Obama rips Absentee Fathers; Presents Plan to Help Poor Families

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Two days before the country marks Father's Day, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama presented a plan for lifting poor families that included searing criticism of fathers who abandon their responsibilities to raise children.

"There are a lot of men out there who need to stop acting like boys; who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one," Obama said in prepared remarks.

Obama, who grew up without a father in his home, stressed the impact absentee fathers have in contributing to poverty, particularly among African-Americans.

"Most Americans are vulnerable to these new risks, but without a doubt, the hardest hit have been those families who are the most vulnerable to begin with," Obama said. "They are families who live in inner-cities and remote rural areas; they are disproportionately African-American and Latino."

Obama called for a significant expansion of the earned-income tax credit that provides government aid to working poor families and changes in the minimum wage law to index the pay rate to inflation.

He also supported increases in job training programs and transitional employment programs for people who have difficulty finding work.

He backed increased funding for child-support enforcement and federal rules requiring states to turn over to families all child support funds they collect. And he advocated more funds for visiting nurse programs that train new parents, particularly in low-income areas.

But he said that the success of poor and working-class families still depends heavily on the parents.

"It will take responsibility and sacrifice from the American people; changes in habits and attitudes. We will need to work more, read more, train more and think more," Obama said.

"Parents will need to make sure their kids turn off the TV once in awhile, and put away the video games, and start hitting the books."