Jesse Jackson did Barack Obama a huge unintentional favor....

[scheming daemons]

Jackson made a crude comment that was critical of Obama's pro fatherhood speech.


Obama's Father's Day speech echoed themes that are extremely popular among the very types of voters that Obama has had trouble attracting.


Jesse Jackson is very UNPOPULAR among those same voters. These are Hillary's voters.


Obama gets to look genuinely in tune with most of America, that he is not simply another left-wing voice for black America.



And the fact that it happened the same day that Obama is taking heat about FISA was also extremely fortunate. It makes the FISA vote share the front pages with a story that, for 75% of America, is a positive one for Obama.



No Democratic candidate will ever be hurt in a General Election by getting into a fight with Jesse Jackson.



Jesse's own son denounced him today. Today saw the end of Jesse Jackson's influence in the Democratic Party - at least to any major degree.

There's a new sheriff in town..... and this "Sister Souljah" moment that Jesse foisted on Obama today was a GREAT GREAT unintentional gift.


Thanks for being a dick, Jesse. You helped the cause.

[Maddy McCall]

1. I voted for Hillary in the primaries. I fuckin' LOVE Jesse Jackson.

[scheming daemons]

2. You are an anomaly.

Jesse did Obama a favor today.


Just like he did a favor for Bill Clinton in the '92 race with the Sister Souljah thing.


This was so perfect for Obama..... it highlights his pro-fatherhood remarks from a few weeks back that many people missed, it gets FISA a little off the front pages, and it helps Obama among 75% of the electorate to be at odds with Jackson....

So perfect, that I wouldn't be surprised if right wingers claim it was "planned"... .especially when they see over the next week or so how much this helps Obama.


No Democratic party candidate, in a general election, will EVER be hurt by having Jesse Jackson as an "enemy".

This helps Obama among independents IMMENSELY.

[MonkeyFunk]

3. no, she's not an anomaly

I think it's generational.

Any liberal who remembers the 80s well loves Jackson. He was a real shining light for the Democrats, and his convention speeches in '84 and '88 will stand as monuments to oratory for a long, long time.

[scheming daemons]

4. Dukakis' inability to distance himself from Jesse hurt him badly in '88

...and in '92, Bill Clinton recognized as much... and manufactured the famous Sister Souljah Moment to deal with it.


Running away from Jesse Jackson HELPS Democratic candidates in the general election.


Being seen as "too close" to Jesse Jackson HURTS Democratic candidates in the general election.



You and Maddy ARE anomalies, when compared against the entire electorate. 3/4 of America has no use for Jesse Jackson, and being at odds with Jesse is a POSITIVE for Obama.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. Which explains

his support of gun rights, the death penalty, his opposition to public campaign financing, etc. etc.

He doesn't want to be an anomaly.

[scheming daemons]

6. Whatever..... you're changing the subject

For the next few news cycles, we will see Jesse Jackson (nationally quite unpopular) wanting to "cut Obama's nuts out"... followed by a magnanimous acceptance of Jesse's apology by Obama.

Both images will be immensely good for Obama.

Most of America dislikes Jesse.... they will sympathize with Obama and many will revisit Obama's Father's Day comments and nod their heads in agreement with Obama.

Then they will see him forgiving Jesse and realize what a better man Obama is than Jesse (and most other public figures).



This will be a week long win-win for Obama.


Thanks, Jesse.

[MonkeyFunk]

8. oh lord

you got it bad, and that ain't good.

[scheming daemons]

13. If by "it" you mean "astute political observation", then you're right

You'll see.


The Obama campaign is happy about what Jesse did. It helps greatly.

[MonkeyFunk]

21. From my perspective

it seems like your "astute political perspective" comes from Wikipedia.

[Maddy McCall]

9. Can't believe what I read here sometimes...

Under the bus goes Jesse Jackson.

[scheming daemons]

11. Jesse threw himself there by wanting to cut our nominee's nuts off....

...and Obama did NOT throw him under the bus, by the way.


Jesse's already under the bus for most Americans..... Obama, on the other hand, accepted his apology.

[QC]

12. I don't think there's any room left under there anymore.

Time to get a new bus!

[scheming daemons]

15. Please show where Obama "threw Jackson under the bus". Obama did the exact opposite of that...

by forgiving Jackson and accepting his apology.



