Jackson Jr.'s relatively critical

2008 RACE | Son takes on father, insists Barack Obama is talking enough about blacks

WASHINGTON -- Contradicting his father, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) writes in a Sun-Times column running today on the paper's editorial pages that White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is a "powerful, consistent and effective" advocate for African Americans.

Jackson mounted a strong rebuttal to a column by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. that ran in the Nov. 27 Sun-Times editorial pages where he chastised the Democrats running for president -- with the exception of former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) -- because they "have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country."

"... Democratic candidates are talking about health care and raising the minimum wage, but they aren't talking about the separate and stark realities facing African Americans," the senior Jackson wrote.

The words of Rev. Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate, carried a particular sting since he is endorsing Obama's presidential bid. The situation is even more politically charged because Rep. Jackson is a member of Obama's national leadership team. (The men are close; his sister Sanita is a childhood friend of Obama's wife, Michelle.)

Noting that the Secret Service gave Rev. Jackson the code name of "Thunder" when he ran in 1984, Rep. Jackson said that in his father's Nov. 27 column, "'Thunder' struck again."

"... While causing quite a stir, Reverend Jackson's comments unfortunately dimmed -- rather than directed -- light on the facts. But, they should be clear.

"As a national co-chair of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, I've been a witness to Obama's powerful, consistent and effective advocacy for African Americans. He is deeply rooted in the black community, having fought for social justice and economic inclusion throughout his life.

"On the campaign trail -- as he's done in the U.S. Senate and the state Legislature before that -- Obama has addressed many of the issues facing African Americans out of personal conviction, rather than political calculation."

The family of the Rev. Jesse Jackson is divided over the two Democratic front-runners. While the reverend and his namesake son support Obama, Jacqueline, his wife, is supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and another son, Yusef, is a major Clinton fund-raiser.

The Sun-Times has learned from the Clinton and Obama campaigns that Rep. Jackson and his mother will be hitting the campaign trail for their respective candidates in the early presidential voting states.

Both Jacksons are their own men, and it is not surprising that Rep. Jackson would speak up if he disagreed with his father over Obama. Rep. Jackson and his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), see themselves as a generational extension of the work of his father, the civil rights leader who founded Rainbow/PUSH in the wake of his presidential runs.

Rev. Jackson's 1984 and 1988 bids started with an African-American base, expanding to form a "Rainbow Coalition" to reflect the need for a broader appeal.

In an Oct. 24 NPR interview, Rep. Jackson, vouching for Obama, said, "Obama is not speaking as a friend of the community; he is speaking as part of the community -- he's one of us. He directly relates to the struggles within the African-American community.

"Now we have Barack Obama, inheritor of the Rainbow Coalition," Rep. Jackson told NPR.