“We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception,” Obama said to the Apostolic Church of God church in Chicago, “What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – any fool can have a child, that doesn’t make you a father – it’s the courage to raise one that makes you a father.”

The Illinois senator said that too many fathers in the African American community are MIA in their families – acting like boys rather than men – and the foundations of the family and the community has suffered. Obama – himself a father of two – laid out three areas where fathers must parent better: by setting high expectations for their children, instilling the value of empathy, and passing on the value of hope.

However, Tariq Nelson is skeptical, pointing out that there’s not much apart from speeches that Obama can actually do personally about the problem of absentee fathers. Still, I think it is worth something that he is using the immensely powerful bully pulpit that he has, to make the case. A young African American male, growing up without positive male role models at home, might just hear what Obama is saying and take it to heart. Even a few words, if spoken early enough, can move mountains.