The shots last night of Jesse Jackson in Chicago with tears

[old mark]

streaming down his face really affected me. I am so delighted that Obama won. This really feels like a better place already.

mark

[KharmaTrain]

1. Grant Park...We've Come Full Circle

It was incredible last night. Estimates were over 200,000 people were at the park last night and many more (like yours truly who couldn't even get near the place) partying along Michigan Avenue (a buddy of mine was smart...had a hotel room we stopped at...watched the victory speech while looking out the window at the thousands of partiers below. A night I won't forget.

There were a lot of great moments. One that struck me was seeing them open the gates at Congress & Michigan...thousands of people went across the bridge into the park...the same bridge that was the scene of some of the worst riots in 1968. The whole world watched then in horror...the whole world watched last night in joy.

The one person who I'm sure was crying with joy, but couldn't be there (besides Barack's beloved Toot) was the late Harold Washington...the man who transformed politics in this city and whose 1983 race was the blueprint for how Obama won.

:toast:

[Ken Burch]

3. Maybe Midway Airport can become Washington International, then.

Harold Washington was a hero of mine. He's probably sharing a plate of ribs and a couple of beers with Studs Terkel somewhere out there tonight.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Long Live Slats Lonnigan

There were some bittersweet thoughts last night...President Obama's grandmother, Senator Durbin's daughter (my extreme deepest sympathies to my beloved Senior Senator) and Studs. At least, I'm sure, he knew how things were turning in his last days and maybe he felt now he could finally rest. I first met Studs when I was 14 years old...he and Royko were local heroes of mine...and while he will be sorely missed, his legacy is stronger than ever.

:toast:

[malaise]

29. I was thinking about the significance of 1968

and this election. The murders of Martin, Bobby, Bobby's prediction that it would take 10 years for a black President to emerge and of course the riots. Then I thought about the Lincoln bicentennial which will take place a short time after the inauguration.
Chicago may win the right to host the Olympics in 2016 - word is that Obama will go to Copenhagan next year to support the bid.

[Hekate]

2. Jackson has had an incredible journey, and I think this is his own "Moses moment"...

On the one hand, Obama's election is the fulfillment of The Dream that Jackson himself carried after so many were gunned down; on the other hand, he sought this for himself some 20 years ago, and it will never be so for him.

It was very poignant to watch Rev Jackson weeping so openly; what a profound mixture of emotions this day has had for the old lion.

Hekate

[Ken Burch]

7. Jesse kept the flame alive when no one else would, in the cold days of the Seventies and Eighties

And he never got the respect he deserved for that.

Let's give it up for the Reverend tonight!

[6000eliot]

11. Rev. Jackson spoke at the 1993 March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights

I was there and found his speech to be electrifying and moving. He also invoked a moment of silence for Cesar Chavez who had just died not long before. I voted for him in every primary in which he ran.

[King Coal]

22. I though he said he was going to cut Obama's nuts off. How quick we forget.

[Ken Burch]

23. Oh come off it. Anybody can have a bad day and say something they wish they hadn't.

If Jesse hadn't run in '84 and '88, we would't have President-elect Obama today. Give the man his due.

[King Coal]

28. Nonsense. Jesse has too much baggage with the Rainbow Coalition extortion issues.

[TWiley]

4. Obama had him all fuzzied up at one point

I think Jesse may have looked at Obama as a newcomer and maybe he even felt a bit overlooked or bypassed but he was pretty spiney towards Obama there for a while.

I am glad to see he got past himself. I do hope those tears are not for himself, not being the one on the stage.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. All us old people feel that way about you lawn-invading whippersnappers.

But, have no fear, if we aren't Republicans we can graciously step aside when we can trust the right person comes along to take over.

We like our retirement.

[old mark]

19. These kids play some shitty music, but they are realy OK.

They have a lot of guts, and they know how to stand up.
I feel better about being old.


mark

[jobycom]

10. I'm sure his emotions were positive, and more complex than we can grasp.

Jesse Jackson stood by Martin Luther King in his final moments. He was in the motel parking lot when King was shot. He spent his lifetime devoted to Civil Rights, facing not just the outright attacks from racist whites, but the slow slanders that have made even decent people view him as an ambulance chaser and an attention hog. He went to Lebanon and Iraq and negotiated, on his own, the releases of so many hostages I've lost count, saving countless American lives, and gotten nothing but crap for it. If he were white, he'd have won every Peace Prize and ever medal of honor this nation, and most of the world, could bestow on him.

