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Obama Accepts Jackson's Apology -- And Stands By His Statements On Personal Morality
The Obama campaign released the following statement tonight, in reaction to Jesse Jackson's comments about their candidate:
"As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Senator 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. He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
What's interesting here is that the bulk of this statement is dedicated to standing by the main points about personal morality that Jackson had attacked. While Jackson's apology is accepted in clear terms, the placement of the acceptance at the end puts it in a secondary position to the main points -- as in, Obama will continue speaking as he pleases.
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Can you believe this came from a so called minister?
Jesse knew he was included in with all the other men that choose to have "baby Mama's"like jesse's child outside his marriage.
If you can't hear morality in church,where is the other forum that's acceptible? Jesse is corrupt and a H Y P O C R I T E.
July 9, 2008 10:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen. You called this right.
Jackson is unbelievable.
July 10, 2008 12:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama didn't have a father because of a white woman: Obama's mother refused to follow her husband to Africa and divorced him. This was her decision -- not Obama Sr.'s. In fact, Obama's father returned when Obama was ten attempting again to persuade her to join him. From 126-129 Dreams of My Father.
For Obama to turn this into a false morality play about why black males should show more personal responsibility is ridiculous.
Obama Sr. was not a saint -- he lied about being divorced from his first wife Kezia claiming that he was divorced but he could have no divorcepapers because it was a village wedding.
He had already had a child with Kezia and continued the relationship even after marrying a third woman in Africa. It is unlikely that he would have ended the relationship with Kezia even if Obama's mother had chosen to return to Africa with him. You have to remember that polygamy was accepted and moral in his culture. Obama senior did intend to form a family and take care of his children with Obama's mother
July 10, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
WTF??? are you talking about?! Obama's dad left his mother to go to Harvard and get his PH.D.
If you don't know what the deal was don't speculate...please
You are sick, talking about this morality BS. Obama is right he was raised without his dad and his mother went on to pursue her OWN PH.D. why the hell do you have some sexist notion that she should have followed that man to Harvard?
StanleyAnn, Baracks mother, was a trailblazer. She went on to become a VP in microfinancing. You obviously do not know Obama's history or the caliber of person his mom was vs. his no account dad to even try to insinuate somehow that she was suppose to be his Geisha girl.
One of the major influences in Obama's life and major impacts in terms of women supporting their families independent of no account spermdepositing men IS his having being raised by a single mom..who had her own self dignity and who knew her self WORTH. Which means she did not need to trail behind some man who was earning a PH.D. when she could not only earn one on her own but also raise a child in the process.
So stop with the BS.
You are completely uninformed...do some research and find out how not only did his mom pioneer international microfinacing but his grandmother was VP at her bank!
Barack, understands FIRST hand about struggling single women and their Rights and need to be respect in patriarchal America.
July 10, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, let's get the obvious joke out of the way first:
"Hey Jesse, you can't cut off Obama's balls. They're in a jar underneath a telecom lobbyist's bed."
There. I've done my bipartisan deed for the day.
July 9, 2008 11:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse Jackson should STFU.
Too late, I know.
July 9, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jackson is a troll. He apologized, Obama's moved on, I've moved, we need to move and so does CNN...LOL.
July 9, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
When is the last time anyone cared so much about something Jesse Jackson had to say?
July 10, 2008 12:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Loooong time...thankfully.
I think his son said it best:
Says Jackson JUNIOR in a statement: "I'm deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson's reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama. His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee -- and I believe the next president of the United States -- contradict his inspiring and courageous career. Instead of tearing others down, Barack Obama wants to build the country up and bring people together so that we can move forward, together -- as one nation. The remarks like those uttered on Fox by Revered Jackson do not advance the campaign's cause of building a more perfect Union."
Concludes Rep. Jackson, Jr.: "Revered Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him. He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So, I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself."
July 10, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Jesse was offended because he was called out by the mother of his illegitimate child to be a father: http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/08/16/jackson.mistress/
July 10, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or maybe his son from his intact marriage is outrage about how he humiliate their family and his MOMMA!!
