Why Jesse Jackson Doesn't Like Obama

[Fire_brand]

Jesse Jackson is part of the old-guard civil rights leadership that doesn't like this jonny-come-lately Obama. His black parent isn't African American, he hasn't "paid his dues" in the civil rights struggle, and, most importantly, he didn't kiss their rings and ask their permission to run for president.

Problem for them is, black people love Obama. The same people they claim to represent are fired up about the candidate that they don't like. Thus, Jackson is essentially forced to support Obama, if he wants to maintain any credibilily with the constituency he claims to represent. I've always suspected that he still didn't care much for Obama privately, and these recent comments clearly prove that, and they indicate that he is indeed quite pissed at Obama.

[slackmaster]

1. There aren't many things lower on my list of priorities than what Jesse Jackson thinks

Not many at all.

[Colobo]

2. I'm with you.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

37. I'm sorry you feel that way, Jesse Jackson is a good man.

[skooooo]

3. Orthodoxy suxs.

[rox63]

4. Young guy steals old guy's fire

Old guy gets pissed off, disses young guy.

[Fire_brand]

8. it's more than that

Obama has far surpassed anything Jackson has ever done. He's captured the american public in a way that Jackson was never able too. And he's not going about it in the way that Jackson did.

Jesse is more than just pissed.

[rox63]

13. But Barack Obama is an example of what the whole civil rights movement was trying to achieve

[skooooo]

19. "Just an example??"

:wtf:

[rox63]

38. Not "just an example"

He is what they wanted to be. But he is also a result of their struggle.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. I can say the same for Rev. Wright, Andy Young, John Lewis

and other members of the Old Civil Rights Guard. They don't want to pass the mantle on. And frankly, it could be that they are leery of passing the torch on to someone who is probably not as liberal, and honestly...not a descendant of American slavery. I've heard the latter argument a lot: How can Obama relate to African Americans when his experiences are quite different. The average black American hasn't lived all over the world and hasn't really been exposed to the very experiences that Obama has. For that matter, the average American hasn't, either. Obama is a very unique individual. Perhaps some in the Old Guard feel uneasy about that. I think there also some jealousy involved as well. Jesse will never be president. Maybe there's a little resentment.

[PATRICK]

5. Correct, it is an old story,

that makes his current statement only the politically resentful stupidity it is since the old civil rights establishment since then prudently and enthusiastically followed the votes to Obama and even rose high in the campaign ranks. So it only says something consistent about Jackson's judgment and private behavior.

When Jackson rightly criticized Kerry about Ohio and in all public statements he has been restrained and politic in his choice of words. He had a politic point to make about FISA and blew it by accident, giving the media fodder in the form a needed distraction from the issue itself, in which our righteous media does want Bush spying power to succeed.

This isn't news, but if it is, all the on and off record comments about McCain by people dealing with him closely in Congress are much more disturbing and pertinent. Of course there is no real news climate for the majority of Americans.

[Ian David]

6. From what I heard, the reason Jesse Jackson doesn't like Obama has something to do with his penis...

... and Jesse Jackson's desire to make Obama's penis smaller, probably because he really can't make his own any bigger.

Maybe Jesse Jackson just THINKS Obama's penis is too big.

Maybe all they need to do is to "Go Dobson" together, compare penises in the shower, and maybe they'll find out that Jesse Jackson's penis is the same size-- perhaps even bigger-- than Barack Obama's penis.

And maybe then Rev. Jackson will be secure enough in his own manhood to not want to cut Obama's dick off or mutilate his fine, Presidential Penis in any way.



See:

1. Going Dobson
love it 14 up, 9 down hate it

When a grown man showers with a young boy, as encouraged by masturbation enthusiast Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family. According to Dobson, seeing a grown man's penis can keep boys from "becoming" gay.

Ex.: We're running late for school, so if you want to be ready in time I guess we'll be Going Dobson this morning.

by Iandb1 Dec 28, 2005
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Going+Dobson

[skooooo]

7. ...I thought it was about nuts?

:shrug:

[Ian David]

10. No, he said Dick, not nuts or balls or even man-purse. n/t

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ian David]

14. Jesse Jackson isn't anti-gay.

Unless those gays are Jewish.

[Fire_brand]

16. LOL, I'm talking about James Dobson

[Ian David]

24. The showering-with-little-boys advocating, dog-beating, masturbation enthusiast James Dobson? n/t

[Fire_brand]

27. that's the one. I never heard about the showering or masturbation thing

[Ian David]

29. It's more fun if you google it yourself. Half the enjoyment is in the discovery. n/t

[shawsheen]

47. Google discovery fun ...

Google Santorum while feeling lucky.