Of course he disagreed with Obama on many things. Obama said a lot of things that Jackson had come to associate with attacks on him or on African Americans over the years. Times have changed, and Obama is a leader for these times, but some of his comments and actions grated against Jackson's experiences. When Obama lectured young black men on responsibility, for instance, Jackson heard echoes of the racist comments of the 70s and 80s, where leaders like Ronald Reagan blamed blacks for their own problems. When Obama praised religious involvement in government or even complemented Reagan, Jackson cringed, having fought against such things his whole life. So naturally he had some issues with Obama.

But his tears aren't regret or selfishness. No way. They are the tears of fulfillment--of his career, of his life, of the sacrifices of a generation of his friends and mentors, some of whom he saw bleeding, some of whom he witnessed dying for their cause. I doubt many of his could possibly understand his emotions at this moment. I watched the same thing with John Lewis last night, as he tried to explain what this meant. You could see he knew that he could never make people understand--they did or they didn't.

Amazing moment for this country. Whether Obama is a great president or, not likely, a complete failure, this moment is about more than him. This is a threshold we have crossed. This is not just the beginning of a new America, it is the ending of an old one. It is the final chapter in the book of slavery, of a white America whose racial supremacy has faded. We are now on the path to becoming the America the Statue of Liberty proclaims, the America that our Founders might have envisioned in their wildest dreams. We are becoming the America we have always told the world we are. And this election is the passageway into that America, whatever happens from this point on.

And brace yourself. This passage won't be easy. The old guard won't let go. But at least it is inevitable.

That's what I saw in Jesse Jackson's tears. I hope to the God I don't believe in that we can finally give that man his due.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Thank you, Jobycom! That was a beautiful tribute to Jesse Jackson. You have reminded us

all that this man never, ever, ever abandoned the civil rights movement that made this day possible. Others went Corpo or went "mainstream" out of personal ambition, or lost hope. Not Jesse. He is still one of the most eloquent and righteous leaders of our country. He is the undauntable spirit of that amazing movement of the '60s. And I hope he continues trying to keep Barack Obama honest, and connected to his roots among the poor and the excluded.

[crispini]

20. You made me cry.

Wow, it's a weepy morning.

[jobycom]

21. Ain't I the heartbreaker?

:rofl:

Jesse Jackson has long been a hero of mine, one of a very few. Seeing his reaction was the closest I came to tears. I knew intellectually what an Obama win would mean, but I think that's when I really got it, just what all it did mean.

[Hekate]

25. Jobycom, thank you for the beautiful words. I was so emotionally exhausted last night...

... I tried to write a bit here after my friends went home (champagne, cheesecake, cheers, and much rejoicing), but could hardly make sense and had to give up and go to bed. Thank you so much for writing what I could not.

Hekate

[eowyn_of_rohan]

27. insightful analysis

I thought of some of this while watching him crying, but not in such depth as you have. Great post

[screembloodymurder]

8. I haven't seen people this excited since Dorothy killed the wicked witch.

Ding dong the witch is dead.

[LiberalEsto]

15. Or as my late mother used to say

when Dad went out,

"Ding, dong, the bastard's gone"

:D

[screembloodymurder]

26. Wow. Did she really hate him or was she just happy to see him leave?

Sounds like at this a dysfunctional family, but whatever works.

[jobycom]

9. I stared at that picture for about five minutes. Couldn't turn away.

Jackson is one of the two or three public figures I think of as personal heroes. I think that image moved me more than anything else I saw.

MSNBC has that image on a slide show. Can't link to the pic, but if anyone wants to see it, go to that web site and watch the headline pic slide show. It'll pop up as the third photo.

[1Hippiechick]

13. Old Mark, I couldn't have said it better myself. I finally exhaled! n/t

[a kennedy]

14. Did anyone see Oprah in the crowd crying too???

I did, they showed her twice.

[Dorian Gray]

18. I actually got angry about that

Jesse Jackson's image was great, as he led the way through his constant Civil Rights struggles.

The Oprah? It just annoyed me. She's a talk show host, not a political pioneer.

[Ken Burch]

24. Still, I thought it was nice that she just stayed in the crowd

And didn't jump on stage to crash Obama's big moment.

Wouldn't it have been great if she'd given every Obama voter a new car?

[charlie]

16. Oh my...

Oh... my...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnxSRsvq0uA

[madokie]

17. It IS a better place, already

America won this one.

[musiclawyer]

30. It affected me to, given that J wanted to smash B's nuts

Just sayin.......