Flipping through the LA Times last weekend, Meghan Daum had an opinion piece talking about President Obama as a new role model for Black fathers. That brought me up short, because in the past few weeks, I’ve just been thinking about him as a role model for any father, including myself.
Daum wrote:
It’s worth asking why we’re so punch-drunk in love with Obama’s role as a father. Is it simply because he’s charismatic and his girls are photogenic? Or does it have to do with something many Americans — of all races — are perhaps aware of intuitively but don’t want to admit or say out loud: that Obama is a black man in a culture that’s starving for images of responsible black fatherhood?
Speaking for myself, I honestly hadn’t considered that people might be looking up to him as an image of “responsible black fatherhood.” I’ve just been looking at him as someone who appears to be an incredible father, period.
Fatherhood is tough enough whatever your race, I’d say. Here’s a guy who was busy running for the highest office in the US, yet who also seemed to be making time for his kids, such as trick-or-treating on Halloween. I’m a busy enough person, and I never feel like I make enough time for my kids. Watching Obama, as a father, was inspiring.
I was gripped watching him and Michelle Obama talk on TV about parenting — I loved hearing that to get their girls to behave, they just talked them to death about being disappointed. You know, I gave that a try recently when my kids got out of hand recently. It worked!
Obama’s giving up cigarettes. I know I should as well. I’ve been trying to stay in shape. Did you see those pictures of Obama shirtless? I wasn’t thinking hunky — I was just thinking wow, envy — I should redouble my efforts at the gym!
I can sympathize with Daum’s argument that we shouldn’t be looking to Obama to be a role model on top of all his other burdens:
Obama is already burdened with a load of superhuman qualities we’ve imposed on him. Not least among these is the idea that he might be capable of signing executive orders with one hand and checking his kids’ homework with the other. Worse, given our culture’s persistent anxieties about race, that “world’s greatest dad” figurine sitting metaphorically on his desk is perhaps more about quelling a nation’s fears about black masculinity than it is about a family ideal
And goodness knows, I’m sure he has plenty of “bad dad” moments just like the rest of us. But I’ll take my inspiration where I can get it. And I’ll kind of hope that I’m not alone, that America isn’t full of people thinking “A good Black dad,” as Daum suggests — rather, it’s kind of nice to see what appears to be a good dad, regardless of race, dealing with a young family in the White House.
Sidenote: They still haven’t gotten that dog yet, have they? See, that’s why the girls were so well behaved during the inauguration. Well, that’s what I’d have done with my boys. Want that dog? You behave during this cold long day, and we’ll get it after that 
