Real men are real fathers to their kids

Thank you for running Cynthia Tucker's column on July 13 ("How Jackson's crude comment helped Obama") and Connie Pohlman's letter (July 14).

Jesse Jackson's crude comment about Barack Obama shows what Jackson lacks, but envies most in Obama: Obama's manhood!

Any boy beyond the age of puberty can engage in an act of unprotected sex with a female, impregnate her and then walk away from any responsibility for the mother and child as Jackson did with his out-of-wedlock daughter.

It takes a real man to be a real father to a child.

Barack Obama married the mother of his children long before they were conceived and has supported them and maintained an active role in raising them.

You can question the wisdom of Obama's involving his family in televised press conferences and question his liberal politics, but when it comes to maintaining family values, Obama appreciates the traditional value of raising children in a two-parent household.

He realizes that being actively involved in the lives of his children increases their chance of success in life.

While both Jackson and Obama were raised by single mothers, Obama overcame the challenges of growing up without a father in the home while Jackson continues to make excuses and publicly embarrass himself.

If Jackson is unwilling to mature and accept the responsibilities of manhood, it is time for him to shut up and turn over his advocacy for families to more mature and responsible people such as his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Sen. Obama.

Michael Woloshin

Tower Lakes