Jesse Jackson Wanted the World to Know

Charles Hurt, writing in the New York Post, thinks that Jesse Jackson didn't make a mistake. He had a plan.

Jackson's claim to have been caught unbeknownst by a "hot mike" slurring and threatening Barack Obama is complete hogwash.

Somewhere, deep down, he wanted the world - and Obama - to know how much he wants to "cut his nuts out."

Veterinarians and doctors talk about cutting nuts "off." Only a thug or a gangster cuts a man's nuts "out."

And Jackson knows better than most the vicious symbolism of castration and its blood-soaked link to lynchings in the Old South.

Nor is this the first time Jackson bared his anger. Last year, when Obama wasn't sufficiently politicizing the beating prosecution of six black teens in Louisiana known as the "Jena Six," Jackson said Obama was "acting white."

This is the spin, and it plays on race.

Obama isn't an African-American leader in the mold of Jackson.

Hurt writes:

For everyone watching - especially those blue-collar white voters who were so elusive for him in the primary - this is a powerful reminder that Obama is not cut from the same cloth as the militant race-baiter Jesse Jackson and his ilk.

What a convenient twist! A rift between Jackson and Obama can help get those bitter, Bible-clinging, gun-toting, blue-collar white voters to jump on Obama's bandwagon.

I wonder if this was all orchestrated.

The question isn't so much if Jackson wanted to be heard as it is if Obama wanted Jackson to be heard.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. coming out so strongly against his father's comments highlights what the lib media are calling a "real generational shift in power and leadership... in African-American politics."

Yeah, it's a new day. Blah, blah, blah.

First, why are we talking about "African-American politics" in the first place?

Is Obama an African-American politician or an American politician?

If Obama has truly transcended race, why is it still always about race?

I fail to see the transcendence.

Second, I don't see any real generational shift in power and leadership in so-called African-American politics.

Generally speaking, conservative African-American politicians aren't accepted by the black community. They're Uncle Toms. They're traitors.

It's not just Jesse Jackson. Racial militancy isn't dying. How popular are Clarence Thomas or Condoleezza Rice among blacks? Look at the attacks they've endured for their conservatism. Remember what Michael Steele was subjected to when he ran for the U.S. Senate.

The suggestion that Jackson's brand of militant race-baiting is over is a joke.

Obama doesn't hesitate to whip out the race card when he thinks he can benefit politically.

"We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black? He's got a feisty wife."

--BARACK OBAMA