Why Jesse Jackson Hates Obama ( SHELBY STEELE )

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | July 22, 2008 | SHELBY STEELE

[kellynla]

A few weeks ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made something of a fool of himself. There he was -- a historical figure in his own right -- threatening the castration of Barack Obama. It was sad to see.

If I have often criticized Mr. Jackson, I have also, reservedly, admired him. He is a late 20th century outcropping of a profoundly American archetype: the self-invented man who comes from nothing and, out of sheer force of personality, imposes himself on the American consciousness. If he never reached the greatness to which he aspired, he nevertheless did honor to the enduring American tradition of bold and unapologetic opportunism.

But now -- not looking old so much as a bit lost within the new Obama aura -- it is clear that Jesse Jackson has come to a kind of dénouement. Some force that once buoyed him up now seems spent.

Mr. Jackson was always a challenger. He confronted American institutions (especially wealthy corporations) with the shame of America's racist past and demanded redress. He could have taken up the mantle of the early Martin Luther King (he famously smeared himself with the great man's blood after King was shot), and argued for equality out of a faith in the imagination and drive of his own people. Instead -- and tragically -- he and the entire civil rights establishment pursued equality through the manipulation of white guilt.

Their faith was in the easy moral leverage over white America that the civil rights victories of the 1960s had suddenly bestowed on them. So Mr. Jackson and his generation of black leaders made keeping whites "on the hook" the most sacred article of the post-'60s black identity.

[hsalaw]

Interesting article from Steele, as always. White guilt (Jack$on) and white gratitude (Obambi) are both means of manipulation. I reject them. I don’t feel guilty about slavery, and I’m not grateful to the Obambi for relieving me of a guilt I don’t feel. He’s an empty suit, and he’d be an empty suit if he were white, black, green, or any other color.

[Slings and Arrows]

Already [Obama] has flip-flopped on campaign financing, wire-tapping, gun control, faith-based initiatives, and the terms of withdrawal from Iraq. Those enamored of his cultural potential may say these reversals are an indication of thoughtfulness, or even open-mindedness. But could it be that this is a man who trusted so much in his cultural appeal that the struggles of principle and conscience never seemed quite real to him? His flip-flops belie an almost existential callowness toward principle, as if the very idea of permanent truth is passé, a form of bad taste.

Bingo.

[denydenydeny]

And I have a new tagline.

[Slings and Arrows]

Good tagline.

[nathanbedford]

Here is a brilliant article, conveniently written by a black man, brilliant because it distills the essence of this election.

For a substantial segment of the American population this election is not about politics but about culture, not really even about culture but about salvation. The left and black America have invested in Barak Obama as the very figure of the Messiah who has come to redeem America from its original sins: slavery and prejudice.

As we conservatives and Republicans are about to learn in November, this election is not about national security or the war in Iraq, it is not even about the price of gas at the pump, it is about Uncle Tom's Cabin. The left is not electioneering, they are crusading. They are not offering a party platform but moral redemption.

Most of us don't get it, certainly John McCain does not get it, it is much like those of us who did not get the national paroxysm at the death of Princess Diana. The psychosis is emotional. Endless appeals to logic can have no more power to draw the victims to reason than they might have efficacy over diarrhea.

This is why I have been posting for so long in this election cycle, and even before the last election cycle, that Republicans are doomed to disaster in November if they campaign with politics as usual, if they do not change the rules of the game, kick over the table as it were, and drive home a whole new paradigm. Alas, John McCain has not demonstrated the slightest recognition that he will become known as Bob Dole's clone. Indeed, his declaration to the effect that he will conduct a civil campaign betrays an obtuseness that is breathtaking. McCain does not understand that he is in a very real sense irrelevant to the election of 2008. Professor Steele has told us what it is really all about.

Professor Steele is to be commended not just for his insights but for his moral courage in opening himself once again to attacks of being an Uncle Tom. If the article had been written by a white man he would be charged with racism. That is why I said that it is convenient that it was written by a black man. I do have one quibble which I raise to emphasize the importance of our impending crackup. If Barak Obama proves to be an inferior president, I don't believe that it will reflect badly on African-Americans, I believe that the media has so much invested in this mythology that it will continue to paper over every declension committed by Obama's administration. This will continue not just through the normal honeymoon period accorded every new administration but for years into his time in office. The mythology will make it more difficult for conservatism to emerge from the wilderness and restore the nation to reason. The media will have absolutely no incentive to prove themselves, as well as Barak Obama, wrong.

In fact, there will be virtually no American institution possessed of the power and the incentive to check the madness. Not the media, not the party in power which will control every branch of our federal system, not academia which has long been given over to radical liberalism, not the media as we have noted, not the majority of our churches which have been similarly infiltrated, not our foundations which devotedly seek to undermine conservative values, not George Soros of the world who have seized the levers of unconventional public persuasion.

