A few days before President Obama’s inauguration, he penned an open letter to his daughters, trying to explain what his daughters meant to him, and why they were the reason he ran for president. The letter was published in Parade, and it was a tear-jerker. Obama wrote lines like this: “I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realized that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours…. It is only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.”

For Father’s Day, Parade asked Obama to write another essay/letter type thing. This time Parade’s assignment to the president was “to reflect on what fatherhood means to him.” Parade put an excerpt from the essay on its site:

As the father of two young girls who have shown such poise, humor, and patience in the unconventional life into which they have been thrust, I mark this Father’s Day—our first in the White House—with a deep sense of gratitude.

I observe this Father’s Day not just as a father grateful to be present in my daughters’ lives but also as a son who grew up without a father in my own life. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told.

And while I was lucky to have two wonderful grandparents who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me, I still felt the weight of his absence throughout my childhood.

In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence—both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference.

We need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.

We need to step out of our own heads and tune in. We need to turn off the television and start talking with our kids, and listening to them, and understanding what’s going on in their lives.

I know I have been an imperfect father. I know I have made mistakes. I have lost count of all the times, over the years, when the demands of work have taken me from the duties of fatherhood. There were many days out on the campaign trail when I felt like my family was a million miles away, and I knew I was missing moments of my daughters’ lives that I’d never get back. It is a loss I will never fully accept.

On this Father’s Day, I think back to the day I drove Michelle and a newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 11 years ago—crawling along, miles under the speed limit, feeling the weight of my daughter’s future resting in my hands. I think about the pledge I made to her that day: that I would give her what I never had—that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father.

[From Parade]

I believe Obama when he talks about his faults as a husband and father -I think he really felt anguish in all of that time away from Michelle and the girls when he was campaigning, and he’s trying to get that time back. I found his “if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father” line interesting. Of all of the cool titles – POTUS, Commander In Chief, Renegade, amongst others, it’s telling that his favorite title is “dad”.

Photos are from 4/13/09 and 4/14/09. Credit: WENN.com