It's not a presidential election until Reverend Jackson makes an unfortunate slip of the tongue. Look, I'm a fan of the reverend and was a volunteer for his presidential bid, but the more he talks the more I'm convinced that he is hopelessly old school while Obama represents the nation's much-vaunted "post-racial" future.
As I blogged on Father's Day, Obama and Cosby are hardly the only successful black males calling for more personal responsibility among the black underclass. Obama, Chris Rock, Cosby and every single thinking black person I know understand that the pernicious cynical nihilism that traps so many young black men in a cycle of unemployment, criminality and irresponsible parenting, cannot be erased by legislation alone.
Any thinking, compassionate person also understands that the government DOES have a responsibility to do much better than it has, and that the shortsighted, racist policies during the Reagan administration to dismantle most of the anti-poverty programs that had helped the generation before, only added to the distrust and cynicism of those this country has left behind for so long. The intervening administrations never fully rebuilt what Reagan tore apart.
True leadership, Reverend Jackson, is not just telling truth to power, but telling the truth, period. Especially when it's ugly.
I think Jesse Jackson saying this stuff shows that Obama is from the new school and it leaves that divisive crap behind. Go Obama!
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/08/16/jackson.mistress/
Rev. Jackson can cloak his indignation and discomfort at Obama criticizing absent fathers as concern that a significant segment of the black community is being "talked down to," but clearly it's much more personal than that. He has a direct and personal stake in having Obama stop airing such dirty laundry, as some of it is Jackson's.
Also, Jackson has been active in the public eye -- and in politics in particular -- for far too long to have made such a basic mistake as to say something like that while in Faux News' studios at all, let alone while having an open mic. Jackson wanted that message to get back to Obama; it was push-back, pure and simple.
The term could be used as illustrated by the following sentence: "Rev. Jackson submasstransitized his wife and children when he had an adulterous affair."
Jesse Jackson is almost as out-of-step with current day America as is the miserably failed GOP.
I trust both will soon be whining as they sit on the outside looking in.......while Obama finally overcomes their dedication to the status quo.
Listen to the dingbats.....like the screaming idiot from Focus On The Family---(better called focus-on-hate)---and wimpy, gutless panderers like McSame, Gramm, and the rest of the scum who have tried to destroy our way of life..................and you will be signing up for "BUSH 3," probably ensuring the last nail in the coffin of America as we have known her.
If you want a future that offers some hope for better days.......there is only one choice. OBAMA 08!
Are you telling me you've never made equally brutish comments? That you've never privately expressed your distaste for someone in R rated terms? Get over yourselves...and don't pretend that Jesse Jacksons choice of words were offensive to your virgin ears.
As well, you have to understand that there is a degree of anger that some African Americans feel toward the Senator from Illinois. To some, the Father's Day speech came across as the candidate speaking to white evangelicals at the expense of Black men. Jesse Jackson was merely expressing his frustrations to a confidante.
I am not saying that you should agree with Reverend Jackson, but at least try to understand the situation a little more fully before allowing mob mentality to set in and shredding someone just because they are not as enamored with BO as you are.
However - it certainly isn't worth all the brouha that's going on.
But I'm not sure at all about your comments about Obama's speech. I listened to it, read the transcripts, and must say that he was not only talking to black fathers. I think he gave black men an extra 'nod' because the issue is a little more prevalent in the black community, but his MESSAGE was universal. I think that the number of black folk who didn't like his speech are mere drops in the bucket.
I understand (but don't agree with) J. Jackson's frustrations. He is coming from a time where it was/might have been fueled the fire to discuss problems in the black community with a white audience. But the times, thankfully, have changed. I'm 30 and feel just as open discussing racial issues with my white friends as I do my black ones.
He's. Jealous.
Like Bill Clinton, his ego just can't get over the success and tremendous appeal of this guy from another generation.
What an embarrassment they -both- are.
Jackson was in the fight before Obama stopped picking his nose.
B. Clinton was a 2 term President.
What has Obama done, compaired to either of them? Winning the Democrartic primary, doesn't mean he could carry their jocks.
Take your lips off Obama's butt long enough to realize that "cut his n*ts off" is a metaphor. Stop your whining, because Jackson is an Obama supporter. If you believe that he wanted that to come out or be aired (in any way), you are too clueless to reason with.
What the f#$%?
Browns’ willingness to utter this concocted Republican drivel is only outdone by the sheer obviousness of the viral anti-Obama tone at CNN. To believe she owns this independent neocon passion. . .
. . would be giving her too much credit.
Unlike his and Rev. Al Sharpton's approach where agitation and Whitey's guilt were the means to national prominence, Obama has dealt with the realities of labor organization and integration of the needs of the black, brown and white working class to fashion a movement free of the old constraints of guilt and guile.
An Obama administration should and will be be respectful of the sacrifices of the equal rights movement, but Jesse's and Al's places should not be exhalted when compared to the real heros such as MLK, John Lewis, Medgar Evers and Rosa Parks.
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...why?...
.
Jesse hosted events where Bill Cosby said that exact same thing that Obama said, but in langauge and tones far more toxic than Obama's. And Jesse praised Cosby for it.
So this is not about Obama talking down to black people - this is about Obama talking to Black people and being heard in a far more vital context. For the criticism of Black wayward fathers is not coming from a comedian and a clergyman whose own lives brand them as hypocrites, the criticism is coming from the first likely Black President of the United States of America.
And, Jesse, what exactly is this focus you have on Obama's genitalia about?
Penis envy or put another way...playah hatin. Bill Clinton is suffering from the same disorder.
IF you don't know the difference, it's within you that the problem lies, not the rest of us who find that comment both offensive and unjustified.
I disagreed with how Cosby said it because he said some strange things while delivering his core message and Chris Rock is a comedian so though he was making serious points they were delivered as jokes. Obama struck the right tone. This isn't Jesse being critical of Obama (cutting someone's privates off is critical, how?). This is Jesse's jealousy shining through.