Some people who monitor government activity think the worst thing that can afflict a political person is a sex scandal. I disagree.
I think the worst thing that can happen to a person with political aspirations is when they speak candidly in the presence of a microphone when they think the “off” switch has been triggered.
THE APOLOGIES THAT always come about afterwards are lame, because we all know deep down that the person was speaking a bit of truth about the way they really perceive something. The only thing they’re really sorry about is that they are in circumstances that require them to apologize.
We all recall Dick Cheney and George W. Bush bantering back and forth about what an “a—hole” a New York Times correspondent was, only to have their chatter picked up by a nearby microphone at the “End of Summer/Labor Day” parade in Naperville, Ill., that they happened to be campaigning at in 2000.
There also was the time then-President Ronald Reagan announced he was unleashing the Air Force on the old Soviet Union to begin massive bombing, thinking that no one could hear the line he was using to warm up his voice for a real government pronouncement – one that got completely overshadowed by the presidential joke.
Now, we can add the Rev. Jesse Jackson to the list. Jackson technically is not a candidate for office in the 2008 elections. But he fell victim to the same affliction.
EARLIER THIS WEEK, he made comments about Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama that were picked up by a microphone being used by a Fox News Channel reporter.
The cable news channel did not rush the material onto the air. Instead, they are planning to use it judiciously during the various programs hosted by their conservative commentators. It is going to be used to take pot shots at Jackson, while also embarrassing the Obama campaign.
There’s a very good chance that the long-time civil rights leader will have this tape resurrected against him whenever the network wants to “take down” Jackson. It may very well become part of the source material used when the day finally arrives that Jackson’s obituary needs to be compiled.
For the record, Jackson made comments about Obama’s attitude towards black-oriented churches. He said recent comments by Obama about black people’s lack of responsibility being the cause for problems many face in our society were hurtful.
SPECIFICALLY, JACKSON GOT caught on tape saying he’d like to do physical harm to the Democratic presidential hopeful to punish him for having a condescending attitude toward many black people.
When he learned that Fox News had him on tape, was planning to use the material, and there was no way he could possibly deny having said it, Jackson went into a control mode.
He made a private apology Wednesday afternoon to Obama, then held an early evening press conference timed to coincide with the local television newscasts (at least one Chicago station, CBS-affiliated WBBM-TV, aired part of Jackson’s comments live) so he could let the whole world know he was sorry, so very, very sorry, for what he said.
“This thing I said, I offer an apology for that,” Jackson said, reiterating how long ago he endorsed the Obama presidential campaign and how much he is willing to work in upcoming months to try to get Barack elected president.
“THIS CAMPAIGN REPRESENTS too much the dreams of people (the civil rights activists in the segregated South of the early 1960s) who paid a great price to get this country to the point where it is now,” said Jackson.
The thing that people need to take into account when considering these unintentional comments by politically-oriented people is that they represent a bit of truth to the way they really think.
Reagan really did find some humor in the thought of nuclear annihilation of the old Soviet Union, while the Cheney/Bush duo had contempt for the reporter-types who covered their presidential campaign of 2000.
As for Jackson, he may say publicly that he is completely behind Obama.
BUT IT ALSO reminds us that there was once a time when Jackson was unsure of what to think of Obama, while also letting us know there is some resentment among the African-American population for the way Obama has tried to appeal to non-black people for Election Day.
Obama has used appearances at black churches to urge African-American people to take more responsibility for their lives, which is meant to make the candidate more appealing to white voters who may resent what they perceive as too much attention paid to the social problems of the black population.
His line, “don’t just sit in the house and watch “SportsCenter” all weekend long. That’s why so many children are growing up in front of the television,” may have got him a lot of favorable notice. But it also created resentment in some quarters that Obama was so anxious to get white people votes that he was willing to excuse many of the problems of the past that were afflicted on the black population.
Jackson got caught in the act of representing the view of a segment of the U.S. population that some people in this country would just as soon ignore.
SO I’M NOT willing to condemn the Rev. Jackson, even though I don’t find any humor in the thought of someone saying they want to commit physical assault on someone’s private parts the way Jackson said he would like to do to Obama.
I definitely am not willing to go so far as to denounce the reverend the way he was trashed on Wednesday by the House of Representatives’ member from Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District – who just happens to be his son.
Jesse Jr. let loose on his father in a prepared statement that said Senior was being reckless in even thinking such a thing, calling his comments “divisive” and “demeaning” and contrary to the notion of making the United States a better place to live.
Of course, this disagreement is totally in character for the two.
JACKSON SR. MAY say he has been a long-time supporter of Obama. But the fact is that it was Jackson Jr. who originally saw Barack Obama as anything more than just a lowly state legislator from the Hyde Park neighborhood.
When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, Senior said as little as he had to about Obama, while Junior campaigned with him and mailed out leaflets depicting the two of them together in front of a U.S. flag and saying of Obama, “he’ll hold America to its promise for all of us.”
It was only after Obama became credible enough a candidate that he could no longer be ignored did Jesse Sr. hop on board the Barack train so he could try to lead its direction.
This latest incident gives us a subtle reminder of the fact that the concept of “friendship” is an alien one to many political people. “Allies of the moment” is a more accurate assessment of how political people feel about each other.
IN FACT, THERE’S really only one question about this latest outburst from the Rev. Jackson.
Will it overshadow what has been, to date, his most serious case of foot-in-mouth disease – the time during his presidential campaign of 1984 when he used ethnic slurs in describing Jewish people to a black Washington Post reporter, complaining that all Jewish voters cared about was the fate of Israel.
Will the thought of physical assault on Barack Obama top “hymie” and “hymietown” (a.k.a., New York City) when determining Jackson’s legacy? Only time will tell.
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EDITOR’S NOTES: Barack Obama isn’t the least bit ashamed of the kinds of comments (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/06/15/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_78.php) that have Rev. Jesse Jackson and some other African-American people concerned.
Rev. Jackson’s upcoming public humiliation by the “friendly” folks at Fox News Channel (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/09/rep_jackson_blasts_his_father.html) has captured the attention of political observers (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/jackson-apologizes-for-obama-remarks/?hp) around the country.
Jackson seems to have problems whenever he thinks he’s talking privately with a (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm) news reporter, forgetting the fact that the reporter-types around him are paid to quote him (http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/24272924.html), not chat idly with him.
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