Obama Versus Reality - Parenting Edition

[Magnus]

 

Sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that’s not a choice we want Americans to make.

 

I don't know what bothers me more about this idiotic, corrupt way of thinking -- the part where taking time to raise children is considered to be such a horrible problem that it should be erased from the choices one faces in modern life, or the part where he wants us to think he has the power to alter economic reality. 

[jzd19]

Judging by the fact that it's all women in the background, he doesn't have to truly "think" about what he says, he just has to regurgitate talking points that people like to hear in exchange for votes or campaign contributions down the line. 

[J. D. Stembal]

Look at all of those cold evil stares from the women seated behind him!

 

Is this a recent clip? Obama's been trying to sell the pre-school idea for a while now.

[tasmlab]

"By the end of the decade, we should ruin 6,000,000 more children."

[J-William]

 

Yay for Obama... continuing the democrat program of destroying the family.

 

big daddy government is gonna take care of everybody.

[Magnus]

There's another disturbing and indefensible aspect to the typical post-feminist way of thinking about these issues of career and children.

 

It's the idea (an assumption, and so rarely discussed) that going to work (men, usually) in a competitive corporate job, climbing the ladder, putting in long hours and never taking any significant time off for anything else you might consider to be more important (like raising children) is JUST WHAT MEN DO.

 

As if THAT career path (again, usually men, as Obama says) doesn't have ANY costs or entail any kind of sacrifice.

 

As if chaining yourself to that kind of career is a privilege for which men should be grateful, and are selfishly preventing women from fully enjoying.

 

As if that's something that MEN WOULD BE DOING ANYWAY, even without a wife and children.

 

The reality is that men pursue these demanding, competitive careers, often at great personal cost, precisely because of their desire to provide for women and children. Without such a reason, many men would pursue entirely different career paths -- more rewarding, less lucrative, more risky, more flexible, less demanding of life-long commitment.

[J. D. Stembal]

There's another disturbing and indefensible aspect to the typical post-feminist way of thinking about these issues of career and children.

 

It's the idea (an assumption, and so rarely discussed) that going to work (men, usually) in a competitive corporate job, climbing the ladder, putting in long hours and never taking any significant time off for anything else you might consider to be more important (like raising children) is JUST WHAT MEN DO.

 

As if THAT career path (again, usually men, as Obama says) doesn't have ANY costs or entail any kind of sacrifice.

 

As if chaining yourself to that kind of career is a privilege for which men should be grateful, and are selfishly preventing women from fully enjoying.

 

As if that's something that MEN WOULD BE DOING ANYWAY, even without a wife and children.

 

The reality is that men pursue these demanding, competitive careers, often at great personal cost, precisely because of their desire to provide for women and children. Without such a reason, many men would pursue entirely different career paths -- more rewarding, less lucrative, more risky, more flexible, less demanding of life-long commitment.

 

Magnus, you touch upon an important point.

 

My father and I were practically strangers for most of my childhood. He nearly worked himself to death and had a heart attack at 47. Did my mother ever take time off her career to stay home with me? Not at all.