What's Really 'Nuts' About Jackson's Outburst

When I heard last night that a "hot" FOX News mic had caught African-American community leader and former Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson complaining during a commercial break that Barack Obama was " talking down to black people" in his Father's Day speech criticizing deadbeat dads--an offense that apparently made Jackson "want to cut [Obama's] nuts out"--my first thought was, "How much is David Axelrod paying this guy?"

My logic was simple. What's the best way to reassure Obama's target audience of moderate (and largely white) voters that he's a new kind of black leader--that is, a black leader willing to defy the "old guard" (which some whites see as threatening) and tell black audiences "uncomfortable truths" about personal responsibility? Get the most famous member of America's black liberal establishment to diss him for doing it, then sit back and relax as the MSM, always eager to furrow its collective brow over matters of Obama and race, reminds viewers of the Illinois senator's "independence" for the next 24 hours straight. Apparently, I wasn't alone. Today, Bloomberg News reported that "Jackson's 'Crude' Remarks May Give Boost to Obama." The Washington Post called the flap "Obama's Accidental Sister Souljah Moment." And the Altantic's Marc Ambinder quipped that "Obama should send [Jackson] a fruit basket for drawing attention to precisely the worldview that Obama wants centrist voters to know that he holds." Great minds, right?

Except that now--after nearly 24 hours of non-stop cable coverage--I'm not so sure. It's not that the optics aren't good for Obama; they are. That said, if you approach this problem as a person rather than a pundit--difficult, I know--it's basically impossible to imagine that some white working-class woman from Columbus, Ohio who was worried about Obama being "too black" (whatever that means) will suddenly see him as acceptable simply because Jesse Jackson doesn't. In fact, folks uneasy with Obama because of race are among the least likely to be swayed to his side--period. We're talking bigotry here, not health-care policy. Ultimately, the assumption that any voters will magically feel comfortable with a candidate after hearing someone they're uncomfortable with criticize him is actually pretty condescending. The truth is, only Obama can ease people's doubts about Obama. All that cable chatter? Pointless.

With this mind, the real story of the silly Jesse Jackson dustup isn't how it helped Obama but rather how it hurt McCain. Yesterday morning, Iran flexed its military muscles by test-firing missiles capable of reaching Israel. This, unlike Rev. Jackson's designs on Obama's genitalia, is important. And given that McCain is far more comfortable talking about foreign policy than the economy and typically outpolls Obama by 20 points on terrorism and national security, a discussion of, say, whether or not the president should conduct direct diplomacy with the Iranian leaderhad the potential to play in his favor. But by the time his campaign organized its red-alert conference calls and flooded reporters with oppo, Jackson was already dominating the coverage. That's another news cycle down the tube for a candidate who can't afford many missed opportunities--and another missed opportunity for the media.