I recently read an NBC news report about President Obama’s post-White House plans in which he describes the reasons his his youngest daughter, Sasha (now twelve) will be the one to choose where the family will live next.
At first, his rationale seems solid, as he states, “We’ve got to make sure that she’s doing well until she goes off to college.” As any parent knows, a move that happens in the middle of high school can be difficult for an adolescent. Kudos to the president for considering that fact in his role as Protector.
But then, like a typically passive Modern Man, he excuses his value as a Protector, Provider, and Presider when he “jokes” that the kids and Michelle have “obviously…made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas, the running for office and things.”
What?
Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but it seems like “hosting sleepovers and pajama parties” in the White House, jet-setting on Air Force One to exotic locales for family vacations, attending the private Sidwell Friends School, etc., etc., etc., are the kinds of “sacrifices" that most wives and children in this country would be prepared—even grateful—to make.
Why are today’s men so self-depricating when it comes to being a man, especially when they shrug off responsibility for the decisions they make? It seems to me that Barack Obama has chosen a path that has not only been good for him, but good for his family—certainly nothing to make excuses for.
This self-deprecating modern stance is nothing new for the president. Obama has been quoted as saying, "Whatever [Michelle] tells me to do, that's what I do. That's why we've been married 15 years,” and “I haven’t had a cigarette in probably six years…because I’m scared of my wife."
Mr. President, you’ve given your wife and children everything a family could hope for.
Maybe it’s time for you—the most powerful man on the planet—to grow a pair in your personal life. It would be the first step in claiming complete ownership of your presidency.
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