice system to make it work any differently in the future.

He's a Plan A guy and you're Plan A and everyone in the Democratic mainstream just keeps supporting Plan A like it has a chance of working, so much of a chance that we don't even need to imagine there could be a Plan B.

But Plan A hasn't worked for 35 years!

And now the death toll is climbing in Mexico and it's over 2000 now and soon it will top 9/11.

That's a lot of absent fathers.

I am not asking that rhetorically....well not entirely. I am curious if McCain made any statements.

Anyway, I thought it took some spine for Obama to specifically mention black fathers when discussing the importance of parental responsibility. He might get some flak for that, but I don't see a problem with it.

As a bonus, it might put some prejudiced whites' fears at ease that Obama won't hold blacks to the standards he holds everybody to, as well as underlining Obama's distance from his previously Muslim father.

I've read both of Obama's books (the foirst one is the better of the two, written before he was in public life), and this speech sounds like it was written by him. These are his thoughts, expressed in eloquent language.

Can any of us imagione McCain, Bush, Cheney, or any of that bunch saying anything remotely like this? They certainly don't have the language skills to write it themselves, or anywhere near the oratorical skills to say it with effect. But more importantly they are small-minded, nasty men who live in a black/white good/evil us/them world. They could never THINK with the generous spirit shown by Obama. It would come out mean and punitive and fearful.

This man has the potential to be a GREAT president.

Plan A? Huh?

You are right that blacks have a higher incarceration rate, which is due to a number of factors. I don't think anybody is referring to this when they discuss the need for fathers (including black fathers) to be an active and present part of children's lives, though.

The higher incarceration rate is due to both proven discrepancies in sentencing, but also a higher crime rate among blacks -- which in my view is linked to a higher proportion of the black community being in the lower economic classes and other factors, including cultural factors. I abhor people who use these facts as an excuse for racism, though. There's obviously a very sensitive set of issues here that embody both the need for more personal responsibility and the widespread historical existence of racism and victimization.

Let's stick to the topic at hand: Fatherhood. Obama's main message is that being a good, present father, a role model, is essential. What could be a more important message than that? We see daily examples (among all ethnic groups) of people whose behavior indicates a lack of parenting, which is manifested in a lack of common sense, compassion, proportion, conflict-resolution skills and other elements that lead to bad behavior and, collectively, to social breakdown.

Agreed.

He's something special. This is where he shines. It's his vision. His generosity of spirit. His inner strength.

He just needs to hone his chops, and in fact has been doing so these past months.

He really does have the potential to achieve greatness.

And I don't say that lightly.

I didn't read carefully enough to see where Joan stopped and Obama started.

But back to that "more cops on the street" business.

Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children.

See, the problem is, more cops on the street = more prisoners in prison. That means we have to spend more money on prison guards.

Where will that money come from?

Right now in California, the money to pay prison guards has been squeezed out of the budget by reducing money for the schools, laying off teachers, and shutting down afterschool programs.

And that's also where we'll get the money to put more cops on the street.

Let's stick to the topic at hand: Fatherhood. Obama's main message is that being a good, present father, a role model, is essential. What could be a more important message than that?

And of course, it might just as well have been not about fatherhood, but citizenship, which is why Obama carries this great potential to revitalize the very ethos of citizenship.

It's just about demanding excellence, period.

In fathers, yes, but mothers, children, leaders, parents, everyone.

It's hard fucking work to maintain the standard he sets and he knows it.

And still, he sets it.

It will take nothing less than a collective pursuit of excellence to rescue this rotting country and save ourselves from the epic catastrophes that threaten us.

See, the problem is, more cops on the street = more prisoners in prison. That means we have to spend more money on prison guards.

Where will that money come from?

Privatization of prisons, funded I presume in part by prison labor and public monies.

There are two sides to every story. I would like to outline some of my story.

We're just sh*t.

I live halfway across the world from my daughter. When I left I brought with me a heart problem and no health insurance. The Australians thoughtfully saved my life through an open heart surgury after my valve got infected. I have also found a job in a better economy doing what I love ... computer programming. I now can do a much better job supporting my daughter from here.

My ex still holds it against me. Although I call many days from here so I can talk to my daughter. I finally got through on Father's day for the first time in five days. It was a good chat, finally.

Glenn Greenwald likes to talk about our rights to privacy and all that stuff. The awfull truth is that once you enter family court, for all intents and purposes you have no privacy. None. Your paychecks are attacked at the first opportunity and the judge's supervision is minimal. When I tell most people my story they assume I bought all this on myself through my actions and that I caused it all. Simply put, children's rights in American society aren't very important, and the children's courts aren't funded to figure out what's going on. As a result YOUR children are suffering so you can bomb small countries into submission. It's just matter of American priorities.

If I had stayed in the US alot of my problems in dealing with my daughter would have disappeared. Balderdash. Some things are harder. Like the child support agency can't get mail to me because I live in foreign country. I mean their systems can't get the mail out even though I live in a first-world country with a mail service. I kave a mail box in front of my house. I mail in payments denominated in US dollars drawn from a US bank every month, yet they can't get mail to me. Forget them trying to get time zones correct, I just get 3 o'clock in the morning phone calls. As far as dealing with my X either with or without the system. No one gave a sh*t before and they still don't give a sh*t. Absolutely nothing has changed.

On the other hand I'll get to see my daughter for a month after spending $6000 dollars on plane tickets. I'll pick her up and we'll fly United back ( an American airline, I would almost

rather chop off my legs. I didn't look at the planes very carefully I'd much rather fly 16 hours in a plane with real entertainment ... this will be hell ). We'll then continue our explorations of a strange new land with weird animals in a strange part of the world. All the BS is worth it when I watch her face investigate a whole new world with people who think quite differently from us.

On Thursday it's off to the press club ( we aren't allowed near the American embassy because we might be terrorists ) to hear some ahole from RAND tell us what the US is doing about global warming. I can't wait for this. I'll ask him about Kyoto and see what he says. This should be good.