Another thing that the President of the United States and I have in common.

Over the course of my life, I have been an attorney, I’ve been a professor, I’ve been a state senator, I’ve been a U.S. senator — and I currently am serving as President of the United States. But I can say without hesitation that the most challenging, most fulfilling, most important job I will have during my time on this Earth is to be Sasha and Malia’s dad

President Obama also wrote up a very nice piece in People magazine for Father's Day.

Here is my favorite part:

That's not to say I've always been a perfect dad. I haven't. When Malia and Sasha were younger, work kept me away from home more than it should have. At times, the burden of raising our two daughters has fallen too heavily on Michelle. During the campaign, not a day went by that I didn't wish I could spend more time with the family I love more than anything else in the world.

But through my own experiences, and my continued efforts to be a better father, I have learned something over the years about what children need most from their parents.

They need our time, measured not only in the number of hours we spend with them each day, but what we do with those hours. I've learned that children don't just need us physically present, but emotionally available – willing to listen and pay attention and participate in their daily lives. Children need structure, which includes learning the values of self-discipline and responsibility.

I also had an absentee father and was raised by my hard working single mother.

My mom was not perfect, and she was often exasperated by my behaviors, but she was there when I needed her.  Every single time.

When my daughter was born I swore that every time she fell down I would be there to pick her up. That every time she woke up from a nightmare I would be there to chase away the bad dreams.  That every time she did not think she could do something, I would be right there telling her that yes she could, and that I had all of the faith in the world in her.

I was not able to there every single time she needed me because after we split her mother wanted to move out of state, but I was still present as often as was humanly possible. And there was never a time that she needed to talk to me that I did not pick up the phone, or that she wanted to come home that I did not scrape together the money for the ticket, or a time when she needed limits set that I allowed the fact that I missed her so very much while she was gone to keep me from doing my parental duty and saying "No."  (Which is perhaps the MOST important word a parent ever says to the child that they love.)

Just like my President, I have not always been the perfect dad. But don't tell my daughter that, because despite my many failings, she actually thinks I have.

And I kind of think that when Malia and Sasha are older they will have the very same opinion of THEIR father. Don't you think?