A Gift from Jesse
Reverend Jackson's slam helps Obama's centrist cred.
Jesse Jackson Sr. just Sister Souljah'd himself.
Now the question is whether his crudely worded attack on Sen. Barack Obama will help the Democrats' presumptive nominee the way a somewhat similar (though not as foul-mouthed) Jackson attack 16 years ago helped Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton.
My answer is "yes," at least a little bit. All Obama has to do is hope the story doesn't fade too fast, and he might even want to try to keep it alive. But knowing him, Obama will just take the quick benefit and move on, rather than provoke a longer confrontation.
Students of irony and history can hear the Jacksonian echoes. In May 1992, Clinton used a Jackson-hosted forum on youth politics to criticize the cultural influence of rappers, particularly a strident and combative young woman who went by the name Sister Souljah.
The Clinton campaign didn't give Jackson a heads up, preferring to launch the criticism as a surprise and draw the reverend (always a controversial figure) into a defensive overreaction. It worked. Jackson attacked—which is precisely what the candidate wanted.
What better way to prove your mainstream bona fides with white conservative voters than to be criticized by Jackson? Or so the thinking went. Clinton was a Southerner, or course, but a Democrat, and to win certain states—this was before they were called "Red"—you had to show that you were not a traditional liberal Democrat, not someone stuck in the old ghetto of identify politics.
This time around, no baiting by Obama was required.
Obama has been preaching a portion of the social gospel that Jackson himself used to preach, but with a different emphasis. The senator from Illinois has stressed that African-American men need to focus on their responsibilities as fathers—and not act like "boys." Obama also has suggested that religious institutions could play a role in solving social problems (and, under careful rules, use government money to do so). And Obama has talked about the need for better federal education and health-care efforts, too.
But from Jackson's point of view, Obama was spending too much time talking about black males as irresponsible "boys" and not enough about the failings of the federal government.
And so, on a Fox News microphone he didn't know was on, Jackson whispered to an on-air companion: "See, Barack's been talking down to black people … I wanna cut his nuts off."
Perfect! What a gift for Obama in swing states like West Virginia and New Hampshire!
Jackson deserves praise and admiration for his pioneering role as a presidential candidate. He was a force to be reckoned with in 1984 and 1988. But his stridency, sense of endless victimhood and sometimes way-too-color-conscious thinking can make him seem to be an unpalatable political antique.
The moment he heard that Fox was going to broadcast the overhead remarks, Jackson preemptively apologized "for any harm or hurt that this hot-mike conversation may have caused." He called Obama to say so. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, fired back. "Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I'll always love him," the younger Jackson said—and went on to "reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric."
Obama himself issued only a mild statement, noting that he had grown up without a father and that he of course accepted Jackson's apology.
In fact, Obama had another answer to Jackson even before the reverend spoke. In a family interview on "Access Hollywood," Obama's two daughters appeared on camera. Even in their brief (and probably only) interview, it was easy to see that Obama and his wife, Michelle, were rearing smart, well-behaved and radiant kids.
That was Obama's point about parenting—and probably enough said.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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