Sacks/Franklin columns on Obama and Father's Day

Articles here:

1. Our fatherhood crisis appearing in the Washington Times
2. Obama’s Father’s Day Criticism of Dads Misses Mark appearing in MSN (how did they get MSN to publish it??)

Excerpts:
1. 'For the past three Father's Days, President Obama has criticized father absence and fathers. In his new Parade magazine article, Mr. Obama writes, "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."
...
Mr. Obama is correct that children need their fathers and that too many fathers do not come through for their children. However, his narrow "heroic single mom/deadbeat dad" viewpoint fails to acknowledge a crucial truth - it often is mothers, not fathers, who create fatherlessness.'

2. 'President Obama has marked Father’s Day 2009, 2008, and 2007 by calling attention to the importance of fathers and the damage caused by their absence. He also has consistently placed the blame for fatherlessness squarely on men, saying father absence is caused by fathers who have “abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men.”
...
The explosion of divorce, out of wedlock births, and post-break-up father absence has greatly harmed our children. This tragedy has largely been blamed on fathers. While fathers do deserve some blame, mothers and the family law and child welfare systems have also done much to separate children from the fathers they love and need.'