Saving Obama by Attacking Him

Barack Obama was having a classic, Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Week. The recent story line was his shifting towards the middle, his vote for telephonic spying, his exception to a woman's right to choose, his endorsement of Scalia's reasoning on guns and his disagreement with the court on excluding the rapists of children from the death penalty.

Hardcore supporters, and people who believed he was different from regular politicians, were in despair; some were even open revolt. How could he change the subject? How could he get his mojo back? The answer came from an unnatural alliance of Fox News and the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Jackson was taped on Fox over an open mike saying that he thought Barack was talking down to black people and the he (Jackson) wanted to "cut his nuts off." Let go of the vulgarity of the good reverend but take in the level of disrespect he showed. Can you imagine what Jackson would have said if a white person had said such a thing? I can hear him charging that this is classic racism bespeaking the fear and hatred of black male sexuality and the desire to castrate strong African Americans. Coming from another black man does not, or should not, lessen the seriousness of this transgression. It is unacceptable--even if you think the mike was off. The sin was in the saying, not in the hearing.

This crude remark, however, has had some very positive, if unintended, consequences for Obama. It diminished Jesse Jackson, revealing him to be on the margins--if not completely off the playing field. It marks more than a generational shift, though it is surely that too. It marks the transition of African American political leadership from the prophetic tradition of standing outside the Tent of Meeting and thundering grave warnings to inside the Tent and asserting leadership of the whole community.

Obama was probably looking for his own Sista Souljah moment. This was the time when, then candidate, Bill Clinton proved that he was not a prisoner of radical black discontent by rejecting the soul-singing rapper's militant rage in front of a black group. Obama got to separate himself from the old civil rights establishment without showing any disrespect. In fact, by immediately accepting Jackson's apology, Obama got to distance himself from Jackson and be gracious all at the same time.

Jackson could not have been of more help if he had tried. Hmmmm. I wonder? Nah.