July 10, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jackson only wishes he was man enough to cut off Obama's nuts. Jackson is corrupt and I am so pleased to see his son's statement. This will end Jackson's days of privledge and status(even if it was obtained by self-promotion) and I believe Obama is relieved to shed this pile of garbage from around his Balls!
July 10, 2008 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
OT, but vital: Obama needs money. McCain and his secret funding cohorts are outspending us and raising tons of money. Daily Kos says it best below. Please donate, I cannot take McCain's heh, heh, heh, for 4 years, I will be committed.
Markos says:
And how do I feel about Obama? Pissed at his FISA stance; not crazy about the religious program (just believe that church and state don't work, example, George W. Bush); abortion stance I am fine with; don't like his gun control position; his Iraq stance has not changed (and let's be real here, we don't know the real story on Iraq because the horserace is more important and cheaper than keeping journalists in Iraq to get the real story); but I am not going to be caught up in a pissing match to give the GOP points because in the end, I WANT TO WIN in November. That is the real picture, winning in November.
It sure has been a long time since we tasted the White House. At the pace we are going, it will be another long time, AGAIN. We need to get it together.
July 10, 2008 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/standard?source=mainnav
Even $5 will help. Link above to donate. On to November.
July 10, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Even Marion Barry can see through the desperate-because-left-out poseur Jesse Jackson. He said, some time ago:
"Jesse don't wanna' run nothing but his mouth."
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900124&slug=1052427
And run it did. What a jerk.
July 10, 2008 12:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse is dead to me.
July 10, 2008 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's less surprising Jesse uses colorful language. We never needed a additional sound bite to declare Jesse a nut. But I didn't know Jesse was a total dumbfuck. Only he can assume a setting in a Faux study to be safe enough say disclose his real feelings.
Jesse and Al should be tied at the hip and retired to a basement somewhere in Timbuktu.
July 10, 2008 1:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully he already was before this happened. The guy is an articulate fraud and gangster, which is well known.
July 10, 2008 6:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ditto.
He is nothing but dirt.
July 10, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
this is hard to believe. he's supposed to be a man of God but is this how he talks in private, cutting someone's balls off? I would not say anything like that, even about Bush or Cheney even though I disagree 100% with them. this is just really, really hard to believe.
July 10, 2008 12:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse, Reverend Wright and McCain are well-past their political prime but lack the grace to quit while they still have a shred of dignity.
July 10, 2008 12:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse Jackson is right. Obama talks down to black people as if they were children. That's really the white (racist) side of him coming out. If Hillary talked down to back people the way Obama does, he would have been justified in playing the race card like he did.
July 10, 2008 2:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Were you raised by a single mom?
Obama is coming from a place that is personal to him. If old farts like Jesse Jackson don't like it tough.
We, black, white and brown, need leaders who tell us like it is and demand we act like adults.
July 10, 2008 7:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are dead on. Jackson needs to STFU!!!
July 10, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The House of Representatives has been run like a plantation..and you know what I'm talking about!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaEuE90ifg
July 10, 2008 9:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think there are a lot of people in the black community who agree with what Obama is saying, but at the same time I wonder who exactly the audience for these comments of his is.
I mean, it isn't like he has to campaign for black votes, so what's the point? It seems almost as if he's trying to get the votes of people who look down on the "black community" by pivoting off of them, you know what I mean?
In other words, while reform is needed, calling for reform while campaigning for white votes is really tacky, IMO.
July 10, 2008 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's a thought: Maybe Obama, who was raised by a single mom, actually believes this is a crisis in the black community. Perhaps he feels that, as the most prominent black person in the country, he has the platform and responsibilty to speak out about this. You know, just like he did when he ran for the Illinois state senate and the US senate.
July 10, 2008 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's always about Obama's political calculation. For ten years he attended a black church that had the exact opposite view - that white racism was responsible for every evil in the black community - including drugs and AIDS. Why? Because he needed to establish his credentials within the black community in order to further his political career. But now that he's the nominee with the black vote in his pocket, he needs to show white voters that he has the same attitude towards the black community that they do - that it's really their own fault. So he denounces his pastor, resigns from his church, and goes around lecturing black people on being more responsible. Obama is absolutely shameless, and it's no wonder when more honest politicians like Jackson become fed up with it.
