Conspiracy Theory
It’s true — Jesse Jackson loves the microphone, and damn well knows when one is turned on. Or even pointed vaguely in his direction. So what’s up with getting “caught” wanting to cut off Obama’s danglies?
After a couple days of doing what I call “thinking” and what my bride calls “drinking and talking out loud to yourself way too loudly,” I came up with a theory.
I call Jackson’s outburst the Reverse Souljah.
Obama needed a way to distance himself from Jackson without actually doing so — which might hurt him with some of his core voters. So why not have Jackson do the job for him? Jackson didn’t denounce Obama, exactly. But he did say that Obama is “talking down to black people,” about things like fatherhood and dependency.
And what could make a potentially-nervous white voter feel more comfortable with Obama than getting that kind of seal-of-disapproval from a race-hustler like Jackson?
It’s a little kabuki, a little Clinton, and a lot smart.
Dong?
Freudian typo corrected, thanks.
Well, we may be drinking the same thing because, with the exception of Beta-Male Obama, I don’t think politicians make as many mistakes of statement as they’d have us believe.
I just have trouble believing anyone on O-boy’s team is quite that smart.
So he jumped under the bus like a good little Souljah? I don’t see it quite that planned.
If it was planned, he wouldn’t have come up with “cut off his nuts”, since that’s absolutely not the kind of thing Obama would want out there. Maybe Jackson planned it, but not with Obama’s blessing.
Jackson is a blowhard, knows his time is in the past, knows Obama is taking what he considers to be “his” movement in a course he can’t control, and is being a petulant jerk about it. That’s all. No one wants to be irrelevant, and some people find a way to make their own irrelevancy become a reality faster than others.
Nah.
I think Jesse was just pointing out the obvious about Obama. Obama talks down to just about every possible social group, and Jesse simply expanded the list to include blacks.
You know, if someone wants to talk down to to me, he better be some inter-stellar freak emerging from a spaceship on The Mall with a big robot by his side. Some overrated punk from Chicago with paper-thin political credentials and a mediocre IQ of 125 and a motormouth-shrew for a wife does not get to talk down to me.
Steve, I’m in awe (not something I confess to lightly).
I believe you are on the money here. This makes sense, while nothing else really does.
It smells like…….Obama.
I hate to say it, but if this is so, it actually raises Obama substantially in terms of presidential timbre in my eyes.
achmedinewackjob, look out!
I was going to agree with Roderick — “Nah” is most likely the correct response to my silly little theory.
But then Neill said he was in awe, and I like the sound of that a lot better, right or not.
Erm…a “mediocre” IQ is 100, by definition.
125 is substantially above average…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
From the get go, I thought it was odd that this happened on Fox News. But in light of your theory, that makes sense.
Every good liberal knows that the ignorant whitey rubes get their evening dose of Republican propaganda from the “Faux” News channel.
So if that’s your target audience, you’ve got to get your message out on Fox….
This theory is a popular one. I always fall back on the words of Krauthammer:
“In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.”
This isn’t (all) Washington, and Jackson and Obama are cunning, but they are also wrong-headed and stupid. Why would Jackson deliberately end his reign of terror in ignominious forced retirement?
Actually Brian, I would say that 100 is, by definition, “average.” This is an absolute term (i.e., sum(values)/no. of measurements). “Mediocre” is a relative term (i.e., relative to Stephen Green, Obama’s IQ is mediocre). Regardless, most IQ classification systems have 125 in the range of “very superior intelligence.” My question, then, is how did Obama get the 125? I suspect most adults with that average 100 IQ (ratio of mental age to chronological age) know that there are 50, as opposed to 57, states.
Regardless, sorry Stephen; I don’t see it. Jackson is just an old man, irrelevant lashing out.
I’d say the drinking is winning out over your thinking. Never attribute tactical political brilliance to what can best be explained by the singular stupidity of an aging, jealous hack. In a manner of speaking, Occum’s Razor applied to Obama’s nuts.
I absolutely believe the Reverend Wright National Press Club event was staged to give Barack the chance to distance himself (before October).
So who knows.
But Scott in OC–funny comments!
Get your little victories where you can Stephen, when your boy becomes 10 you find out that you are a complete idiot.
