Obama Sounds Alarm on the Left’s Boy Problem

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Barack Obama just lit a fuse under one of the left’s sacred narratives — and he did it from the family podcast he shares with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.

In a candid conversation on the July 16 episode of “IMO”, the former president admitted that progressives have made a major misstep when it comes to boys. For years, he said, the cultural conversation has been dominated by critiques of masculinity, while praise or support for young men has all but vanished. According to Obama, that imbalance isn’t just unfair — it’s harmful.

He didn’t mince words: “We’ve made that mistake sometimes in terms of our rhetoric, where it’s like we’re constantly talking about…what’s going on with the boys instead of what’s right with them.”

Obama argued that in their rush to empower girls — a mission he supports — progressives have neglected boys entirely. The intent may have been noble, he admitted, but the result is a generation of young men who feel lost, unsupported, and villainized by default.

“We rightly have tried to invest in girls,” Obama said. “But we haven’t been as willing, I think, to be intentional about investing in the boys. And that’s been a mistake.”

He’s not wrong. Across the country, boys are falling behind academically, struggling emotionally, and opting out of leadership — not because they lack potential, but because they’ve been told they’re part of the problem.

Obama pointed out that while today’s young men are more open to redefining masculinity — something he views as positive — they’re also shedding some of the better aspects of traditional manhood. To illustrate the point, he brought up his daughters, Malia and Sasha, noting how their male friends seem to lack basic chivalry and courtesy.

“They go out with their friends and…the guy’s got crocodile arms,” Obama joked. “It’s like not picking up the check. And it’s like, okay, you don’t have to pick it up all the time, but if you’re never picking it up, that’s a problem.”

It’s not just about who pays the bill. It’s about values: respect, initiative, kindness — virtues that used to be instilled in young men as part of growing up. Obama’s point is that progress doesn’t require discarding all the old models. Some of those models built strong, decent men — the kind Obama wants his daughters to marry, the kind every community needs.

And his warning went deeper. Obama cautioned that ignoring boys because “they’ve been running the world” is a mistake. Not only does that mindset neglect their current struggles, it also backfires on women.

“If you’re not thinking about what’s happening to boys and how they’re being raised,” Obama said, “that can actually hurt women.”

It’s a sharp rebuke of the modern left’s one-sided gender activism. And it’s a reminder that the progressive obsession with tearing down old norms has created a vacuum — one filled by confusion, resentment, and disengagement.

As Obama put it, he’s “rooting” for the parents raising boys — not just because of marriage prospects for his daughters, but because society needs strong men.

Coming from the man once celebrated as the face of progressivism, these words matter. They might just be the start of a long-overdue reckoning on the left — if they’re willing to listen.