July 10, 2008 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
O please you are talking out of your butt. Obama's church beleived no such thing.
Obama is speaking from his OWN reality. '
There are an avalache of studies which attest to what he says about fatherlessnes and how that impacts young kids developmental.
Obviously you are ignorant of them and the truth of what he is saying.
This is not a white black issue.
If you were informed on how deterimental fatherlessness is you would know that WHITE boy raised without a father have a HIGHER incarceration rate than black boys!!
Got that?
Higher!
Do you understand the significance of that relative to the rate of incarceration of black youth vs. white youth?
If not, look it up and learn something.
Fatherlessness is a SERIOUS issue.
Obama is right to address the issue as one of the primary factors impacting the success of the black youths.
Get a life.
or
Learn about the topic before you open your mouth and sound like an uninformed ignoramus.
July 10, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huh, what did Jesse Jackson even say anyway? I have no idea, I just see this article about him apologizing.
July 10, 2008 2:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Something about ripping Obama's genitals off, because he doesn't like Obama speaking about the need for Black Americans to take moral responsibility for what's happening in their own homes and communities:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/hot-mike-catche.html
I like that Obama's response is classy, as always, and stays on message.
Jackson reminds me a bit of Bill C. I imagine he might resent the rising star of Obama, just a bit, and it's coming through here in his hostile comments.
July 10, 2008 6:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bill C. has the same issue. His momma raised him alone until she met a man named Clinton who her son William took the initiative to change his last name too!! Wasn't like that man adopted WJClinton.
July 10, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I watched the Verdict with Dan Abrahams and they played the clip, it was Jesse Jackson and some other guy sitting at a news room for an interview, that they thought they weren't on air, and Jessie Jackson is whispering to the guy next to him saying how Barack Obama needs to stop talking down to us....blah, blah,... he thinks he's better...blah, blah. It sounded like Jackson was giving the other guy talking points what to say as you now how fake the MSM is today. The whole footage looked fake, or intentional, and I was almost inclined to think that Rush Limbaugh was right on his Operation Chaos II, the infiltration. I'm certain he's going to be talking about this today, and telling his listeners how this justifies his theory. I'm sure there will be a video of it popping up soon on the internet.
July 10, 2008 6:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was not fake. It looked fake because the other man refused to engage Jackson, he was wishing he was not hearing what Jackson was saying, because it was so rude,lewd and crude THAT is what makes it look fake, the other guys attempt to look nonchalant as if he is not hearing the gross comments that are occuring. Watch it again and you will see how professional folks act when place in situations that are totally inappropriate and they are subjected to conveersation they canNOT respond to because they know it is best to simply NOT acknowledge the statement...watch how the guy is pursing his lips.
But Jackson said every word, with his crude crass personality.
UGH.
He is just like WJClinton...no respect for family or home...a totally lack of integrity. Just male dogs..whores both of them.
July 10, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse Jackson himself has delivered quite similar messages to African-American men throughout the years. So what the hell is he squawking about now?
And he's done so with one hand in the till and using contributors' money on his girlfriend and the child they brought into the world (he has five with his THEN-and-STILL current wife Jacqueline if I'm not mistaken).
I'm amazed anyone even listens to this fraud anymore.
July 10, 2008 6:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse Jackson's main problem is that he doesn't get air time anymore.
July 10, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse has a baby momma...that is what he is responding too. His true core values. He is nothing but a male whore just like Bill Clinton. Neither of them respected home and family enough to not publically humiliated their wives and children.
Despicable males, is what they are.
July 10, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's handling of this dust up will do nothing but enhance his reputation. After all what he is standing for is what most of us believe in and all of us need to hear.
All of us need to take responsibility for our lives and for shaping the lives of our children. We are only victims if we allow ourselves to be.
On the other hand and unlike the "everyman for himself" Republicans, Obama believes government exists to help all of us meet our responsibilities.
July 10, 2008 6:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow.
Jesse Jackson dissed Obama. The only possible explanation is that Jackson hates black people. Right?
