First Dad

"The truth is, is that a lot of young men of color aren't doing well," President Obama told NBC on Thursday in an interview for Father's Day, which is Sunday. "Partly because they don't have dads in their lives. Partly because they don't have networks of support. It's important to me partly because, you know, I grew up without a dad, and you know, I know that I went through my own struggles."

Since becoming president, Mr. Obama has spoken on a number of occasions about absent fathers in black communities, often earning the ire of black liberals who claim his comments only reinforce negative stereotypes. But the facts are on the president's side. In 2011, for example, 33 percent of children in America lived with their mother but not their father. Among blacks, it was 64 percent.