OPINION Time for Rev. Jackson to step stage right

Les Payne

Jul. 14, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- As Nelson Mandela walked the line of dignitaries at Kennedy Airport during his historic 1990 U.S. visit, the Rev. Jesse Jackson positioned himself before the TV cameras, then reached up and needlessly adjusted Mandela's tie.

This cheap gesture on the tarmac revealed Jackson's compulsion to steal the scene, and it signaled his more ambitious aim to keep the cameras focused not on Mandela but on himself. Earlier, in South Africa, Jackson had brazenly attempted to join Mandela in his very walk out of prison after 27 years for fighting against apartheid.

The U.S. trip was planned for Mandela -- who turns 90 on July 18 -- to thank Americans for pressuring the racist South Africa government in his behalf and to raise money for his African National Congress party to run in the first democratic elections. While supporting these noble efforts, Jackson's self-centeredness got the better of him. Hogging the spotlight, the civil rights leader was escorted, politely, out of a New York City meeting with a national newspaper. On the last leg, the African National Congress headed off the maneuvers of Jackson's entourage to board Mandela's plane from Detroit to Los Angeles.

Keeping Jackson away from TV cameras was akin to blocking the pull of iron filings to a magnet.

Yet, until last week, the savvy Democrat had seemed content to operate in media shadows this primary season. This containment was a singular achievement of Barack Obama's campaign, ranking, in some circles, alongside the defeat of the Clintons' juggernaut. The handling of the irrepressible fellow Chicagoan is all the more surprising because, unlike, say with Mandela, Jackson's groundwork paved the way for the first black Democratic nominee.

In his 1988 bid for the Democratic nomination, Jackson raised some $17 million, won seven primaries, four caucuses and carried some 1,250 delegates to the national convention that nominated Michael Dukakis. With a larger bankroll, Jackson speculates that he -- instead of Obama, two decades later -- would have been written into the history books.

Still, Jackson-the-trailblazer remained pretty much a loyal if not overly enthusiastic Obama supporter until his snide attack. His utterance over a TV studio microphone assumed to have been mute had Jackson accusing Obama of "talking down" to black people, presumably during a Father's Day speech at a church. Jackson's cruel and unusual punishment for this alleged condescension called for him to "cut off."

Such is the normal stuff of Jackson asides. They are as empty of malice as they are florid with colors and billingsgate. Analysts might probe for deeper meaning not so much in the metaphor as in the irony. Obama's alleged offense was at a South Side Chicago church where he told an audience of far too few dads that they should be more engaged in their children's lives. This vital message at the proper venue was delivered quite appropriately and directly to the targeted group.

By contrast, Jackson is a past master of the art of indirect self-criticism. In his heyday, the civil rights leader had the nasty habit of floating the stereotype notion in mainstream media that black Johnny can't read because black Johnny just won't study. While it is questionable that Obama was "talking down" to blacks, there is no question that Jackson's sly "black Johnny" slander was half-baked.

The bold captain's reaction to media opportunity, however, remains hair-trigger. Before Fox TV even aired its off-mic Obama riff, Jackson was on the horn with CNN with a preemptive apology.

Criticism of Jackson's off-color remarks cites jealousy, envy, self-righteousness, or worse. I rather suspect that the Rev. Jackson is a committed, though reluctant, admirer of the younger Obama, who has outdistanced his own campaign efforts.

Like most aging lions, Jackson hears the powerful roar of the future and dreads the hunt going forward without him at the lead. It is not enough that Obama stands on Jackson's shoulders, as he most assuredly does. The proud and dashing Jackson longs once more to square his shoulders and head to the convention podium before the national TV cameras. The march of time, however, demands a turning of the page and of the leaves as the darkness turns into day, world without end.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0134-26637029