Barack Obama's Father's Day Advice

Barack Obama

In his lengthy 2008 Father’s Day speech, President Barack Obama offered much wise advice, some of it pointed, to the nation’s fathers. As a wise speaker, however, Obama remembered to look at the big picture. A wise speaker on a ceremonial occasion always looks beyond the immediate event. So, what struck me the most is the way Obama reminded his audience – his true audience was the entire nation – his message was that our main duty as fathers is to provide a better world for our children:

“And what I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children — all of our children — a better world. Even if it’s difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don’t get very far in our lifetime.”

Can we think about that on Father’s Day? What things can we do, maybe small things, to make life better for the next generation? Certainly, my mother’s father thought hard about that – as an immigrant who never learned much English, he sweated away in a steel mill so that his children and grandchildren could become engineers, soldiers, lawyers, and college professors. He helped make America great. My own father thought about the future as he volunteered to provide legal services for elderly people who had been cheated out of their Social Security benefits. Let us all try to make the world a little bit better place.

Happy Father’s Day. Congratulations and thanks to dads all over the land. 

by William D. Harpine

Image: Official White House photo, public domain

Copyright © 2025 by William D. Harpine