July 10, 2008 7:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
What pisses me off is that the media is all over this, but virtually no one knows that back in 2000 McCain said "I hate the gooks, I will hate them as long as I live" and then refused to apologize to the millions of Asian Americans he offended (to say nothing about the people of Asian countries he'd presumably have to deal with as president). I cannot believe that in over a year and a half of him being a candidate this hasn't come up:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/07/john-mccain-says-i-hate-gooks-and-media.html
July 10, 2008 7:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain actually did apologize, or at least his campaign did but it took them three days.
July 10, 2008 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bizarre responses from some of you.
1. I have no idea the motivation for Jackson's utterings, but they are nothing other than a political gift to Obama. That was a speech that was largely ignored by the MSM back on Father's Day, and now he gets to highlight it again. Win for him.
2. There is nothing remotely wrong with the child of a single parent home noting that it is high time that folks take responsibilty for their families. That is a message that is current, crosses all communities, and cannot be repeated enough.
3. The media's attempted spin on this, particularly this morning on Today, was laughable in the extreme. Lauer tried to turn this into Obama now having "problems in the black community". I missed the next part because I was laughing too hard. If Lauer were any deeper up McCain's colon, he would be coming out McCain's mouth. Let me know which african-american voter will run to McCain because Obama asks for responsibility, Matt Lauer, and then come at me with "problems in black community".
4. Oh, and by the way, while Today spent 20 minutes trying desperately to make controversy and hurt the Obama campaign, they found exactly zero minutes to point out that McCain took a huge rhetorical wrecking ball to social security. Someone let me know when the fourth estate will stop shilling for the Republicans. I yearn for that day.
July 10, 2008 8:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Someone let me know when the fourth estate will stop shilling for the Republicans."
It isn't going to happen. In the daisy chain that is Washington McCain is so far up the colon of various big conglomerate defense contractors there is no way employees of their entertainment divisions, like Matt Lauer, are ever going to whisper the truth about the clueless old fart.
July 10, 2008 8:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse Jackson fears and loathes Obama for the same reason Bill Clinton does.
Barack is the new kid: smarter, cooler and better looking that the old guy(s).
Sucks to be yesterday's news.
July 10, 2008 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
If there were an edit function I could have changed "that" to "than" in the penultimate sentence.
Alas, there is not so I could not.
July 10, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are so right.
Not to mention that Jesse took the message personally since he has a baby momma.
His own ass bought into the psycosociodysfunction that is prevalent in the black community.
He has a baby on the side outside his marriage.
So when he says 'obama is talking down to black folks' what that means is HE feels HE is being talkde down to because he is guilty of the very transgression Obama is addressing and more over despite him having the title of REVerend he has no moral high ground because he, himself engaged in the very same amoral behavior.
EFF...Jesse Jackson..he needs to have a seat at the back of the bus cause he didn't know how to act when he was given a seat in the front.
He blew it.
Keep HOPE alive!
July 10, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse has worked his entire life to get attention, and now he is watching the new guy soak up all the airtime.
Poor guy's jealous.
July 10, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesse sez: it sux to be irrelevant and yesterday's news.
July 10, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Castration and other mutilation was frequently a part of the lynching of black men for a wide variety of real or alleged offenses. Rape was not the most frequent excuse, some of which were petty, insignificant and seem incredible. People were lynched for "crimes" such as registering to vote, arguing with a white man, disrespect to a white woman, shoplifting, drunkenness, elopement, insults and refusing to give evidence.
In A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930, authors Stewart Tolnay and E.M. Beck list 75 recorded reasons why blacks were lynched, including "being obnoxious, disorderly conduct, indolence, suing white man, trying to vote, vagrancy and unpopularity"
So the Rev. Jackson's sotto voce urge to castrate Obama's for "talking down to black people" has a long tradition among southern white racists.
July 10, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great point Neal. Black males were lynched and castrated if they even thought they could have power like the white folks...that was the entire point of lynching to intimidate black males so they would not even THINK about trying to compete and sit at the same POWEr table.
Guess what?
Obama is the new POWEr...and Jesse and Bill are OUT!!..thus the castration reference
Hallejuiah
July 10, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink