Originally Posted By vbdad55 Well although no Obama fan, if he can make Mr."is a camera rolling" Jackson more irrelevant than maybe I may have to reconsider. Living in Chicago most of my life and listening to how everything is the fault of someone else - Barack got it right. He addressed a serious issue. Is it the reason for all some people's issues -no,but starting with personal responsibility is a good start. ------------------------- Rev. Jackson Apologizes To Obama Crude Comment Disparaged Senator The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson speaks about the incident during a news conference in Chicago. (Russel A. Daniels - AP) By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 10, 2008; Page A04 Speaking near a Fox News microphone that he thought was turned off, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson on Sunday disparaged Sen. Barack Obama's embrace of faith-based social services, using crude language to suggest that he wanted to castrate the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Jackson made the comments to Reed Tuckson, an executive vice president at United Health Group, saying Obama's pitch to expand President Bush's federal assistance for faith-based social service programs was "talking down to black people." He then used a base phrase to say what he wanted to do to the senator from Illinois. The incident received wide attention last night after conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly aired the comments, which were made in the network's Midwestern studio. Jackson sent out a hasty apology before they aired, then held a news conference in Chicago in which he lauded Obama as the culmination of the "marches and martyrdom and murder" of his own generation's civil rights struggle. But in a display of generational division, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) blasted his father's comment in unsparing terms. "I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama," wrote the younger Jackson, who is an Obama national campaign co-chairman. "His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee -- and I believe the next president of the United States -- contradict his inspiring and courageous career." On July 1, Obama went to Appalachian Ohio to talk up his faith-based initiative in an appeal to rural and religious voters he had difficulty winning over during the primary season. Five days later, the Rev. Jackson slammed that effort before an appearance on "Fox and Friends," later saying he worried that white voters would interpret Obama's pitch as a way to skirt government intervention to help troubled African American communities. Jackson's comments, and his son's response, pointed to a divide between the generation of black leaders who marched and protested in the civil rights movement and a younger generation looking to expand its leadership beyond the black community. Rep. Jackson has crossed swords with his father before, counseling Obama to broaden his appeal to white voters even as the Rev. Jackson has pushed him to be a more traditional civil rights leader. In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses in January, the Rev. Jackson wanted Obama to lead marches in Jena, La., where six black teenagers were charged with beating a white schoolmate. Rep. Jackson wanted Obama to focus on winning Iowa, which he did. Yesterday, the congressman did not hide his anger at his father. "Reverend Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him," he said. "He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself." It is not clear whether the flare-up will hurt or help Obama. The senator from Illinois continues to struggle to put behind him the inflammatory sermons of his former longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. But even conservatives were saying yesterday that a fight with Jackson could help Obama win over white working-class voters who tended to side with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) in their drawn-out primary fight. At his news conference, Jackson insisted he is "all with" Obama when he speaks to black audiences and talks about faith-based social services. But, he added, "black America and urban America also need a structure, and beyond a faith-based policy, which is important, a government-based policy." Obama's campaign was tight-lipped about the incident, issuing only a statement. "As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Senator Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children's lives," Obama spokesman Bill Burton wrote. "He also discusses our responsibility as a society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all. He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology." <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070902259.html?hpid=topnews" target="_blank">http://www.washingtonpost.com/...=topnews</a>
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 So the REVEREND Jackson says he wants to cut Obama's balls off. Hmmm. Is THAT what Jesus would do?
Originally Posted By X-san Classy guy. Interesting too, that he said "we should", I'm assuming "cut his **** off" may refer to something political they want to do, rather than just talking trash? Or am I reading too much into it. The other guy looked really uncomfortable, too. Wow. <a href="http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=2j64_6Aj34o" target="_blank">http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=...4_6Aj34o</a> In case anyone wants to see it - Mods, the offensive word in question was bleeped out so the video itself is okay, I think.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 From X-san's link, here's Jackson's reaction to the the fact that he said on an open microphone that he wanted to cut Obama's n*** off: "For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama's campaign is wide, deep, and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment." LMAO!
Originally Posted By friendofdd He hasn't been a very good leader for many years, now. When he stopped his wonderful work with young people and decided to extort money from all kinds of corporations for his organization(s) instead, he has grown more egocentric. I once had hope he would be heir to MLK's work, but he could never even begin to to fill those shoes. Now, to see him desperately trying to be relevent in a society which has passed him by, one can only feel pity. The real question in my mind is not why he dissed Obama, but, rather, why were they interviewing him at all. He should be left alone to fade away in obscurity. There are many well qualified black americans to represent the new generation of leaders.
Originally Posted By mele I agree, fodd. I don't think he really speaks to any people in my generation (people in their mid-30s) and it's highly doubtful he appeals to anyone younger.
Originally Posted By DAR So what is Jesse Jackson proposing to do regarding the problems of young black males in this country?
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I think we are missing the larger issue. Does Obama truly represent the black popluation at large? I have been told for many years that Jackson does. What kind of things has Obama been doing that is "talking down to black people" ? Bortz says ( <--- yes I know, asking for toruble ) that Obama is saying horrible things like "no, you are not going to be an NBA star, you need to stay in school" and "men need to start being fathers to their children" and so on and so forth. Hummmm...talking down to black people? How so?
