Father-Father’s Day Proclamation

This past Friday, President Obama released a proclamation marking Sunday as Father’s Day.

Overall, it’s a very pleasant piece of prose. He recognizes the sacred bonds between a father and his children, he encourages readers to honor the role fathers play in their kids’ lives, he points out the value of foster and adoptive fathers, he esteems the particular role that men play in the lives of even children outside of their immediate families.

It’s quite a heart-warming proclamation.

I’m hesitant to say this, as it might come across as overly critical, but I did have one minor qualm with this otherwise exemplary work: He affirms families that are headed by “two fathers.” Oh, I don’t know; it almost seems like he’s trying to legitimize such arrangements, casually including them alongside biological parents, single fathers, and step fathers.

I’ve recently learned that in his Mother’s Day proclamation, he affirmed families headed by “two mothers.”

And this is where I’m scratching my head. In his Father’s Day note, he exalts the role of fathers in children’s lives; in his Mother’s Day note, he exalts the role of mothers in children’s lives. At the same time, he downplays the role of fathers by legitimizing two-mother households, and downplays mothers by legitimizing two-father households. On one hand, he explains the value of having a mother and a father, and on the other hand diminishes the value of having a father and a mother.

It just seems kind of unfortunate to tarnish solid affirmations of mothers and fathers with agenda-driven pandering.

Again, I don’t know. Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe I’m reading too much into these presidential pronouncements. Maybe I should just keep my ponderings to myself.

I should probably offer a preemptive apology for the tone of this blog. Sorry.

From the BoundlessLine blog.
Copyright 2010, Focus on the Family.
Used by permission.