Reality apparently eludes candidate

I believe you get the true measure of a politician not from a prepared text but rather from an off-the-cuff comment or quick answer to a question. That is what struck me this week in a brief, passing and humorously-intended comment by Barack Obama.

Obama was in Texas in a run-up to yesterday's primary there and deviated from his prepared remarks. Reporters present characterized his remarks as an "unusual, extended riff about how parents should treat their children." His words were not reported in the mainstream media but I think they were important to help place this candidate in perspective.

Obama said the following: "Parents should make their children do their homework and eat a good breakfast, and not one from Popeye's Chicken." The crowd burst into laughter and applause.

So let me dissect these words and put them into some sort of convoluted context as I see it. For starters, no one but Barack Obama could make a comment about Popeye's Chicken and get away with it. The golfer Fuzzy Zoeller once made a remarkably similar comment about Tiger Woods and was effectively railroaded out of professional golf. But I can understand why the audience laughed. It was a darned funny line.

But here's where Obama and most of those faceless politicians err in their thought process.

The problem is not parental involvement because in most cases, it's not parents, it's A parent. A single mother. Look up the numbers if you question that fact. And therein lies a problem of understanding that is at the foundation of the problem.

Kids more often do poorly in school because there is one parent and one parent alone trying to juggle the job of two parents. Sure, two parents should be waiting at the bus stop in the afternoon and volunteer to assist with homework. And two parents should help prepare a nice, warm breakfast before shuffling their child off to school.

But that's not the real world. And if Obama or any other politician thinks it is, we're in for more struggles down the road.

Someone, somewhere needs to accept that many of our social problems and our problems with education in particular stem from the erosion of the two-

parent household. Far too many single moms are struggling to keep their sanity and pay their bills. Though the raising of a child should always be the top priority, tell that to the single mom who has never had a checking account, is behind on her utility payment and has little time to monitor her child's friends or school progress, much less prepare a warm meal each morning.

That should be the case. But somewhere along the way we lost our priorities. We expect far too many poor single moms with limited education and less opportunities to take on the responsibilities of two parents. Statistically, my generation expected each household to contain two parents who participated and were involved and shared in child rearing. But the statistics have changed. I wonder if anyone forwarded that memo to Barack Obama?

Don't get me wrong. I don't fault Obama. He came from a single parent household so he, above all others, should know the struggles and difficulties. But he also is quick to point out that his grandparents were also actively involved in his life. Unfortunately, many kids don't even have this advantage.

If Mr. Obama is elected come November, I hope somewhere along the way someone explains to him that two parents helping with homework and preparing breakfast is not the portrait of our nation. I so wish it were but the reality is distant from that Ward and June Cleaver world. The fact is that Barack Obama understands this reality. But in a small Texas rally last week he let it slip. His mind was clearly focused on what should be and not reality.

He may have to face that reality. Let's hope his solution does not mirror the Senator from New York. Let's hope he embraces parental and personal responsibility because, in the end, that's our only salvation.