New Jesse Jackson Controversy: Jackson Steps In It Again

There was once a movie titled “Destry Rides Again.” If you made a movie about the latest controversy involving a shoot-from-the-lip Jesse Jackson making what he thought was an off-mike, crude verbal blast about Democratic party presumptive Presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s comments to some in the black community you might title it: “Jesse Jackson Steps In It Again.”

Or he puts his foot in his mouth again, as he steps in it again.

The reason: in 1984 Jackson was truly one of the rising stars of the Democratic party, with seemingly growing national political clout until he made a comment reported by a Washington Post reporter about New York City being “Hymietown” – and not all of his apologies or all of his spin could put Jesse Jackson’s previous clout totally back together again.

(I remember this controversy well: I was then a reporter on the San Diego Union newspaper, and there were all kinds of jokes among reporters about how Jackson would NEVER be invited to attend bar mitzvahs anymore. Late night comedians such as Johnny Carson had a field day. And Jackson’s national clout was never the same.)

And this time? Jackson’s comment brought the obligatory apology — nearly instantaneously, BEFORE the actual comment was televised or officially revealed — from Jackson. It brought the gracious forgiving comment from Obama, which most likely doesn’t reflect his core feelings.

But worst of all for Jackson: he was lambasted by an African-American Congressman who made some of the most withering comments about Jackson’s comments. The Congressman’s name? Jesse Jackson, Jr. Yes…he is a relation.

The upshot? Candidate Bill Clinton had his “Sister Souljah Moment” when he ran for President. When Obama began offering advice to some members of the black community, it didn’t quite fit the bill. But now that Jackson has reacted so angrily and had to apologize it may eventually qualify as Obama’s moment when the Illinois Senator’s comments were propelled into greater media coverage than he originally thought — or ever hoped. Meanwhile, Jackson’s status has now likely shrunk a size more to “Cadet size.”

What follows is a fascinating study in spin control…issued before there was even a need for the control.

CNN diplomatically covers the furor this way:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Barack Obama Wednesday for making what he called a “crude and hurtful” remark about the Illinois senator’s recent comments directed toward some members of the black community.

According to Jackson, a Fox News microphone picked up comments he meant to deliver privately that seemed to disparage the presumptive Democratic nominee for appearing to lecture the black community on morality.

Jackson, who has endorsed Obama, didn’t elaborate on the context of his remarks, except to say he was trying to explain that Obama was hurting his relationship with black voters by recently conducting “moral” lectures at African-American churches.

Jackson’s apology came a few hours before Fox News planned to air the remarks.

So Jackson was apologizing before the actual remarks were revealed.

Almost.

Matt Drudge had an exclusive (after all it WAS on his best-bud network Fox News) and the actual words (Jackson suggested it was time to “cut his [Obama's] n*ts out.”

Jackson used loftier language when doing CYA to CNN than that when he tried to explain what he was saying about the first African-American set to get a major party’s Presidential nomination.

Speaking to CNN Wednesday, Jackson said he feels “very distressed” over the comments.

“This is a sound bite in a broader conversation about urban policy and racial disparities. I feel very distressed because I’m supportive of this campaign and with the senator, what he has done and is doing,” he said. “I said he comes down as speaking down to black people. The moral message must be a much broader message. What we need really is racial justice and urban policy and jobs and health care. That’s a range of issues on the menu.

“Then I said something I regret was crude. It was very private. And very much a sound bite,” he also said.

But the real bite was yet to come.

One of the strongest condemnations of Jackson’s comments came from his own son in an email. The Los Angeles Times post (which should be read in full) has it and we offer it to you with the boldface they added:

“I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson’s reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama. 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.

“Instead of tearing others down, Barack Obama wants to build the country up and bring people together so that we can move forward, together — as one nation. The remarks like those uttered on Fox by Revered [sic] Jackson do not advance the campaign’s cause of building a more perfect Union.

“Revered [sic] 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.”

Don’t you get the feeling that the next family get together at Jackson’s house may not be an entirely happy one?

But there is a subcontext here.

Obama represents a NEW generation, as does Jesse Jackson, Jr. That explains some of the resentment of Jackson, Sr. and the reaction of his son to Jackson, Sr.’s comments about Obama.

Some things do change — although Jesse Jackson sticking his foot so deeply in his mouth every 20 years so that it nearly comes out of his left ear and reduces his own political clout seems to be a regular event.

I wonder what he has in mind for 2028?

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