The District Chronicles

Issue date: 8/17/08 Section: Politics

While everyone was fixated on Jesse Jackson's interest in castrating Sen. Barack Obama,  almost overlooked was another Obama insult  John McLaughlin, host of the "McLaughlin Group," made.

McLAUGHLIN: Question: Does it frost Jesse Jackson that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype Blacks once labeled as an Oreo - a Black on the outside, a White on the inside - that an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?

First, calling someone an Oreo is as outdated as wearing Ivy League-pants. Second, who is McLaughlin to reduce Obama and his accomplishments to a racial stereotype? Third, Obama is not Black on the outside and White on the inside; he's Black and White inside and out. That puts him in a unique position to help narrow the racial divide in this country. Obama has clearly stated that he is rooted in the African-American community but not limited by it.

While we're on Jesse Jackson, anyone who has been around him for any length of time probably wasn't surprised by the coarse language he used to describe what he would like to do to Obama. Knowing how crude Jackson can be, my first response was: "That's all they caught on tape?"

Obama has run a successful presidential campaign without guidance from Jesse Jackson. I suspect that irritates Jackson and, hence, the crude outburst. Obama frequently pays homage to civil rights warriors who have come before him - he did that again at the NAACP convention in Cincinnati - but that doesn't mean he needs to win Jackson's approval before deciding on a course of action.

This whole notion of "Who Speaks for the Negro?" - the title of a 1965 book by Warren Penn Warren - received a big jolt with the release of an annual Gallup Poll. The poll found that 29 percent of African Americans cite Obama as the leader they would choose as their spokesperson on racial issues. Far back in second place was Al Sharpton at six percent and Jesse Jackson with four. This is the first known national poll where Sharpton outranks Jackson.

With a sample of only 608 Blacks and a margin of error of plus or minus four percent, I have my doubts about the validity of this poll, especially when it found Bill and Hillary Clinton, with a ranking of three percent each, and Minister Louis Farrakhan, Colin Powell and Bill Cosby, all tied at one percent each.

More important than polls that purport to show "Who Speaks for the Negro?," is the way Obama and Sen. John McCain are placed in context of their public pronouncements. Earlier, I wrote about journalists repeating McCain's accusation that Obama flip-flopped on whether he would accept public financing without noting that McCain also reversed his position on the issue. Things haven't gotten any better since I pointed out the uneven coverage of Obama.

Continued...

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