Here’s much better conspiracy theory dealing with Obama’s hometown.
http://nalert.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicago-democrats-and-chicago-mob.html
Stephen, I’ve been saying this was a set-up from day one.
Jackson is be a pompous ass, but his true gift is as a money vacuum. Obama has proposed a widening of federal grants to faith-based organizations, and (per today’s Chicago Tribune) has already sent money Jackson’s way (as an Illinois state senator, he once directed $200,000 to a Jackson initiative).
Jackson will swallow his pride, as long as there’s a big check attached. And just think of what that $200K can turn into, once Obama gets to have a tighter grip on the federal purse.
I had the same thought, which foundered upon two rocks: one, so far the Obama campaign has shown itself to be remarkably deceptive and opportunistic, but not particularly adept at playing actual politics; and two, I can’t see Jackson’s ego permitting him to take one for the team.
I think Jackson simply resents the coming end of his era. Win or lose, Obama is going to drive some nails into the coffins of the race hustlers.
I am glad to see this analysis seeking in (if it is outside your blog). The idea that Jesse Jackson would have a Reaganesque brain lock in the presence of an open microphone (whether or not Reagan intentionally staged this is left to speculation, although it was certainly something to be desired to make the Kremlin wonder if Reagan might be some impulsive, reckless ex-cowboy actor) is incomprehensible. The vulgarity of the comment was perfect. It allowed Jesse Jackson to be distanced from Obama without a serious policy disagreement. If he had attacked him on Iraq, it might have set up a serious wrinkle in Obama’s black support. A vulgarity in terms of “faith-based” organizations is not a serious policy disagreement, since it should have been apparent to everyone that that this was only a way to tom-tom the religious left that under an Obama administration, they will be favored in the showering a federal boodle. Making it a petty vulgarity — something that would repell the white middleclass voter — was a way to make Obama more acceptable (“. . . at least that Sen. Obama is not a vulgar black person like that Rev. Jackson.”). Obama is set to win big — McCain is dead in the water and losing his primary issue (Iraq) — and all Obama has to do is not convice white voters that he not a lefty radical, thus persuading them to stay home on election day.
Okay, Percy, good point. Jackson is a whore and might conceivably take a hit for a big enough check, with promises of a even larger ones down the road.
From the beginning I thought it was a setup. What triggered me was Jackson was talking to another black guy and said “He’s talking down to black people”. I’ve been around enough black people to know that they don’t often refer to other blacks like that when talking to another black person. If it were truly off the cuff he would have said “He’s talking down to us”.
Maybe Jesse Jackson was drinking.
Steve, love you, love the website and thus I say, from my heart, you have to get out more. Really.
I heard Jesse on the radio about a year, for the first time in a long time, and I was shocked, he sounded 80 years old, real old and I see he is only 66.
He is aging badly, also the Fox transcriber has to be in on it to.
Both Obama and Jesse, even now, must be given credit for the media savvy if nothing else.
This is just to ridiculous to be calculated,
to think otherwise, well, at least drink outdoors. It’s summer.
Here’s the problem with your conspiracy theory. It’s a big deal now, but Jackson’s comments were missed at the time. They were only caught when the tape was being transcribed that night. The transcriptionist sent an email to Bill O’Reilly’s producer, who took almost a day to send them on to the big man himself.
If were planning an incident like this, why would you have Jesse Jackson whisper? Are there people so devious, who could come up with the fine tuned options like whispering?
NB: IQ follows a normalized curve. So called “normal” IQ’s range from 80-120, with 100 being the average. 125 is ever so slightly north of normal.
That being said, I don’t have a good citation for Barack’s IQ, and it’s pretty irrelevant anyway. One’s intelligence, if one has it, is a tool, and the greater question is how one chooses to employ it.
His careful phrasing, eyes looking outward, etc. did not look shoot from the hip to me; but what do I know about what goes on in Jackson’s head? Or anybody else’s, of course.
It could well have been deliberate.
The kicker would be to go through Jackson’s other potential open mic incidents in the last week or two and see if he’s done it before and just didn’t get noticed that time.
If he’s been doing it repeatedly, waiting to get noticed, then .. it was absolutely a set-up.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it really was some baroque maneuver. But what’s the evidence, really?
