Fathers Must Step Up, Obama Says

(June 19) -- On his first Father's Day in the White House, President Obama makes a public confession to his daughters.

"I know I have been an imperfect father. I know I have made mistakes," he writes in Sunday's Parade magazine.

The president's essay is part personal reflection and part policy statement.

"In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence," says Obama, who was 2 when his father left. "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."

The president often mentions how much he enjoys his family's closeness now that they're living "above the office." He sees Malia, 10, and Sasha, 8, every day before school and every night at dinner. But he paid a price to get a job with such perks.

"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," he admits in the essay.

He regrets missing precious moments in the lives of his girls, calling it a loss he "will never fully accept."

This isn't the first time the president has used the pages of Parade to send a message. Days before his inauguration in January, the magazine ran an open letter to his daughters explaining why he ran for president.

It's also not the first time Obama has used Father's Day to make a point about responsibility.

On Friday, he hosted a White House event with sports stars, actors and other celebrities to encourage involvement in children's lives. It was a gentler spin on the tough message he delivered last Father's Day at one of Chicago's largest black churches. In a speech aimed primarily at African-Americans, then-candidate Obama took aim at fathers who had "abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men."

Obama echoes that theme in Parade now, with a call for fathers to "step up" and realize that "what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."