Obama Vows To Keep Talking About Absent Black Fathers

Sen. Barack Obama said he would continue to chastise absentee black fathers and deliver tough love speeches to the black community, even if the Rev. Jesse Jackson doesn't like it.

Interviewed on his campaign plane last night on the way to San Diego for a speech to a Latino group, the Illinois senator said Jackson had raised his concerns in a private conversation the two had, even before the civil rights leader's caustic comments became public last week. Jackson was caught on video angrily saying that Obama was "talking down to black people."

"We had actually discussed some of the concerns that he had raised about my Father's Day speech," Obama said. "I told him that I absolutely believe we have structural inequalities in this country that have to be dealt with, which is why I have proposed making sure that health care is accessible for every American.... But my argument is simply that's it's not an either/or proposition but a both/and proposition.

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