It probably is a case of “never attribute to malice what can sufficiently be explained by stupidity”. And someone’s riff on Clarke’s Third Law: “Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice”.
Some of the comments are missing the point. The fact that it took several days to be noticed does not mean that it must have been accidental. Insteal, it was a verbal depth charge that was kicked over the side to do its work whenever — if it was noticed, if not noticed, the Obama campaign would simply go to Plan B and try again. To make it whispered enabled Jackson to disavow the comments as “private” and never meant for public distribution. If the plan was to do this, you can imagine that the Rev. Jackson would have kept trying until it WAS noticed. The point was to provoke a reverse “Sister Souljah” moment for Barack. Nicely done, but not perfectly done because astute observers have seen through it. Not that this matters to the mass of voters or the media, which is in the tank for Obama anyway. Obama is systematically reversing his stances on multilple issue to leave behind his leftist roots where he won the nomination and to become a “centrist” for the general election. McCain is letting him do it and acting like he barely notices. Barack is even getting away with claiming in a television ad thqat he got people off the dole when he voted against welfare reform. Soon it will seem impplite to bring up anything from Barrack’s leftist past “not reflecting his real views,” raising the boogeyman of the leftist who sat in on the Rev. Wright’s surmons for 20 years. McCain is giving a good impression of a man meant to lose or not that eager to become President. Where are the “Swift Boat Veterans” when you need them?
There is no reason to believe this since it came from Fox News.
http://mydeletedweblog
Intention or inadvertance? Conspiracy or stupidity? Reverse Souljah or aging, jealous hack? This is an argument only won by the sharpest wit; in this instance, Scott in OC: “In a manner of speaking, Occam’s Razor applied to Obama’s nuts.”
I thought it may be a ploy by Jesse to allow Jesse Jr to distance himself from his father & move closer to Barack and preserve his political future. Jesse Sr has no coattails, but Barack sure may.
It was totally made up and preplanned, just as you suggest. What better way for obama to to rid himself of this unwanted baggage (garbage).
Truth First shows another reason why it made sense to do it on Fox.
The wacko left will write it off as something completely made up.
Ya know. Because it’s on Fox.
Forgive me for being long winded, but …
I was listening to the POTUS ’08 channel on XM as I was driving around while running errands this afternoon, and I was struck by the fact that on show after show, forum after forum, EVERY single political commentator — from MSM stalwarts like Ron Brownstein to the whiny, snarky, young, “hip” media chicks (and their snarky, wussy emasculated male counterparts) on Slate Radio — attributed Rev. Jackson’s remarks to his frustration/jealousy over being “old,” “old school,” part of the “old guard,” “irrelevant,” “yesterday’s news,” etc.
What’s more, EVERY one of the political commentators that I head this afternoon (I listened on and off for parts of five different XM shows) stated — in matter of fact fashion — that no one takes Jesse Jackson seriously anymore. And they ALL made it absolutely clear that Rev. Jackson is widely regarded to be a less than savory figure.
Who knew!?!
The last time I checked (or at least as recently as last year’s Don Imus Rutgers WBB scandal), Rev. Jackson was still revered by the MSM.
But, as of this afternoon, he’s officially a discredited, irrelevant symbol of the unseemly, bad old era of racial strife in America … an era that Barack Obama has singlehandedly ended.
And Rev. Jackson is just bitter old man who’s struggling to come to grips with his newfound — but undisputed — irrelevance. So it should come as no surprise that he’s pissed at the young, charismatic, upstart agent of change who has triumphantly pushed his old ass to the curb.
Or so the Narrative goes.
But what really gets me is that so many conservative observers (including most of the presumably libertarian/conservative leaning commenters on this blog) have bought into the Narrative: hook, line and sinker.
When I first heard of Rev. Jackson’s whispered comments, I immediately assumed the entire controversy to be a staged opportunity for Sen. Obama to have his very own “Sista Soulja moment,” as brother Green has suggested.
Remember that just last week, Sen. Obama’s campaign ran a similar good cop, bad cop gimmick with General Wesley Clark. On CBS’ Face the Nation, Clark said that he wasn’t impressed by the fact that John McCain got shot down while “riding around in a plane” in Vietnam. And then he said that getting shot down doesn’t make McCain qualified to be president.
After the predictable controversy (by way of conservative talk radio and Fox news) ensued, Mr. Obama voiced his displeasure with General Clark’s statements. Thus, Obama successfully pulled off a first “Sista Soulja”-esque moment,” by which he distanced himself from the left wing, ostensibly anti-war (but in reality, military hating) nutters who so revere the anti war General Clark — and who assail Sen. McCain’s military service and time as a POW. (This is intended to insulate Sen. Obama from future “Swiftboating” of McCain’s military service — courtesy of the far left/nutter fringe — that will likely become more pronounced as the campaign progresses).
So this week’s castration controversy was Rev. Jackson’s turn to take one for the team. Don’t forget: Obama garnered hella praise for his Fathers’ Day speech, in which he told the congregation a South Side black church — despite the fact that the speech was intended entirely for a white audience (i.e., middle class white voters) — that black men need to step up and become better fathers. Rev. Jackson’s allegation that Sen. Obama “speaks down to black people” pertained, primarily, to Sen. Obama’s Fathers’ Day speech. While Mr. Obama didn’t actually denounce Rev. Jackson’s comments, his campaign did accept Rev. Jackson’s apology. In doing so, Obama becomes effectively distanced from the most iconic figure from the “old guard” of the Civil Rights movement (as the narrative goes) — a figure who is widely disliked by the majority of America’s white voters — and has branded himself as the leader of a new era in American race relations.
What’s more, in distancing themselves from Rev. Jackson, the Obama campaign is able to subtly reinforce the idea that Obama is NOT just another “old school” race huckster who blames all of black America’s problems on “the Man,” but rather a reasonable kind of bloke who has even gone so far as to have called on black men to take responsibility for their lives — not unlike the call for personal responsibility that Bill Cosby made a few years ago.
And the icing on the cake, in terms of “Sista Soulja moments” came by way of the Senator Obama’s harsh criticism of comedian Bernie Mac. At an Obama fund raiser here in da Chi last night (Friday), Mac warmed up the crowd prior to the Senator’s entrance. As luck would have it, some of Mr. Mac’s material took a turn toward the blue side. When Sen. Obama took the stage, he wasted no time in condemning Bernie Mac (a fellow South Sider) for referring to black women as “ho’s” in his warm up act.
Make no mistake: that’s a veritable triple play of “Sista Soulja moments” for the Junior Senator from tha Illie.
BTW: I’ve worked in politics in Illinois, I know the Chicago political landscape fairly well, I grew up in the South Suburbs and understand the South Side, and I can assure you that Rev. Jackson and the Jr. Senator are NOT adversaries. In fact, Rev. Jackson and Sen. Obama go way back. Prior to his run for the Illinois state Senate, Barack Obama had to kiss Rev. Jackson’s ring — as all South Side politicians must do (including Mayor Daly). Furthermore, Rev. Jackson and Sen. Obama are neighbors in the Kenwood/Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side, and Rev. Jackson endorsed Sen. Obama’s Presidential bid when Obama entered the race (1 1/2 years ago).
I should have added to my above comment, should Senator Obama become President (which he unquestionably will become), he will no longer be permitted to serve in the United States Senate. As such, the Governor of Illinois — himself, a Chicago machine Democrat — will be tasked with appointing Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate.
And it is widely believed (in Chicago circles) that the Governor will appoint Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. to replace Mr. Obama in the Senate.
Steve, you’re dead on. That was my first, gut reaction the moment I heard about Jackson’s comment. Strategy, pure and simple. And Trashtalk’s comment only makes it more reasonable.
OTOH, Mr. Jackson has a habit of jamming his foot into his mouth up to the ankle…remember the whole “Hymietown” flap of a couple of decades ago?
Fox New is a Republican propaganda network. It is not the truth. The truth is here at:
http://mydeletedweblog
TF –
Are you saying the videotape of Jackson is a fake?
In the meantime, I’m killing your link for being completely off-topic. And also because you’re an idiot.
Spoil-sport, Steve! (Of course, we can still click on his stupid name and go see even more inanities… but I’ve already seen all I need to know.)