Hit below the belt
Jackson apologizes, but Jesse Jr. 'deeply outraged' by slap at Obama
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was caught on videotape saying he wanted to "cut" presidential candidate Barack Obama's "n- - - off," for "talking down to black people."
(Sun-Times)
But the experience proved far more painful for Jackson, who scrambled Wednesday to apologize on CNN and then at his Rainbow/PUSH headquarters.
"I offer apologies because I don't want harm to come to this campaign," Jackson said.
What apparently had Jackson bothered was Obama's embrace of the Republican cause of funding government programs run out of churches and speeches Obama has been giving urging fathers, especially black fathers, to "turn off the TV, turn off Sports Center" and spend more time parenting.
Jackson said he thought the microphone was off Sunday as he sat on a Fox News set and whispered his frustrations with Obama to fellow guest Dr. Reid Tuckson.
Jackson's son U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has distanced himself from his father before, offered an especially pointed reaction: "I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Rev. Jackson's reckless statements about Sen. Barack Obama," the junior Jackson said. "Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I'll always love him . . . [but] I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself."
The senior Jackson repudiated his own comments just as fiercely.
"I said something I regret was crude. It was very private. And very much a sound bite," he said. "I find no comfort in it, no joy in it."
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly said the Chicago civil rights leader uttered even cruder comments that Fox nobly held back.
"I think that Rev. Jackson made a big mistake," said Bishop Arthur Brazier, in whose South Side church Obama made his Father's Day speech. "I don't think that Sen. Obama is talking down to African Americans and African-American churches. . . . He is asking African Americans as fathers to take full responsibility for the welfare of their families. He's right on target."
In that speech, Obama said, "Any fool can have a child -- that doesn't make you a father," to cheers of agreement. "Too many fathers are missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities. They are acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families have suffered because of it. You and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African-American community."
Jackson said the point he was trying to make -- too crudely -- was that he wanted Obama's message to focus on the government and policy that addresses problems that plague the black community.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the presidential hopeful accepts Jackson's apology, but he also defended Obama's record:
"As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Sen. Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children's lives. He also discusses our responsibility as a society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all."