President Barack Obama on Friday afternoon closed out his post-State of the Union three-state tour with a unusually personal speech in his hometown of Chicago, Ill. There, he advocated the need for strong families as well as successful and safe communities to help create upward mobility for the nation's most impoverished.
Obama, speaking at Chicago's Hyde Park Academy, called for the promotion of marriage and fatherhood, contrasting the two-parent household with his own upbringing.
"Don't get me wrong," he said. "As the son of a single mom who gave everything she had to raise me with the help of my grandparents, you know, I turned out okay." Obama commended the single mothers in the audience, but added, "At the same time, I wish I'd had a father who was around and involved."
Obama's father, a central figure in his memoir "Dreams of My Father," and Obama's mother divorced shortly after Barack Obama's birth.
The president on Friday reiterated his State of the Union proposal for universal preschool to help create strong communities that help promote upward mobility?part of an effort to build "ladders of opportunity."
Obama said, "Government alone can?t solve these problems of violence and poverty ... everybody has to be involved."
The president also spoke about the recent gun violence in Chicago where the murder of high-school student Hadiya Pendleton, who had performed at Obama's inauguration about one week prior to her being killed by gunfire, caught the attention of the nation as well as the White House.
First lady Michelle Obama attended Hadiya's funeral, and Hadiya's parents sat with the first lady during the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Obama said Friday that Chicago's gun violence rate is "the equivalent of a Newtown every four months," referencing the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
But he conceded that in some places in America, there is little opportunity for young men, especially, who feel as if their "future only extends to the next street corner."
Obama suggested that the new initiatives outlined in his State of the Union can help create opportunities for inner-city youth: raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour; universal preschool; and a plan to revitalize neighborhoods?including 20 to be labeled "Promise Zones"?with the help of federal assistance.
Obama's Chicago visit completes his three-state sweep to promote the agenda he laid out in the State of the Union. The president pressed his manufacturing proposals in Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday and advocated for his universal preschool program Thursday in Decatur, Ga.
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