Obama Says 'Men, Be Better'
Each generation of men should be better than the one before, according to President Barack Obama.
His own background includes an absentee father - and continues a trend of alternating fortunes in the White House.
The Associated Press notes the father-son double team of George Bushes who rose to the nation's most senior rank.
But Bill Clinton's own biological father did not live to see his son born, instead "drowning in a ditch".
Clinton's stepfather, meanwhile, was an alcoholic named Dude, according to the newswire.
With 24 million US children growing up in fatherless homes, President Obama took the chance on Father's Day - Sunday, June 21st - to urge men to do better than his own dad.
The Associated Press adds that this has become something of an annual event for the President following similar speeches during his previous years as a candidate.
President Obama's own performance as leader of the country - rather than head of a household - has been under the microscope recently in a survey by Harris Interactive.
The research firm found 54 per cent of US adults still give the President a positive rating rather than levelling the blame for the economic turbulence at his door.
Women are more likely than men to look favourably on his term so far, with 57 per cent of female respondents rating him positively compared with 50 per cent of men.
