Obama's Trash Talkin' Opportunity

Jesse Jackson has apologized for his crudely intemperate remarks, after being caught by an open microphone saying he'd like to cut Barack Obama's "n**ts out."

Here's Jackson's statement:

For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Senator Obama[s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment.

My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.

That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms.

In other words, Jackson wants to castrate Obama for not toeing the "blood of martyrs" post-civil rights grievance line, which is a reference to Al Sharpton's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in which Sharpton attacked President Bush's question to the Democrats on why their leaders have failed blacks in educational outcomes:

Our vote is soaked in the blood of martyrs, the blood of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham, Alabama. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can't be bargained away...given away. Mr. President, in all due respect, read my lips: Our vote is not for sale! (Source: Juan Williams)

For the old-line Democratic Party civil rights leaders, Obama's not genuine - he ain't down with the brothas in da 'hood:

In the eyes of many blacks, Obama departs from past black presidential contenders such as Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton. They were readily identifiable, urban-bred, African-Americans who spoke out boldly on civil rights, poverty, and economic injustice. On the other hand, the racially mixed, Harvard-trained Obama, as the so-called postracial candidate, has soft-pedaled these issues. It's no accident that his appeal among whites seems stronger so far than among blacks.

If Obama's shrewd, he'll take this as his opening to break dramatically from the racial grievance masters of the Democratic Party's black-American base. Yo, Sister Souljah!!

He needs to throw the trash talkin' brothas and sistas under the bus. He'll still get the black vote - he's da Democrats' man now, more than Jackson ever was - but if he waits too long, indecision could turn this new flare-up into a Wright-like controversy (more here).

See also, Captain Ed, "Obama Gets Attacked On Race by … Jesse Jackson?"

Chicago-Area Local Coverage: "Rev. Jesse Jackson Caught Bad-Mouthing Obama."