Barack Obama’s official proclamation today includes this:

Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, or caring guardian.

Thank you to all fathers! But the president is making a political point here. This little official redefining of the family from the White House is all the more jarring when you consider the president also wrote this in his official father’s day message:

My own father left my family when I was two years old. I was raised by a heroic mother and wonderful grandparents who provided the support, discipline and love that helped me get to where I am today, but I still felt the weight of that absence throughout my childhood. It’s something that leaves a hole no government can fill. Studies show that children who grow up without their fathers around are more likely to drop out of high school, go to jail, or become teen fathers themselves.
And while no government program can fill the role that fathers play for our children, what we can do is try to support fathers who are willing to step up and fulfill their responsibilities as parents, partners and providers. That’s why last year I started a nationwide dialogue on fatherhood to tackle the challenge of father absence head on.

Moms and dads matter to children. Children don’t always get the mom and the dad and people who lovingly step into the breach are Godsends and should all be celebrated. But the mom and the dad are still the ideal, and for good reasons even social science will back up. Barack Obama could be so powerfully protective of the institution that is at the heart of civilization, in deed and word. Unfortunately, so far he’s missing a huge opportunity while he works to transform us into something new (something new which is old, bad news to an increasingly post-Christian and demographically challenged Europe).

Tradition has its benefits.