Conservatism will be utterly isolated and embattled in the wilderness, reduced to less than the citadel of the old Confederacy, unable to filibuster in the Senate, only to make the noise of a falling tree in an empty forest. Only the excesses of ravening liberalism itself can cause the people to turn to conservatism and then only if a charismatic leader on the right emerges.

[R. Scott]

Of course Jessie hates Barrack Hussein - Barrack is living proof that all here are equal, and Jackson’s racist demagoguery is no longer relevant. Barrack has a good chance of becoming our next President - Jessie didn’t even come close to the nomination.

[AmericaUnited]

Here is a brilliant article,

Oh please! This snippet below disqualifies the author. Admiring some scummy shakedown artist does not in my book make you "brilliant" or principled.

I have also, reservedly, admired him. He is a late 20th century outcropping of a profoundly American archetype: the self-invented man who comes from nothing and, out of sheer force of personality, imposes himself on the American consciousness. If he never reached the greatness to which he aspired, he nevertheless did honor to the enduring American tradition of bold and unapologetic opportunism.

[ari-freedom]

so he realizes that if obama wins, jesse won’t be able to complain anymore...
But everyone else will.

[nathanbedford]

oh please

I think you are confusing perspicaciousness with morality.

[Christian4Bush]

mark for later

[bmwcyle]

Why do Rappers hate each other?

It is the same reason childishness, ego, and greed.

[Apparatchik]

So does Steele offer a prescription for stopping Obama? Surely he considers him at least potentially incompetent as a political leader, although a splendid moral one who is simultaneously a symbol of black pride and an absolver of white guilt. Obama should be pressed on racial issues, as he is likely to balk at openly forgiving white America for its past sins and incurring the wrath of his black supporters thereby demonstrating his weakness as a cultural phenomenon as well as a commander in chief.

I am less afraid of this fellow as President than I am of the cohort that surrounds him having nearly unlimited power. An Obama presidency would be potentially the most corrupt and economically damaging in the history of our nation.

[don-o]

Well said.

Obama (his handlers) are mainlining precisely what enough of the sheeple crave. They have taken "The Selling of the President" (1960) into the next level - "The Virtualizing of the President"

"Endless appeals to logic can have no more power to draw the victims to reason than they might have efficacy over diarrhea."

Instant classic!

[Alia]

Seems to me, Mr. Shelby has indeed offered a prescription for exposing Obama, and it is exactly as Dick Morris said last night on Hannity. Mr. Steele writes:

Worse, Mr. Obama's trick is to take politics off the table by moving so politically close to his opponent that only culture is left to separate them. And, unencumbered as he is by deep attachment to principle, he can be both far-left and center-right. He can steal much of Mr. McCain's territory.

Put Obama in a race against himself. Obama on Issue X; Obama on Issue X, Version 3.

And Mr. Steele, ends his article with "letting the voters decide". I concur with him:

But could it be that this is a man who trusted so much in his cultural appeal that the struggles of principle and conscience never seemed quite real to him? His flip-flops belie an almost existential callowness toward principle, as if the very idea of permanent truth is passé, a form of bad taste.

[Alia]

Well parsed and thought out. I concur with your analysis; but not necessarily your conclusions in re "conservatism in the wilderness". Yes, the mythmakers will paper over every misstep of an Obama Presidency, just as they do now during the run. And yes, there are voters who couldn't care less about principle; caring more about the cultural. And yes, conservatism will be deemed the bogey man during an Obama Presidency. However, the hue and cry of "fighting the establishment" has taken root in this culture, and it will be this that will make the work of the mythmakers much, much harder. The Boomerang effect.

Think: Black on black crimes is horrific. If and when crime swells, well, follow that thought. Boomerang. Special Preferences in education, jobs, etc... Boomerang. Etc. Make no mistake, what Obama thinks he's walking into as a job is NOT what he thinks it is going to be. The mythmakers are going to have their hands full in ways they never encountered under Clinton.

[BibChr]

he famously smeared himself with the great man's blood after King was shot

Ew.

Literally?

[dforest]

Shelby Steele knocks it out of the park. Again.

[nathanbedford]

I hope it will be done your way.

I rather think that while we conservatives are milling about in the wilderness trying to find our way and looking for the next Ronald Reagan, the forces of the left will begin to behave as do all opportunists when they get power-they will purge each other.

I say they are opportunists because they do not have a coherent ideology which binds them all together. Leftism is essentially not a political philosophy but a rationalization to play secular god. They will all be similarly motivated to climb over their fellows to the apex of power because power is what it is all about. Self-denial for the good of the movement is anathema.

So I think it is more likely that they will splinter before we get our act together.

[bert]

Hussein Obama has usurped the mantle of Negro leadership that was supposed to go to Jesse's son,not the bastard, the Congressman.

The Senate trumps the House. There will be no presidential candidacy for the bastards brother now.