The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Obama the Dad

Meghan, I am also a sap, but I don't think you needed to be one to be moved by this speech. Obama has often tried to transcend race. Wright's remarks reminded us all that sometimes you just can't. And so Obama got out there and owned the specific injustices black Americans experience while also marrying them to incarnations of disadvantage that can be just as burdensome. The worst moments in this endless primary season, for me, have been the ones in which we have to listen to a chorus about who has it worse, women or black people, or whose -ism is more worthy, feminism or anti-racism. Obama takes us away from that false choice, and that's where I want to be.

And then, for good measure, he singled out reading to your children as one of the most important things parents can do. Which made me think of him as a dad—and a good dad. A welcome image.