# The newest Jesse Jackson/Obama flap **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 9, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897 "2008-07-09T22:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/41 "2008-07-10T14:48:54Z")
As mentioned up-thread, Jesse Sr is a relic, and an increasingly irrelevent one. There is no chance Obama would place him in a position that had any real responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/42 "2008-07-10T15:21:52Z")
[QUOTE=42fish] DeMille. Unless you want to add in Jesse wearing a Dalmatian-fur coat. [/QUOTE] :o ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/43 "2008-07-10T15:40:12Z")
If anything this works in Senator Obama’s favor. Nobody takes Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson seriously so any racial slam from him would be a badge of honor. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/44 "2008-07-10T17:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] As mentioned up-thread, Jesse Sr is a relic, and an increasingly irrelevent one. There is no chance Obama would place him in a position that had any real responsibility. [/QUOTE] Why should Obama place Rhymin’ Man in a position of responsibility, when Rhymin’ Man never put himself in one? The best idea I ever heard for Jesse Jackson (Sr) was when a friend of mine suggested JJ return to his native South Carolina and unseat Strom Thurmond. High degree of difficulty, but possible for a figure like JJ with a national base. Rhymin’ Man would have filled his Senate career with great speeches (and nothing else IMO). But he would have had a political future, at least for trying. Instead, Jesse became DC’s “Shadow Senator”, um I mean “Statehood Senator”. How’d that DC Statehood thing work out for ya there, Jesse? Half a million people, mostly African Americans, still have no voting representation in Congress? Yeah, that’s relevant. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/45 "2008-07-10T21:16:45Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Etiquette question: When Jesse Jackson gets in trouble for an insensitive statement involving a person of color, does he have to publicly apologize to himself or just to Al Sharpton? Silly **Sampiro**! Everyone knows that Jesse Jackson answers only to God Almighty. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/46 "2008-07-10T21:58:48Z")
Well my apologies for opening this thread in this forum. It turns out that there is no debate. 🙂 [WaPo](http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/10/obamas_accidental_sister_soulj.html) has captured it succintly. > [@](#): > > If Obama were looking for a way to endear himself more to those white, working class voters who were resistant to his appeals in the Democratic primaries, nothing is likely to help more than a condemnation from Jesse Jackson… By the time the campaign ends, the episode may be remembered only as a footnote or less. But as a moment, it has served Obama nicely – and he didn’t have to do anything other than happily accept Jackson’s apology. Is there no source that argues for any other POV? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/47 "2008-07-10T23:26:20Z")
[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading] Jesse Jackson is racist. [/QUOTE] More like a major attention whore. He’d sell his own grandmother if it got him in the spotlight. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/48 "2008-07-11T00:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Great. Now I’ll be seeing Jesse Jackson saying “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeVille.” all day. Thanks a bunch. 😃 [/QUOTE] There’s a _One Hundred and One Dalmatians_, big dog/spayed dog, and “I’m still a star, it’s Obama’s testicles that got small” joke in there somewhere. You can be sure there was an off-the-record conversation between Jesses Jr. and Sr. about why Jr. had to come down as hard as he did, as co-chair of the national Obama campaign. I thought this [article](http://www.theroot.com/id/47225?GT1=38002) was interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/49 "2008-07-11T06:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] I thought this [article](http://www.theroot.com/id/47225?GT1=38002) was interesting. [/QUOTE] While black people will have to adjust to the fact that a black man can now become The Man, Jesse Jackson wants to pretend it isn’t happening. He seems like he is on autopilot, always railing against the injustice of black people by the establishment, only this time he forgets to look up to see who he is railing against. The problem was that because there were no influential black politicians, blacks had no choice but to depend on people like Jesse Jackson. Now that Obama is showing people that racism in this country is no longer strong enough to deter progress, Jackson needs to change his rhetoric or shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/50 "2008-07-11T06:34:36Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Silly **Sampiro**! Everyone knows that Jesse Jackson answers only to God Almighty. [/QUOTE] Not anymore, not since the restraining order. I was watching (world heavyweight intellectual champion) Geraldo Rivera on (runner up) Bill O’Reilly tonight and he made an interesting comment. Not sure I agree with it, but it’s interesting. He said that he has infinitely more respect for Sharpton than Jackson because (I’m paraphrasing because the transcript isn’t up yet) Sharpton has changed in the past 25 years, isn’t the same as the man he was when he championed Tawana Brawley, has adjusted to the times, and is far more powerful and far more beneficial in the field of civil rights than he’ll ever be given credit for, while Jackson is essentially exactly the same man he was under Reagan. Interesting comment- any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/51 "2008-07-11T15:29:34Z")
If I may turn Freudian for a moment, I think this phrase indicates Jackson’s gut-level reaction to Obama’s success: Jesse is jealous. Given Jackson’s egocentric nature, he simply can’t stand to see someone else succeed where he has failed. Thus the testicle envy. While reading this thread I had a thought as to _why_ Obama has been able to grab the brass ring. He has not, so far as I can recall, ever pushed an overtly pro-black agenda; quite a contrast to Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/52 "2008-07-11T17:25:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Not anymore, not since the restraining order 😃 ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897/53 "2008-07-11T17:43:36Z")
Does anyone know who the other guy is? He’s like the Mike Myers in this video clip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-jesse-jackson-obama-flap/455897.md?page=2)