Why Jackson's attack can only help Obama

Barack Obama's advisers won't be losing any sleep over Jesse Jackson's hot mic outburst - unless they're out celebrating, that is. Far from being a blow to the Illinois senator's campaign, Jackson's attack is probably the best gift he could have hoped for - so good in fact that the McCain camp might be forgiven for suspecting it was planned.

Admittedly, Jackson's suggestion that Obama is "talking down" to African Americans will resonate with some in the black community. But these are voters who already felt patronised, who have long seen Obama as insufficiently black, in background as well as political attitude. As The Times' Chief Leader Writer, Daniel Finkelstein, writes on Comment Central today, the Democratic nominee falls squarely into the category of bargainer - one of the two strategic types outlined by African-American writer Shelby Steele - a black man, who, in the mould of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and Colin Powell, promises not to use America's history of white racism against it if it in turn does not use his race against him. This will upset those within the black community who, like Jackson, prefer to adopt the alternative strategy of challenging - essentially, demanding that white society prove it is not racist.

Figures such as Louis Farrakhan and Reverend Wright are classic challengers. They inspire a fear among certain sections of the white American community, both for the blame they sometimes appear to heap on whites, many of whom feel they have no personal responsibility for racism past or present, and for the threat they seem to represent (it is us OR them, one must lose if the other is to win). And often, racial issues aside, simply for the radical beliefs they espouse - stinging critiques of American foreign policy such as that offered by Reverend Wright, for example.

If Obama is to win this election, putting a little distance between himself and firebrands such as Jackson, Farrakhan, Wright et al is no bad thing - in fact it is necessary. As Jackson well knows from his ill-fated presidential run, no candidate can win with only the support of blacks and liberal whites. If he is to take the White House, he must win over white working class Americans - the Reagan Democrats with whom he had such trouble in the primaries. To do that, he must prove that he is a candidate for all Americans, not just the black community, as Jackson promised to be.

This will not be palatable for many within Obama's base, who are already bridling at his swivel towards the centre ground since taking the nomination. But a little recalibration is a necessary expediency if he is to take the White House - where I imagine there will be some recalibration back in the opposite direction.

To finish on a lighter note, I leave you with this humorous excerpt from the Borowitz Report, which I think sums it up quite nicely:

"The liberal blogosphere was aflame today with new accusations that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) is trying to win the 2008 presidential election. Suspicions about Sen. Obama's true motives have been building over the past few weeks, but not until today have the bloggers called him out for betraying the Democratic Party's losing tradition.

"Increasingly, Barack Obama's message is becoming more accessible, appealing, and yes, potentially successful," [one blogger] wrote. "Any Democrat who voted for Dukakis, Mondale or Kerry should regard this as a betrayal."

Comments

[Alexis]

As an American, I fear that an Obama presidency would eventually tear the republic apart. The man is immature, inexperienced, socialist and unstable, certainly not to be entrusted with the reigns of power. We are entering into a very uncertain world economy, political and social system. Even though I don't like Mr. McCain either, I would sleep far better at night knowing that an adult is in charge. Obama is an appeaser, not a negotiator. His wife is no prize. We've had an autocratic moron in the White House for the last seven years. The tyranny and paranoia that GWB brought will take years, if not decades, to repair. Our Constitution has been gutted by this man who violated his oath of office. The Consitution must be respected or I fear we are finished as a nation. After all, America is a nation of laws, not of men. I want a man in the White House, not a great orator!

[Rawlings]

Its very unfortunate if the Republicans thinks that Jackson's attack on Obama was planned. Obama has become the weeping boy of everybody just for seeking for a job.

[prudence eely bond mcguire]

So for all those thousands of African Americans who voted for Obama does this mean a betrayal of sorts?
Obama can not be all things to all people yet he seems determined to try.
Spreading yourself in too many directions is doomed to failure.
Jesse Jackson may be right, but, he tried to make the point too clumsily.

[KOJINATOR]

The "challengers" as the author calls the Jesse Jackson faction of assumed leaders are a bunch of poorly educated individuals who assumed that just because they were in or around the time of Martin Luther King have something to offer the Black communites of the US. The media bestowed the label 'leaders' on these selfish individual and then foistered them on to Black American who are self-segregating and thus disenfranchised. Obama is the first well educated and may stand a chance to shape unity amongst Blacks as a political force, not as the Democrats' assumed base faction.