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Bill Clinton And Jesse Jackson | 85 comments (85 topical)

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I was shocked by people's response to this. (5.00 / 0) (#85)
by derridog on Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 09:09:46 PM EST
When I first heard the talking heads saying it was an insult, I didn't know what they were talking about. Then I realized that they all think that comparing Obama to Jesse Jackson is an insult to Obama. I was infuriated by that. I'm a white woman and I was a Jesse Jackson delegate to the State of New Mexico's convention in 1988. I have the highest regard for Jesse Jackson. He stood up and kept going (and still keeps going) in spite of the most incredible racist attacks by the pundits on him of any black man other than Al Sharpton.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. They accuse Clinton of being a racist, yet they have always ridiculed Jackson and called him a publicity hog and worse. It's always yuk yuk yuk with those guys when they want to put somebody down. It doesn't matter what Jackson does. They attack him  just as they did Martin Luther King and in the same way, with ridicule.  Now they are doing it to Clinton.

The one thing I remember strongly about Jackson's campaign in 88 was that when he went to the mike to speak at one of his rallies, some white racist kids had cut the line so he had to shout. What a great joke, right?   Yet, he maintained his dignity with those kinds of attacks and he always has.  

I think you all  must be very young and not very perceptive about what constitutes racism. Perhaps Bill Clinton did mean this as a code method of pointing out that Obama was black. But if he did that in the face of all the crap he's been getting about being a racist and the willingness -even crazed frenzy --of the TV pundits and politicians to pounce on him for every perceived "evil" deed in this regard, he is a lot stupider than I think he is.

Perhaps, just perhaps, like me, he doesn't think that referring to Jesse Jackson or comparing Obama to him is an insult. Maybe Jackson doesn't think so either. Imagine that.  What does that say about what YOU think! Pluck the mote out of thine own eye, guys.

This is just a little food for thought!

[ Parent ]

I'm with you, Derridog (none / 0) (#87)
by gyrfalcon on Fri Mar 21, 2008 at 12:14:20 AM EST
I didn't get to be a delegate, but I voted for Jesse Jackson twice, too.

I think a big part of the problem is that people with lifelong clear consciences on race just aren't in the (guilty) habit of carefully censoring what they say on these subjects.  I think it probably never occured to Bill Clinton that pointing out the significance of a candidate's natural voting bloc could ever be remarkable.

I actually don't think it would occur to Obama, either, but he permitted his campaign to have the very deliberate strategy of looking for anything they could pounce on as racism or race-baiting in order to destroy HRC's support among African-Americans and (guilty) white liberals.

I don't care how many stirring speeches the man makes on race in America, this tactic is the ugliest I've ever seen in my pretty long life by one Democrat against another, and I cannot forgive it.


[ Parent ]

Bill Clinton And Jesse Jackson | 85 comments (85 topical)

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