Jesse Jackson and Bill Clinton: Two Angry Men of a Certain Age

How must Jesse Jackson have felt last January when political pundits and Barack Obama aides erupted in outrage after Bill Clinton dismissed Obama's big win in the South Carolina primary as nothing more than Jackson's wins there in 1984 and 1988? (Obama won four of five black votes in the state, 53 percent of the state's voters are black; so what did anyone expect? Jackson did not go on to win the nomination, Clinton seemed to be implying, and neither would Obama.) How insulted Jesse Jackson must have felt as the media cast the former president's outburst as the ugliest kind of slur on Obama.

Jesse Jackson loves to be in the spotlight. But not Wednesday when he had to apologize publicly to Obama for whispering to a fellow guest on a Fox News show that he wanted to castrate the likely next president of the United States. The pain on Jackson's fleshy face showed he would have preferred to have been anywhere but the spotlight.

Does Jesse Jackson believe (and resent) that Obama has ridden on the coattails of the great civil rights leaders (such as himself) to be president? It would surprise no one who has followed Jackson's career to imagine that Jackson thinks he should have been president. Or if not he, then how about his son, Jesse Jackson, Jr., a congressman from Illinois with much bigger ambitions, who found himself sidelined by a phenomenon named Barack Obama. Jackson Jr. was smart enough to get on Obama's bandwagon; Jackson Sr. also got on, endorsing Obama, but not with his son's grace and enthusiasm.

The aging civil rights activist reminded me during this latest embarrassment of no one so much as Bill Clinton during his wife's ill-fated, ill-run campaign. These are both men who carry an insatiable need to be at center stage.

In Bill Clinton's case the need was manifest in his speeches, supposedly on Hillary's behalf, but often more about him -- "me, me, me!" When Obama drew one of his characteristically huge crowds, Bill Clinton, campaigning in eastern Texas, reminded his ever-shrinking audiences that a million people had come to hear him speak in Africa. "I've been told I give a pretty good speech," he said. He would sometimes veer close to forgetting to mention Hillary or he would use the platform to polish or even misrepresent his own legacy.

I doubt that either of these two flawed giants would feel much like commiserating with the other. Their history is tangled and tarnished. When I was writing Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House, about Bill Clinton's post presidency, I interviewed a man named Buzz Patterson, a White House military aide (Air Force) who carried the nuclear football, the 45-pound suitcase containing the nation's nuclear launch codes that allows the President to order a strike. Patterson, no friend of the president's -- he has right-wing ties and has written harshly negative books about Clinton -- traveled with Bill Clinton wherever he went, including Camp David, where he screened all Clinton's calls. Patterson claims that when calls came from Jesse Jackson, who "was always calling in favors," Clinton would often refuse to take the phone. Yet Clinton used Jackson as a pastoral counselor, calling him to the White House to offer the Clinton family, including Chelsea, counseling during the worst days of Lewinsky and impeachment.

Another Jackson son, Yusef, was helped to get the hugely lucrative Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship covering Chicago's North and Northwest Sides by one of Bill Clinton's closest friends/supporters, Ron Burkle, the grocery store billionaire, who vouched for Yusef with the Busch family. Both Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson have sat on Burkle's board. When the senior Jackson had his own sex scandal, including fathering a daughter out of wedlock, Burkle, through his Yucaipa Companies, put the mother of that child, for a time, on a $10,000-a-month retainer.

And so it goes as it always has, the older generation, especially in an ego-soaked business like politics, does not go easily. Just as Bill Clinton seems resistant to learning from his own mistakes -- Democrats should rejoice that Hillary did not win the nomination; they should lobby against Hillary being named the vice president because when the spotlight is trained on Bill Clinton's personal life, the picture may not be pretty -- so does Jesse Jackson. In 1984 a Washington Post reporter heard Jackson use the words "Hymies" and "Hymietown" for Jews and New York City. Because the reporter was African American, Jackson reportedly hoped that he would keep the ugly putdowns to himself. He didn't. Today, whether the fellow guest to whom Jackson whispered the comments on "Fox and Friends" would have repeated them doesn't matter. They were captured electronically and the video of Jackson saying he wanted to "cut" off the younger man's "nuts" is being seen and heard around the world.

Neither Bill Clinton nor Jesse Jackson is likely to have a key role in the general election. But if they don't tone down their antics, they risk moving dangerously close to parody. Chicagoan Howard Tullman, President Emeritus of Chicago's Kendall College and a FOB (Friend of Bill's), told me when I was writing my book that he sometimes worried, earlier in Clinton's post presidency, that the former president could become "the next Jesse Jackson" who shows up wherever a camera and a microphone beckon.

Comments

[SeanGardner]

As an African-American, I am keenly aware that many of Civil Rights Veterans have been trashing Obama since late 2006, when it became apparent that he would make a run. Jesse Jackson Sr., Andrew Young, Harry Belafonte, Ron Walters, and many, mant others have made unpleasant remarks about Barack Obama. Its just that Jesse Jackson made an incredibly stupid remark that will surely follow him to his grave.

