This concerns the bruhaha over Jessie Jackson’s recent remark concerning Obama that he’d like to “cut his nuts off.” The entire article can be found here. I just wanted to quote a paragraph I especially enjoyed:
“The broadcast of the remark, which was not intended for public consumption, could have been dealt with quite easily by Jackson. He could have made the point that he was obviously speaking metaphorically, meant Obama no physical harm and, from a political standpoint, there really was nothing there to cut, in any case.”
I thought my local paper’s editorial cartoon on this was cute: Joel Pett on Obama and Jackson
Love your books, thanks for writing them, keep on rocking.
A bit of a reach to view the Jackson issue through an economic philosophy lens in my opinion. Really it feels like a contrivance in order to insert relevancy of the overall philosophy into a current event.
The simpler answer is he wants to maintain relevancy and always looks for an angle to do so, sometimes for the good of the people sometimes marginally so, sometimes not.
Like Obama more. If you squint, you can see the the ignorant Republicans who call him a Marxist as an endorsement.
Cheers,
Michael
Odd bit of karma working here, one would have thought Jackson was aware of such things. In 1992, Bill Clinton heard (incorrectly) that Jesse Jackson had endorsed another candidate in the Democratic primary just before Clinton was to go on-air. The dude subject to “bimbo eruptions” exploded himself, quite colorfully, not knowing his mike was live. As I recall, Jackson brushed it off somewhat less gracefully than Obama did this go-round.
I wonder how intentional this slip was. Jesse Jackson is out of touch enough with black voters, this seems like an appeal to more conservative voters to vote for Obama. Many of the more quiet racists might be more inclined to vote for Obama if they are dissatisfied with the current administration and dislike Jackson.
Shannon @ 4: I was thinking the same thing. Jackson has surely been around enough microphones by now to know to be circumspect in their presence, even when he thinks they’re off.
Personally, I liked Daniel Schorr’s explanation. Recalling that Jesse once built a movement and a march on Washington from the phrase “I am Somebody,” Schorr said his attack on Obama was like shouting to the world, “I am nobody!”