Speculation is growing that envy was the catalyst that moved the Rev. Jesse Jackson to utter demeaning remarks on July 6 about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president.
There are indications the speculation could be right.
Jackson, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, was preparing , along with Reed Tuckson from the United Health Group, for an interview on the Fox Network's “Fox and Friends,” but apparently didn't know the microphone was on.
During a pause before the program, Jackson leaned over and whispered to Tuckson: Barack's been, um, talking down to black people on this faith-based… I want to cut his (personal appendage) off. Barack, he's talking down to black people.
It is significant to note that Jackson made the comment on Sunday, but didn't issue his apology until Wednesday after he learned the brief clip would be aired that afternoon on Fox's"Special Report with Brit Hume."
Addressing fathers at a black Chicago church on Father's Day, Obama, appropriately, had said: "Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. Too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes.''
Jackson told CNN his criticism about Obama was that he "comes down as speaking down to black people.''
He said Obama should also be talking in the black community about issues such as health care, jobs and justice.
“Anything I said in a hot mike statement that's interpreted as a distraction, I offer apologies for that,'' Jackson said later at a news conference.
With its usual class, the Obama campaign accepted Jackson's apology quickly.
But the civil-rights veteran's son did not.
“I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama,” said U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., in a statement released to the media Wednesday afternoon. “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.
“The remarks like those uttered on Fox by Reverend Jackson do not advance the campaign's cause of building a more perfect union.
“Reverend Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him. 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.”
Some might think the younger Jackson was somewhat hard on the elder, but Jesse Jr. was fully aware that this was not the first time his father had criticized Obama publicly.
According to CNN, the Rev. Jackson in December accused Obama of “acting like he's white” because Jackson didn't think Obama focused enough on race in his response to the Jena Six case in which six black youths were charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white fellow Jena, La.. high school student.
Jesse should stop being envious and accept the fact that this is a new day and Obama has discovered a more successful alternative to black-victimization politics.
