Obama got deeply personal about fatherhood — a theme that carried special weight at Morehouse, where manhood is central to the college's identity. He revealed that he never knew his own father, and that his 'whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me.' The confession that followed — from the most powerful person on Earth — was startling in its vulnerability. He admitted that Michelle had 'a long list of my imperfections,' that he was 'still practicing, still learning, still getting corrected in terms of how to be a fine husband and a good father.' Then he made the extraordinary claim that everything else — the presidency, the Nobel Prize, the legislation — would mean nothing compared to family. 'I'll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife. I'll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table and seeing them happy and healthy and knowing that they were loved.'