Jackson is under my bus... but not Obama's.

[uponit7771]

20. I've read and responded to the 'under the bus' comment before on right wing sites. They don't have

...anything else.

[scheming daemons]

16. Know who else threw Jesse under the bus?

Jesse's son.


Know who did NOT?


Barack Obama.




As usual.... you won't let facts get in the way of your opinions.

[gort]

31. google hymietown

Jesse is pretty good at throwing himself under the bus.

[uponit7771]

19. delete

[woolldog]

24. Not really.

A democratic presidential candidate who wins is an anomaly. So Obama is ok with that ;)

[MonkeyFunk]

26. so is the argument

that acting like a republican is the answer?

It's so hard to keep up around here.

There's no way I'll ever be convinced that if Clinton were the nominee and had voted for this, that you guys would be defending it. It's impossible.

I have no problem with his vote. I have a problem with people who try to defend it for reasons they viciously attacked two months ago.

[murielm99]

23. Not just the eighties.

I met Jesse Jackson in 1969 when he was still running the Operation Breadbasket ministry through SCLC. It later became Operation Push, and broke away from the SCLC. I suppose that is part of the reason I don't feel threatened by black theology. I listened to Rev. Jackson and others like him when I was in my twenties.

You are right about his convention speeches. I remember sitting in a coffee shop in 1984 and hearing farmers that I knew were Republicans talking about how his speech made them think.

The things Jackson did in Chicago were amazing. And when I met him face-to-face, I knew what charisma was. He has it. I met RFK, and he had it too. Bill Clinton has it.

I met that fool Reagan one time. His hometown is not far from where I live. Reagan did not have charisma. At the time I met him, I did not know much about his politics at all. He had not yet succeeded in destroying California. But I felt no spark. He was quite ordinary.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. Thanks for sharing that.

It makes me feel bad when I see people here trash good democrats because of the cause-du-jour. It's sad.

[Youphemism]

32. Of course, calling New York "HymieTown" wasn't the brightest part of that shining light. /nt

[cali]

36. Sorry, I don't let people like you define who a liberal respects

or loves. Not even close. I remember the 80s quite well and JJ has never been a big favorite of mine. His ego has always struck me as so monstrous that it overshadowed what he was trying to represent. And this is hardly the first time he's shot off his mouth thoughtlessly.

[Hieronymus]

37. Yes, Jackson is the past .. Obama is the future.

[redstate_democrat]

30. I don't know about you, but a lot of people love Jesse Jackson.

It may help him with some white folks, but if Obama appears to be using Jesse Jackson as a scapegoat to win over white folks, it won't be pretty for him in a lot of corners in the black community.

I don't know how to feel about this right now.

[WinkyDink]

35. You just said this in your OP. And I apparently am "an anomaly" (you know this how?)

I voted for BOTH Hillary and JJ in their respective primaries.

[uponit7771]

7. I agree that Jackson did Obama a favor but did neither did any HUGE favors for the black community..

...because their criticisms don't include accountability of the government.

Giving 'Hillary voters' or what I perceive as whites who haven't been exposed to a good number of different kinds of other type of people, an excuse to continue these meme without pointing the federal government as being accountable is disingenuous.

[scheming daemons]

10. Obama's Father's Day speech was correct

Father's... of all races... need to step up better than we have been.


Children who grow up in an environment with a strong father figure do SO much better than those that don't, on average.

Obama knows first hand how hard it is to grow up without a father. At least he had strong father-figures in the persons of his step-father and grandfather to look up to.


It's not the government's fault that so many men think their responsibilities end after ejaculation.


Yes... the government could do more to help lessen the blow to single mothers.... but the government can't put a strong father-figure into a child's life.

[uponit7771]

17. True all races need to step up but neither is worse or better than the other. The study that cited..

..70 percent of black baby's born without their father's present oversampled poor people.

It was a racist study to say the least and it polled 'women of color'.

There's NO empirical data on black children with no father in the lives.

If you look at the government yearly census the word 'married' should tip any progressive off that it's invalid also.

To perpetuate these racist meme's does no one any good.

I'm really blessed though that Obama can talk to my community without being called a sellout and get attention doing such.

He presence is an indicator that the old thinking in regards to equality have passed a point

[genna]

33. Amazing political insight and reflection

"It's not the government's fault that so many men think their responsibilities end after ejaculation."

