{"id":7460,"date":"2015-07-16T09:31:11","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T14:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewei.com\/kimi\/?p=7460"},"modified":"2015-07-16T09:36:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-16T14:36:31","slug":"obama-at-georgetown-on-breaking-the-cycle-of-poverty-real-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewei.com\/kimi\/obama-at-georgetown-on-breaking-the-cycle-of-poverty-real-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama at Georgetown on breaking the cycle of poverty. Real talk."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Obama<\/a>At the Georgetown University #PovertySummit President Obama made some very real comments, tying his own background to modern society’s challenges in the areas of education and social investment; access to jobs, internet, transportation; mentoring, youth, fatherhood, families and community:<\/p>\n

I am a black man who grew up without a father, and I know the cost that I paid for that. And I also know that I have the capacity to break that cycle, and as a consequence I think that my daughters are better off \u2026 For me to have that conversation does not negate my conversation about the need for early childhood education, or the need for job training, or the need for investment in infrastructure or jobs in low-income communities…<\/p>\n

But when I\u2019m sitting there talking to these kids, and I\u2019ve got a boy who says, you know what, how did you get over being mad at your dad, because I\u2019ve got a father who beat my mom and now has left, and has left the state, and I\u2019ve never seen him because he\u2019s trying to avoid $83,000 in child support payments, and I want to love my dad, but I don’t know how to do that — I\u2019m not going to have a conversation with him about macroeconomics. (Laughter and applause.) <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to have a conversation with him about how I tried to understand what it is that my father had gone through, and how issues that were very specific to him created his difficulties in his relationships and his children so that I might be able to forgive him, and that I might then be able to come to terms with that.<\/p>\n

And I don’t apologize for that conversation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen, Mr. President.<\/p>\n