Obama tells blacks they must take responsibility

By Caren Bohan

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Monday urged blacks to take more responsibility for improving their own lives, standing firm on a tough message that has been criticized by some African Americans.

Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, was accused by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson last week of "talking down to blacks."

"Now, I know there's some who've been saying I've been too tough, talking about responsibility," Obama told the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization. "I'm here to report, I'm not going to stop talking about it."

Jackson and others have criticized Obama for discussing the problem of absent fathers in many black families and urging black men to become more involved in their children's lives.

In urging more engagement by black fathers, Obama often talks about his own experience being raised by a white Kansas-born single mother and his grandparents after his black Kenyan father left the family when he was two years old.

He often tells black audiences they must spend more time doing homework with their children and avoid letting them watch too much television.

Obama, who is running in the November 4 election against Republican John McCain, stressed these themes in speech in a church on Father's Day last month.

The presumptive Democratic nominee received a standing ovation for his NAACP speech which discussed the personal responsibility topic.