Friday, July 11, 2008

Another Missed Opportunity

If Barack Obama has one consistent position (in fact, that may be all he has) it is expecting more from the African-American community as a whole. He believes the youth must get out of gangs and back into schools and stresses the importance of growing up around a solid family.

But Jesse Jackson takes this kind of optimistic credence as an insult to African-Americans, "talking down to them". I guess he is pleased with the status quo and the growing number of black Americans inhabiting our prison system.

When Jackson uttered his crude and asinine remark earlier this week on an open microphone, it presented Senator Obama with a golden opportunity which he then squandered.

Jackson proved once again that he is out of touch with this country and the population he claims to represent, and it left Obama with a huge opening from which to emerge as this generation's new voice on civil rights and equality.

If Obama wanted to solidify his absurd claim to be a man who transcends both race and party lines he would have taken this bait and McCain would privately accept an impending defeat come November.

But he did not take this course of action.

Instead he sent a low-level staffer out in public to accept the apology of Jackson and be done with the story. These are the actions of a stereotypical Beltway liberal who will avoid the sensitive issues so nobody gets upset with him.

As a former Clinton staffer recently said, "Reagan won because he pulled the electorate to the right."

Obama is firmly wedged in the center and will continue to flip-flop and double speak in order to remain there come election day.

1 comment:

michele said...

I would love to know what "hold" Jackson has on the community. He is no longer relevant and I don't know that he ever was. He is divisive and racist yet he is still marched out by the media as a representation of black america.