Who got to Jesse?

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot

July 10, 2008

It is said that when you want to speak to God you first address it to the wind. This is why the excuse of the open mike wouldn’t hold for Jesse.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson was critical of Obama and he wanted somebody to hear it.  The target he had in mind was the Black community.

Jackson was caught speaking on an open mike while waiting to go on a Fox News interview last Sunday.  He was reacting to Obama's recent speeches to Black Churches.

And what he said was not amusing.  According to the open mike episode, Jackson said, "Barack been, um, talking down to Black people on this faith based ... I want cut his n**s off ... Barack ... he's talking down to Black people."

That was what Jesse said.  But did somebody get to Jesse?

Jesse is a self-acclaimed Obama supporter, but he is also on record for having proposed an Obama/Clinton ticket.

Clinton, he said, "meets the bill" for the vice-presidency.  She may not be the only one who does, but she certainly does,” Jesse said to the Los Angeles Times on June 7, 2008.

"She starts with 18 million votes," referring to the Democrat primaries and the Clinton supporters purported to be out there.

Before Obama, Jackson had always been a big Clinton supporter.  He has been known to be more critical of Obama than he ever was of Hillary or Bill before the unfortunate event on an open mike at Fox.

But he did accuse Obama of "acting like he's white" for the latter's tepid response to the arrest of the six Black students on murder charges at Jena, Louisiana.

Jesse's comment came in the thick of the Democrat primaries when Hillary was in a hard contention with Obama for the Black vote. For many, the call on Obama was calculated.

Jesse Jackson was to claim later that he did not recall accusing Obama of "acting white."  And that the comment on the Jena Six was a misquote, except both this and the open mike instance carried the same slight.

In both cases, there was the same sense that Obama was not doing enough for the Black cause, in other words not playing up the lucrative victimhood theme.

Lately, Obama has been speaking to Black Churches about responsible parenting. And this might have triggered Jesse's attitude about Obama.  It should be recalled that a while back, Bill Cosby was on the same church circuit with similar messages.

Despite Cosby's record and obvious charitable donations to Black causes, his message on responsibility got a rather cold reception from the Black leadership types like Jesse. 

Cosby, perhaps, for reasons unlike Obama's, had no political factor.  He was a mere moneybag or an entertainer, with no real power.  Therefore, the Black leadership didn't expect any ill consequences to their attacks on him.

The story for Obama was different.  He was a rising political star.  The Black leadership could not afford to be open with their attacks like they did with Cosby.  They could, but the attacks must be hidden or cryptic, geared only for ears that matter.

However, damming for Jesse, this time, there was an open mike.  We heard him as he wanted others in the community to hear.  Except, the reception of his message had so far not been good. 

But he was left with very little room to maneuver, by way of explanation.  The anti-Obama spill was already on record, off-mike or not.

Jesse's demeanor, the conspiratorial manner in which the damming words were spoken, was on this video. 

This incidence belied his later attempts at explanation - that he was seeking to remind Obama about a broader responsibility, to speak about the intractable policies that affected the Black community.

Jesse might be right in some sense.  However, among the intractable problems facing the community that he pointed at was also this lack of some responsibility in parenting that Obama and Cosby have previously and separately chosen to address.

Obama was focusing on issues that had contributed to making Blacks victims in the general society.  But here was Jesse preferring to point to Obama to stop blaming the victims.

Granted, Obama's counsel to the community was not made as policy.  To be kindly noted, it was not a policy but a counseling.

There will always be questions about policies and their impact on the Black condition.  While some Federal policies have created and nurtured negative conditions in this community, these same policies have made leaders like Jesse very powerful.

Highlighting the conditions of victimhood have made Jesse and his compatriots very powerful voices within the Democrat community.

All things considered, the Democrat primaries, which just ended, indicated that Obama was on the verge of political power.  And very soon on the personal level, Obama would push the likes of the Jesses into a secondary position.  

A decade ago, under Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson was at the apex of influence.  He was President Clinton's spiritual advisor, had the president's ear and full access to the White House.

Jesse had the opportunity to shape Clinton's policies for the betterment of conditions within Black communities.  Had he done so successfully, there would have been no need this time to berate Obama.

And considering Jesse's concern about Obama's neglect of "broad policy issues " affecting the Black condition, one is forced to remember his hallmark call and response poem, "I Am Somebody" of the 70s.

"I am - Somebody.

I may be poor, but I am - Somebody!

I may be on welfare, but I am - Somebody!

I may be uneducated, but I am - Somebody!

I must be, I’m God’s child.

I must be respected and protected.

I am Black and I am beautiful!

I am - Somebody! "

This poem wasn't exactly a policy statement when it was composed.  But the intent of the message was understood:  A call for self-respect and responsibility.  In a specific philosophical sense, it was no different than Obama's or Cosby's call for responsibility and better parenting in the Black community.

The poem's intent to reinforce self-respect stands in stark contrast to the reason given for the outburst on the hot mike or the incident at Jena, Louisiana.

So, what happened to Jesse or who or what got to him?

Unless the open mike was a proven slipup by someone else, we will have no choice but to think that somebody got to Jesse to leverage Hillary's chances as a vice-presidential candidate to put Jesse back on the political scene as the kingmaker and a man still of immense influence within the Black community and the Democrat party.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, July 10, 2008

Permission to publish:  Please feel free to publish or reproduce, with credits, unedited.