:wow:


Who is responsible for pointing the spotlight on the AA community/continuing to repeat the same phrases to the exclusion of other images and generalizing these trends as reflective of AA morality or ability to do things other than conceive or have babies?


These well hewn positions between black and white people remind me of Dave Chapelle talking about why he started to get uncomfortable about hoq his sketch comedy was being received the longer he listened to comments by nonAA people. It is not that he wasn't funny, he is. The question he asked is why are the rest of you laughing so hard. When applied to this circumstance, I can willingly say Jesse could have been a great deal more charitable in how he described AA reacting to Obama talking down to AA. But even if Jesse's comments were viewed in the worst light imaginable, why is there so much glee from nonAA people when Obama was so 'understanding'.


There is something unseemly about so called liberals when it comes to Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or a few other triggering AAs. Who can talk about race, racism, and disparities among racial groups without being controversial or being embraced by nonAAS? Ward Connerly? Shelby Steele? Colin Powell? Condeleeza Rice?

I am drawing attention to conservative AAs to say I don't think any of these amenable people would vote for nonObama Democratic presidential candidates. The more Bill Cosby speaks out about Fatherhood, the more AAs come to hear him speak. Maybe Obama will get the same draw. But I will continue to ask if the message is true for all racial groups, why are nonAAs laughing so hard?

[genna]

34. Amazing political insight and reflection

"It's not the government's fault that so many men think their responsibilities end after ejaculation."

:wow:


Who is responsible for pointing the spotlight on the AA community/continuing to repeat the same phrases to the exclusion of other images and generalizing these trends as reflective of AA morality or ability to do things other than conceive or have babies?


These well hewn positions between black and white people remind me of Dave Chapelle talking about why he started to get uncomfortable about hoq his sketch comedy was being received the longer he listened to comments by nonAA people. It is not that he wasn't funny, he is. The question he asked is why are the rest of you laughing so hard. When applied to this circumstance, I can willingly say Jesse could have been a great deal more charitable in how he described AA reacting to Obama talking down to AA. But even if Jesse's comments were viewed in the worst light imaginable, why is there so much glee from nonAA people when Obama was so 'understanding'.


There is something unseemly about so called liberals when it comes to Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or a few other triggering AAs. Who can talk about race, racism, and disparities among racial groups without being controversial or being embraced by nonAAS? Ward Connerly? Shelby Steele? Colin Powell? Condeleeza Rice?

I am drawing attention to conservative AAs to say I don't think any of these amenable people would vote for nonObama Democratic presidential candidates. The more Bill Cosby speaks out about Fatherhood, the more AAs come to hear him speak. Maybe Obama will get the same draw. But I will continue to ask if the message is true for all racial groups, why are nonAAs laughing so hard?

[writes3000]

14. The speeches are to black people, for black people. The media decides the snippets.

There is a reason why the audiences almost always stand in applause and wildly nod their heads in agreement.

They agree with what he's saying and they value the message.

When Barack spoke about race in Philadelphia, that was for all people.

And although the media doesn't show all of his speeches to these groups, I'd bet big money he also talks to them about how the government has failed them. Don't you think?

[uponit7771]

18. Blacks and whites in this country have been sold the overtly racist meme that 70 percent

...of black fathers aren't present during birth or 70 percent of black children don't have fathers in their lives.

I don't agree with progressing those studies in any way.

I do agree that if anyone Obama has an inroads to blacks ears in regards to white perspectives and that's a good thing.

[bluestateguy]

22. My sentiments exactly

I like Jesse, but he rubs a lot of people the wrong way, and I can see why. Bill Clinton was not hurt by getting into a spat with Jesse in 1992 eitehr.

[MonkeyFunk]

27. And at Bill's nadir,

he turned to Jackson.

Discarding good dems like this is just stupid.

[writes3000]

28. Who has discarded him?

Jackson made some stupid moves. He's taking the heat. Obama didn't call Jesse out. He accepted his apology.

So who is discarding him? Posters on DU?

We can disappointed about DU posters, I guess. I've been pretty disappointed with the posters here who are clearly rooting against the Dem nominee. Discarding our good nominee like that is just stupid.

[MonkeyFunk]

29. Yes, posters on DU

the same posters who discarded George McGovern and other great Dems over the issue-du-jour. In other words, idiots with no sense of history.