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Personal observation: Living in and around the city of Atlanta, and Fulton County, I have observed over many years that our local African America politicians and city and county leaders seem to enjoy stabbing each other in the back and there seems too often to be a message of "I'll do anything to get ahead of anyone." There seems to be no spirit of team work in the vastly African American Run city of Atlanta and Fulton County, (the county in which Atlanta resides.) Is this incident of Jessie slamming Barack (because I think Jesse thinks it should be him that is nominated by the Democratic party) further evidence of how things are in African American politics? Before you all slam me for being racist, I quickly admit that perhaps it is the way politics in general is period, black, white, hispanic, whatever. There are certainly plenty of examples of whites playing dirty and slinging mud when it comes to politics. Still, I have always thought that African Americas tend to stick together and get one anothers' backs better than do whites, you know part of the (and this is not mockery I am serious) "you can't know what it's like to be black unless you are black" thing.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 "Does Obama truly represent the black popluation at large? I have been told for many years that Jackson does. What kind of things has Obama been doing that is "talking down to black people" ?" Well, I work in NYC, and the black people I work with do not really fell that Jackson represents them well. I think that he's just become more irrelevant over the years and has lost touch with who he is trying to help. I know my friends definately relate to Obama more these days.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Jackson lost his mojo some time ago. This story will probably fade away fairly quickly, but to the extent that it lingers it probably only helps Obama with people who never liked Jackson.
Originally Posted By EdisYoda DVC_dad... just one point of clarification, minor that it may be: Atlanta is part of more then just Fulton County. It is also part of Dekalb county. May also be part of Cobb, but don't remember. Yeah, I know... picky, picky, picky!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Well in fact Yoda, you are right it IS part of DeKalb but NOT part of Cobb. Neither of which negate the previous post at all.
Originally Posted By ecdc Hopefully I can say this without sounding like I'm defending Jackson or his comments. But I hate the fact that we increasingly appear to live in a world where things we mean to say in private become very public. All of us, to one degree or another, say things we only intend for certain people to hear, and we would be unhappy or even horrified if it was made public. It could be anything from a joke to something very serious. Part of being human is getting angry. It doesn't excuse all of our behavior but I can't help but be a little concerned when something private is suddenly made public. I can't imagine not being able to say what I want to my wife or my friends for fear of who might be listening or overhear. Certainly one ought to be prudent, and Jackson wasn't in this case. But in this digital age, with so many means of communication, is nothing safe?
Originally Posted By X-san I tend to agree with that too, ec. But, looking at it from a common sense perspective, he WAS sitting in Fox studios right? Hell if I appeared there I wouldn't utter one word without carefully considering the ramifications. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the place was bugged, never mind hot mikes! ("hot mikes"...is that like a "hot carl"? )
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 <<I have observed over many years that our local African America politicians and city and county leaders seem to enjoy stabbing each other in the back and there seems too often to be a message of "I'll do anything to get ahead of anyone." There seems to be no spirit of team work in the vastly African American Run city of Atlanta and Fulton County[.] Is this incident of Jessie slamming Barack [...] further evidence of how things are in African American politics? Before you all slam me for being racist, I quickly admit that perhaps it is the way politics in general is period, black, white, hispanic, whatever. There are certainly plenty of examples of whites playing dirty and slinging mud when it comes to politics. Still, I have always thought that African Americas tend to stick together and get one anothers' backs better than do whites, you know part of the (and this is not mockery I am serious) "you can't know what it's like to be black unless you are black" thing.>> I don't think you're being racist at all, DVC_dad, and I'm happy to read your account of how things appear to roll in a predominately African-American community that I'm not very informed about. I must say that it's a very interesting contrast to the example that I AM familiar with. For all of my politically-aware life, the populace of Detroit (which was 70% African American, then 80%, now 90+%) has elected its mayor based upon which candidate was "blacker." When two African-Americans campaigned against each other, the most "real" candidate won -- regardless of qualifications. When a moderate black guy ran against a pretty qualified white guy a few years back, the electorate overwhelmingly chose the black guy. Most recently, Detroit elected its current "hip-hop mayor" over a moderate black candidate. For years, Detroit re-elected Coleman Young. Nevermind his ineffiency, his ineptness, his obvious corruption: he used the mf term in press conferences. He was very "black," and that's what the people wanted. There was no intra-city political back-stabbing. When an African-American council member or city official wanted to drum up support, s/he'd rail about the white suburbs or the white governor. There was a solid agreement -- not implicit, but explicit -- that one black person would not criticise another. Now flash forward to 2007/08... The hip-hop mayor is revealed to have been enjoying an extra-marital affair, spending City money to conduct it, firing two policemen who had caught on to the affair in an attempt to discredit/silence them, lying under oath about it, and ultimately costing the City millions of dollars in related lawsuits. His defense? "I'm being persecuted because I'm Black. This is all about The Man coming down on an African-American because he's successful." And you know what? The black City Council members were enraged that he played the race card. The black county prosecutor has shown him no mercy. Black members of the media are excoriating him. I'm really impressed with Detroit's African-American community that they have moved from the "Black is always right" mentality toward one in which individuals are judged on their own merit -- race be damned.