Through Jesse Sr., we can see that its not that the Black OLD GUARD doesn't want anyone coming through "the doors they helped break open". It's that they want to have a say in who goes through. Jesse Jackson and his civil rights buddies have controlled black politics for over four decades. Hence the intense jealousy from Jackson because Obama didn't come and "kiss the ring" before announcing his quest to be president.

This same thing applies to Bill. Yes, Bill expected Obama to genuflect uncontrollably at the mention of his name, and when he didn't (and looked as if he would indeed beat Hillary), he embarked on a campaign to undermine Obama. From his god-awful hatchet job on Charlie Rose, to his "Fairy-Tale" remarks about Obama in NH, to his race-baiting in SC, Bill Clinton shot himself in the foot because he thought he could attack Obama's soul because he was the so-called, self-styled "first Black president. But he mis-calculated his clout with blacks, and in doing so, tarnished his own legacy.

[lotuslike]

Loved this...thanks!

[iswideopen]

I don't know if it's just me, but at times, I actually thought Bill Clinton was jealous of Hillary. On the stump, he spoke so much about the 90's and himself it made me question his motives. But I do believe that it was Bill who wanted back in the white house to somehow "atone" for his past embarassment to America and Americans. He is very power hungry and spotlight hungry. What bothers me most is that he taught Hillary well, and it was the cause of her undoing. Racism is the worst tool to use to drive a wedge between the American people just to win a nomination. It hurts, and it is brutal, especially when that ugliness is aimed at the very voters who propelled them to the top, without question, forever loyal, until now. We all wanted for Hillary to be on the ticket with Barack, but the signs of the dark side of the Clintons started to show in the worst way. And now, the Clintons and some of their supporters want to project this anger and rage onto Obama and not accept responsibility for what they have done. We would have forgiven them anything, but not racism, and not attempting to turn the ugliness toward Obama and say that it was his fault. Having said that, I watched Hillary and I honestly do not trust her. Can a woman be president of the United States; yes, but not that woman, to paraphrase Katie Couric.

[ebbtide]

." Just as Bill Clinton seems resistant to learning from his own mistakes"

Heh, Bill, and Hillary for that matter, will NEVER ADMIT nor will they both ever reflect upon their decisions as "mistakes"

They, apparently do not think there is a single thing to learn, except perhaps a vindictive counter puchd, because they will not admit that they made mistakes in the first place..

[vernonbc]

Of course they don't have to own up to their mistakes. Don't you know Hillary lost because of all the sexism and misogyny in the media (which is somehow now all Obama's fault)?

[larry278]

If this desire to be in the center of the action keeps up, both WJC & JJ, Sr will appear at every envelope opening & comment on it.

[thegaygardener]

Interesting.
I saw Clinton's "polarization" speech in Philadelphia this week
Do you think there is any chance someone, somewhere, could beg the former President to lower that index finger!!!???
If I see him wagging that lecturing digit mid-air one more time, I'll scream
And further; all it does is remind us of the "I did not have sex with that woman" line.
Ugh! Time for a new gesture, Bill!
And I completely agree that Hillary should NOT be offered the VP. And sadly, the main reason is the one you state; her husband.

[PumaAnn]

"insatiable need to be at center stage."

I thought it was noteworthy how NOT center stage Bill ended up being and was having a blast. He was doing what he loves most......­campaignin­g in rural America. And he did it well.

I don't see the off-mike moment, either, as a "center-stage" moment. By definition, it wasn't.

[marlovian]

They both closed the parody gap years ago.

[Freesia2]

Good article. I think this election is stirring up a lot of emotions among the old lions who want to roar just one more time. But the fact is how can they bask in former glories (as I'm sure they see them) if they won't just go bask? Go bask guys.

You said, "Just as Bill Clinton seems resistant to learning from his own mistakes -- Democrats should rejoice that Hillary did not win the nomination; they should lobby against Hillary being named the vice president because when the spotlight is trained on Bill Clinton's personal life, the picture may not be pretty -- so does Jesse Jackson." I think you're very right. From your keyboard to Obama's eyes.

By the way, I kept thinking that your name looked familiar. Looked to the right and saw the ad for your book. I have it. :-) I collect books on famous Edwardians and your book about Alice Roosevelt is a very good read. Wouldn't you love to bring her back for a few days to get her commentary on his election? No would could sum it up with a zinger like Princess Alice.

[biographer]

Thanks for the compliment on the Alice bio. That one was a lot of fun to write. Alice would have appreciated Bill, I think. SHe had a fondness for rogue males, but she would have detested Hillary---too earnest, her naked ambition untempered by a sense of fun.

[Freesia2]

You're welcome. It is a good biography.

And I think you're right that Alice would have gotten a kick out of naughty Bill, but not liked Hillary. Ironically, I remember Hillary has made reference in the past to feeling a real connection to Eleanor Roosevelt. As you know, Alice wasn't fond of cousin Eleanor. :-)

[Freesia2]

Typo - I meant "this" election. Not his.

[Boadicea]

Interesting read! Thanks.