An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama:

First let us return the sentiments you and your wife extended to American dads on their special day by offering our best wishes on your special day. We wish you very a happy birthday ... if it is indeed your birthday. There is so much that is dubious regarding your birth, and there is so much you've been untruthful about, that no one can really take you at face value. But for the moment, we will assume that it is indeed your birthday and offer you a few words of advice which you can take with you as you go forward into what we hope is a better year for all of us.

Mr. President, we at NCPForce! have placed you and your administration under scrutiny because of your attacks on American dads on Father's Day and at other times when it seems you need to do some political posturing. We do not focus on you because you are a Democrat (or because we are "right-wing", a familiar charge leveled at anyone who questions you or your policies). Nor do we focus on you because you are Afro-American. On the contrary, we are proud that our country has been able to look past the color of a man's skin to do what no other western nation has been able to do, that is to elect a black man to its highest office.

And it is because we are proud of this accomplishment that we are especially disappointed in you, and what you have done since gaining your party's nomination to hold the office you now hold. If any President should know better about using the politics of division, it is you President Obama. As an Afro-American, you of all people should know how hurtful and dehumanizing it is to target a specific group of people for selfish political ends. But despite your heritage, you have chosen to engage in divisive politics by unfairly targeting American fathers for moralizing sermons on their special day, just to make yourself appear as a leader who knows how to fix a broken society.

This Father's Day and last, when you spoke out against "absent fathers", you expressed either your ignorance of issues faced by divorced dads, or your contempt for those who come out on the losing end of our dysfunctional family law system. You did this in a manner which is extremely harmful to dads who are fighting an uphill battle for their rights in America's family courts, because your words were designed to stir up hate and discrimination.

Before we get into the specifics of what you said and why it was wrong, first imagine yourself making a similar address on Mother's Day. Imagine what our media would say if you came out on that day and spoke out against women who undergo abortions to destroy unwanted children. Or if you spoke out against women who drop their children at safe surrender sites. Or if you chastised mothers who fail to obey visitation orders. Yes, Mr. President, you would be widely condemned. But because American fathers have been lax in defending their rights, and because the media which adores you has become so accustomed to demonizing fathers with impunity, you are allowed to get away with your attacks on American dads.

Now to the specifics. First, what is truly disturbing about your dad bashing sermons is their deep-rooted racial hatred against people of color. Whenever you speak of absent fathers, it is always directed towards inner city absent fathers, and everyone knows that this is code for people of color. Never do you direct your wrath against white suburban fathers who might be absent from their children's lives (although they also should not be targeted by you for reasons we will discuss below).

You habitually attack absent fathers of color, yet you refuse to address any of the real causes for the breakdown of inner city families. The laughable minimum wage ... the dead end jobs in which people are hired and fired like animals ... the drugs and crime ... illegal immigration ... and the slumlords who suck the lifeblood from inner city people -- none of this is ever put into its proper perspective when you talk about fatherhood. As a matter of fact, your government is doing close to nothing (or about a much as the last administration) to address these problems and to give inner city families hope. Hundreds of billions have gone to wealthy bankers and have disappeared into the black holes of organizations like the Federal Reserve, but there's nary a penny for ordinary folks.

Now, about those white suburban absent dads who don't seem to be a bother to you. Most likely, they never appear your radar because you might not consider them a financial burden; they're AOK with you if they're paying their court-ordered child support and don't complain much. And it seems you couldn't give a feather whether or not they actually ever see their children. Because if you did truly care about fatherhood, you would know that there are millions of dads who are doing everything right financially, yet are still absent from their children's lives because of the way our family law system works.

We will not buy the excuse that you are unaware of this, because you are an intelligent man and an attorney; you know what's going on. The only plausible explanation for your behavior is that you simply do not care, and that you continue to approach the issue of absent fathers the way you do because it's a reliable political stunt ... at least for now.

President Obama, the truth is that inner city dads and suburban dads are in the same boat when they find themselves embroiled in our family law system. Both feel the sting of discrimination from the very first moment they step foot into the courtroom. If they ever want to have a relationship with their children after being called to a family court, they'd first better have thousands of dollars to pay for attorney's fees. Many who spend entire life savings in custody and visitation battles sometimes end up no better than those who cannot afford attorneys all, and have their rights trampled completely in our courts.

And heaven help the father who gets sick, disabled, or becomes unemployed, because our system will fling them in jail if they fall behind on support payments. On top of this, our system also makes sure that fathers with arrears are kicked down into an ever-deepening abyss of debt. Fathers who owe as little as $1000 in support payments (and it is easy to fall behind on such an amount these days) are stripped of driver's licenses and professional licenses, making it difficult for them to ever find work again. They are also stripped of passports -- a critical piece of identification to obtain a job -- and are thereby reduced to the status of second-class citizen. And worst of all, a heinous piece of federal legislation known as the Bradley Amendment makes it impossible for a father to appeal or adjust child support ... ever ... under any circumstances.

Mr. President, you have said on record that you defend the right of a woman to have an abortion because you want your daughters to have an option if they make a "mistake". Well, what about young men who make a mistake? In your warped view of things, it is perfectly fine for a woman to rip a child out of her womb and drop unwanted children into the care of taxpayers at safe surrender sites, but it is abhorrent if a man is absent from a child's life (for any reason) or fails to pay every last penny (for any reason).

This is the sort of behavior which has caused so many Americans -- even many who supported you in your campaign -- to regard you with distrust. You came to the presidency on a platform of a "different kind of politics", and vowed to uphold a Constitution which was trampled upon by your predecessor. Yet even before you were elected, you began picking and choosing which laws you would uphold and which groups you would single out for abuse.

Finally, President Obama, let us say that we expect this long letter to fall on deaf ears. That is because we know what you are and will say it plainly: you are a Fascist. The proof is in the way you've conducted yourself thus far, just like your predecessor, using your authority to enrich and empower the elites of our society while using sinister ploys to confuse ordinary Americans and set them against one another.

We can only hope that we are wrong about this. But if you want to prove that you are the man you say you are, and if you truly wish to talk about American fatherhood, address the issue properly. And you don't have to wait until next Father's Day, or your next birthday, to set things right. Tell America that the family law system needs to be reformed.

Until you do, NCPForce! will be out here doing it for you.

Sincerely,

The Organizing Volunteers of NCPForce!