Jesse Jackson on Obama: 'Some Layer of the Excitement is Gone'

In an interview with SPIEGEL, civil rights activist and Baptist minister Jesse Jackson discusses Black America's frustration with Barack Obama and the president's failure to anticipate the Republicans' tenacious will to 'destroy' him.

SPIEGEL: When was the last time you spoke to President Barack Obama?

Jackson: It has been a while.

SPIEGEL: But you were one of his early mentors in Chicago and the picture of your public tears in Chicago's Grant Park after his election victory in 2008 went around the globe. How would you describe your current feelings about his presidency?

Jackson: At that moment in Grant Park, we were finally winning, but I was reflecting on the long journey, the many years of struggle for civil rights. Obama ran the last lap of a 60-year campaign. I thought of all the bruises we endured during this campaign and I thought of Dr. Martin Luther King and wished he had been there just for 20 seconds to see how 60 years of struggle suddenly paid off. Sure, some layer of the excitement of that night is gone.

SPIEGEL: Is it true that even among African-Americans Obama's standing has suffered?

Jackson: We blacks were the first people embracing Obama, long before the people at expensive fundraisers were supporting him. We gave him his first love, 96 percent of blacks voted for him in 2008. Yet today we are the number one in unemployment, with 16 percent of American blacks out of work. We are number one in foreclosure, number one in short life expectancy, in loan default. Big banks steered their toxic products toward minorities and Congress did not oversee them properly because it is basically corrupted by all the money it is raising on Wall Street. So there is a lot of pain here in our community and this pain must be addressed.

full: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,778990,00.html

Whoever is unrec'ing needs to effing read the article first.

comments during the campaign, therefore in my book what he says about Obama is not exactly relevant.

and never has..

I take his remarks as fluff..

Yeah, there's a credibility problem here. He said that because he thought Obama was "talking down to black people".

A biased perspective, to say the least.

the ones who are always trashing this AA president? :shrug: Me thinks Jesse is suffering from the same green eyed monster that Tavis and Cornel are afflicted with. I think each of these guys thought they would be invited to play a much more intimate role in this administration, and when that didn't happen, they resorted to childish playground tactics. It's pathetic, really.

And who would know better about a "missing layer of excitement" than Rev. Jesse?

I think he's just sharing his concerns.

He also subtly digs at Cornel while seeming to show a great deal of sympathy for Obama's plight. He even says that he regrets some of the things he's said to and about the president.

Jesse knows he's made an ass out of himself in the past. And unlike the Two Clowns Smiley and Corny, he actually seems to have learned and grown from those mistakes.

:rofl:

damn, it is getting hard keeping up on these things.

I don't think so. You must be groggy still. :rofl:

saying he has resorted to childish playground tactics and saying he is affected by the green eyed monster of jealousy.

What a disgusting fucking corruption of language and reason.

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

And a charlatan!!

Blacks were skeptical that the skinny kid with the funny name could beat The Clinton machine and weren't planning on wasting their votes on him. They became his most loyal supporters, but they weren't the first to embrace him as Jesse says.

Move over folks, one more for the undercarriage of the bus.

:popcorn:




:D

No one put him there, and the points he was trying to make aren't exactly correct.

As noted above.

But I think this paragraph is essential:

"But Obama's focus on talking about black responsibility gave the impression that our problems are based primarily on a lack of responsibility and less on a lack of resources. It gives the impression that somehow we are unemployed because we are not working as hard. And there is no evidence of that. The gap between black and white has widened in America. There is a growing health gap, a housing gap, an income gap. But this gap is not an effort gap, it is structural and institutional - the continued legacy of centuries of slavery and legal segregation. And don't forget: The black community was essential for Obama's victory. He must nurture that base if he wants to be re-elected."

On this, the Rev and I agree.

harmony and cooperation in government. It was naive.

the two sides are diametrically opposed.

that is what is sad and disappointing to me.

not that he didn't create harmony...but that it
in unattainable. The only way I ever see it being achievable is
if there was some TREMENDOUS catastrophe where we all HAD to
come together.

he sure never fucking attempted to harmonize with REAL DEMOCRATS

In the CURRENT black community, Jesse Jackson is irrelevant. Hell, even Jr. distanced himself from him during the primaries and general election. Rev. Al has taken his spot and Warren Ballentine is on the come up. That's why the white media need to buy a clue, but I guess that wouldn't go with the slant they are going.

Yeah, there some black people who may be disappointed in the POTUS. But the more accurate question to ask black people is NOT if you are disappointed in the President, but WILL you vote for him in 2012.

In spite of any disappointment we may have, we understand what he is up against.WE knew it wasn't going to be easy for him and WE knew that he wasn't the Magic Negro that a lot of the mainstream thought he was. We knew he was an intelligent man who loved his country and knew that he could lead it in the right direction from the hell hole gw left us in
End of story.