[invictus]

9. J E A L O U S Y

n/t

[Ian David]

12. P E N I S . . . E N V Y. (n/t)

[LWolf]

15. Jackson's comments don't bother me.

It bothers me that he assumed privacy; he should have known better.

I haven't lost any respect for Jackson. I appreciate his work. As a matter of fact, I'd rather put him in the oval office than Obama.

He doesn't have to like Obama. He publicly supports him, and that's enough.

Or so conventional DU wisdom tells me.

[Fire_brand]

23. I think what he said was pretty hateful

[LWolf]

32. It depends on the context and the perceived audience.

imo, of course.

[Colobo]

33. Obama>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Jackson.

[grace0418]

36. His comments don't bother me. The fact that pundits will be talking about this

24/7 is what bothers me.

[LWolf]

42. Yes. n/t

[skooooo]

17. Jackson says Obama comments not about envy

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/10/jesse.jackson/index.html

[Fire_brand]

25. I find the "it was private" defense particularly funny

as if what he says when the mics are on is a better reflection of his true feelings than what he says when they're off.

[greguganus]

18. Erectile Disfunction? n/t

[FraDon]

35. ELECTile disfunction! n/t

[redstate_democrat]

20. That is simple-minded way of thinking about it.

And I bet you're not even of the community "Jackson claims to represent".

[Fire_brand]

21. As a matter of fact, I am

how do you look at it

[redstate_democrat]

26. Calling him jealous is very easy to do. That seems to be the consensus here.

You really don't know what's going on.

[Fire_brand]

28. I didn't just call him jealous, I explained why

And my analysis wasn't just about Jesse specifically.

Since you think I don't know what's going on, why don't you tell me what you believe is going on?

[uponit7771]

22. Jackson didn't help himself here.

[genna]

34. Presuming dick envy doesn't help either. BUT sometimes when you say what's on your mind

people decide you've opened the door to any and all comments.


I hope this story blows over. I laughed at what he said when I finally heard it. But now reading these twisted theories, I want this story to go away.

Especially with the commentary on the old civil rights era people versus the new line leader that Obama represents. The older I get, I realize that some theories never lose their appeal.

Divide and conquer. Jackson gave these haters a shoe to beat him over the head with.

[Fire_brand]

40. I have felt this way about Jesse since Obama announced his run

the response he got from old civil rights leadership was lukewarm at best. These recent comments only confirm my suspicions.

[Ian David]

30. One more reason why Democrats should NOT appear on Fox "News"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3594439&mesg_id=3594439

[LowerManhattanite]

39. There's a LOT of hateration and holleration. up in Jesse's dance-er-ree...

...since Obama's run.

And while I respect Jesse like nobody's business for all he's done for folks over the years—his being the burr in Reagan's saddle back in the day, and his ultimately super-humanity towards the downtrodden, I also realize he's a somewhat vain man with a bit of a sense of propriety about his place in the firmament in the Civil Rights “sky”.

This kind of self-aggrandizement is nothing new for Black folks of prominence in America—generational tectonic shifts always seem to leave those who came before feeling “dissed”, or “not-properly thanked / acknowledged”. Jesse's mid-eighties runs (One of which I worked on) were landmark events. Turning points. I still remember the issue of Newsweek with a presidential portrait pose of him on the cover, with teh screaming 120 point copy below the pic reading “JESSE?”, with a mixture of shock, fear, and awe.

But, it was the eighties—a time when a nascent campaign like his could still be easily stifled by the old-school skullduggery of the Atwater-era. There was no internet or alternate media sources or him to use to bypass the spin and smears, and paid-for denigration of his chances. And, as proven by his ill-timed, and ill-mindedly infamous “Hymietown” remarks, he also had an amazing propensity for saying too much, too often around those who were too much against him.

He became easy to lampoon, and would even aid in people's eventually dismissing him by lampooning himself with sometimes funny, but ultimately prestige diminishing appearances on SNL and the like.

He became a TV pundit fixture and an entire generation has come to know him as that, and NOT the young, idealistic guy who knelt there as MLK's life bled out into his hands on a Memphis balcony. For the easy, steady money one craves in middle age, Jesse sadly opted for a highly metastatic (I don't think he knew how bad it would be) case of irrelevancy.

And as the years have worn on, and his place in the activist front lines was superceded by the earnest, but even more flawed Rev. Al Sharpton, I think he became comfortable in his “Old lion who can still occasionally let loose a fearsome roar” status as paterfamila to all things Black and political.

But as is always the case—when MLK's generation supplanted the staid Roy Wilkins era of Civil Rights warriors, or when Stokeley Carmichael's more militant folk, stepped up (and sometimes ON the heels and toes of) and walked right by King's now deemed staid generation of activists, or when a young Charlie Rangel snatched a congressional district and a lifetime's worth of power from an older Adam Clayton Powell Jr., THERE IS ALWAYS A BITTERNESS FROM THE PREVIOUS LEADERS WHO ARE SUPERCEDED.

It's simple human nature—and Obama's blistering ascent to pinnacles Jesse can only dream of, while not needing him for much of anything publicly, and clearly very little consultation privately has got to rankle him. It's a LONG time since that Newsweek cover. In the last six months I've seen Obama on the cover of GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Time, Newsweek, The Economist and every damn magazine outside of “OK!”. He was a “fringe” candidate up until ONE primary—Iowa—and from then on, he was the tone-setting major player, impossible to relegate to the background or dismiss like Jesse eventually was. Obama was Jesse 2.0. No beta, and a skip over a 1.0 version of the “Black Candidate Software” update. The “bugs” as they were, were worked out between the releases of “JesseWare” and “iObama”. And I seriously doubt Jesse likes being described in that way, but the truth is the truth. The other problem is that Jesse doesn't seem to realize that that IS the truth, and there's a palpable anger there in him over the way people consider his legacy like some ancient version of Windows we all thought was “the shiznit” back in the day, but laugh about in terms of usefulness now.

Add in Jesse's own self-inflicted wounds post-Hymietown that have so damaged him, like his funniness with Operation: PUSH money in later years, (not giving him a pass on this, but when a “movement” is how you pay the bills and live, stuff always has a chance to get financially dicey down the road a piece) and worst of all, his unfortunate out-of-wedlock fathering of a child outside of his marriage. The ironic thing about this is that Jackson himself spent years challenging Black fathers to step up, much the way Obama did. (Bill Cosby's a different story—he's been a known cockhound for decades, and his bitching about poor Black folks' excesses is as much a “bourgie” class issue as it is a dodge for his own creepy behaviors, like offering up un-asked for Ny-Quil-adas to unsuspecting female visitors? Ugh.) But his credibility on those matters has been so tarnished to where it's cost him a considerable amount of his status in “The Black Community”—especially with women...of whom many now perceive him as a “dog”.

Then, here comes Barack Obama. Younger. Without the baggage. Not over-exposed. A high-end orator as well, AND actually elected to public office at least twice—something Jesse, for all his time and gravitas could never do. Playing the media better, faster and stronger. And worst of all for Jesse, Obama has emerged as a pulpit arbiter—in fact, the pulpit arbiter heir apparent to Jesse's position there. Folks saw that when Obama was broaching this self-same parenting issue to thunderous applause before Black churches (and even in some sniffy media circles)—like at his breakthrough Birmingham Sunday speech earlier this year. A torch got passed...and Jesse was the last one to know about it. His ego was probably bruised when he found out about it—the hard way...

"Two decades ago, my father ran for president, calling on South Carolina and the nation to 'keep hope alive.' Today, Barack Obama has taken up the torch," (Jesse) Jackson Jr. says in the ad, which will air on 36 gospel and R&B radio stations across the state.

Ouch. Papa J's clearly not ready to cede a bit of the stage, but the spotlight has already swung past him a ways.

It's a status dance Black America's leaders have done since time immemorial. I don't actually Blame Jesse. I feel bad for him. And I'm certain HE feels bad too—not just about his alleged damage to the nominee, but also the public playing out of his little petty bit of turf-marking via verbal pissing.

Alas and alack. :(

[Fire_brand]

41. You're an excellent writer

I think the issue goes further than Jesse. I think his entire generation has been cool on Obama from the start.

[wellst0nev0ter]

43. Can't Wait For That Post To Appear On Your Blog (n/t)

[Number23]

46. Whew!

Excellent, excellent perspective!

Obama's blistering ascent to pinnacles Jesse can only dream of, while not needing him for much of anything publicly, and clearly very little consultation privately has got to rankle him.

You GO girl!

Jesse's own self-inflicted wounds post-Hymietown that have so damaged him ... and worst of all, his unfortunate out-of-wedlock fathering of a child outside of his marriage.

Preach, preach! Jesse lost so many black people when this happened it was ridiculous.

I was barely in my teens when he ran for president in the 80's but I remember the awe and pride that so many in the community felt for him. It's a damn shame how that has all been wasted by a man whose ego and bad judgment have now come to overshadow alot of really GOOD work that he's done through the years. And his comment against Obama was just the final straw.

I don't think I want or need Jesse speaking for me or my community anymore.

[Political Heretic]

44. He doesn't like Obama because Obama has what he could never get.

That's all it is.

[bluestateguy]

45. Jesse Jr. doesn't seem to share his old man's attitude

I hope Jesse Jr. is awarded with Obama's Senate seat in Illinois should Obama get the promotion.