The Political Chase

Does Jesse Jackson need to refocus?

In a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed, The Rev. Jesse Jackson has made allegations that the Democratic candidates, with the exception of John Edwards,”have virtually ignored” African Americans in the 2008 campaign process.

[T]he Democratic candidates — with the exception of John Edwards, who opened his campaign in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward and has made addressing poverty central to his campaign — have virtually ignored the plight of African Americans in this country. The catastrophic crisis that engulfs the African-American community goes without mention. No urban agenda is given priority. When thousands of African Americans marched in protest in Jena, La., not one candidate showed up.

I can’t attest to the credibility of Rev. Jackson’s allegations, which are for the most part very generalized and ambiguous. The only specific incident Jackson cites is related to the Jena 6 matter.

I know John Edwards has campaigned extremely hard for the disenfranchised and impoverished. I know he has advocated the needs of the poor and made countless trips through poverty-stricken areas across the nation trying to draw attention to the need, but as Greg Sargent accurately noted the other day, the press does not give him fair coverage. Even the New York Times‘ public editor published a piece admonishing his paper for giving Edwards “scant coverage”

With respect to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the other Democratic candidates, I am not aware of any allegations of gross neglect as Rev. Jackson claims in his op-ed. That doesn’t mean anything except I’m not aware of any real neglect other than by most GOP candidates, which has been unconscionable. But, if things are as bad as Jackson attempts to portray, is it not reasonable to presume there would be numerous complaints from multiple sources? And would they not have a certain level of specificity?

I by no means intend to imply that my knowledge of what each campaign is doing (or not) is comprehensive; however, I am quite likely more aware of the candidates’ activities and positions on the issues than the average American voter. Taking that into consideration, the most frequent ethnic issue I continue to hear is: “Is Barack black enough?” Moreover, I hear that question raised by Chris Matthews more than any other source. And frankly, I find the question to be repugnant, irrelevant, and downright stupid. If the next president will be elected on the basis of whether that person is black, white, or green “enough,” then we have a seriously dysfunctional society.

No one can legitimately argue that ethnic or gender discrimination does not exist, but I believe the majority of Americans do not condone those types of discrimination.

One can only make assumptions about most of Rev. Jackson’s statements because he does not suggest a single solution for any issue. He does not make a specific request, nor does he reference specific incidents, except as noted on the Jena 6 issue. Rev. Jackson’s complaints are so broad and generalized that he seems to be demanding presidential candidates have two custom platforms: one for African-Americans and another for whites, which literally turns We the People on its head.

Patterns of discrimination are sharply etched. African Americans have, on average, about half of the good things that whites have, and double the bad things. We have about half the average household income and less than half the household wealth. On the other hand, we’re suffering twice the level of unemployment and twice the level of infant mortality (widely accepted as a measure of general health).

Policies on health care, employment, wages, and the judicial system should be established to promote the general welfare of all the people. If Rev. Jackson is concerned about discrimination and is positioning himself as an advocate of the disenfranchised, he failed to meet the objective. He does not address the plight of amongst others: homosexuals, Hispanics, Native Americans and whites. Accept it or not, white people are discriminated against, albeit not to the extent African-Americans endure. I don’t have statistics or references to prove my posit, but I believe the predominant factors related to discrimination in general are economic. I have little doubt that the lower the economic class is, the greater the prevalence of discrimination. A turquoise man in the lowest economic classification will have a greater probability to be the victim of discrimination, than for example, Vernon Jordan or Warren Buffet

And what about religious discrimination? Jackson does not mention it. What better example to cite than Mitt Romney’s view that the ratio of people who are Muslims is not high enough to merit a Cabinet position in his administration.

The level of commitment by the current Democratic presidential candidates with respect to social issues that promote the general welfare for all the people is unprecedented in modern politics. Not since Lyndon Johnson have Democrats or Republicans proposed the level of social changes that are basically common to the platforms of all the current Democratic candidates.

Is Rev. Jackson serving as a true advocate of equal rights or is he attempting to raise the level of rhetoric to serve his personal interests? If the answer is the latter, then Rev. Jackson should consider some reflective time on inclusiveness. Rhetoric that attempts to pit two specific races against each other is counter-productive and indicative of 40-year-old tactics. Listening to a few of Barack Obama and John Edward’s speeches may be insightful.

To emphasize a few points,, I quickly wrote an over-the-top fictional tale-of-woe, but debated at some length whether I should include it in this post. By including it, I obviously made a decision. The outlandish tale, but unfortunately all too realistic for many, follows the jump.

I raise my point/issue after the tale-of-woe.

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An 18-year-old girl is married to a 19-year-old crack addict, both of whom are ninth-grade dropouts. They have a a two-month-old baby with spina bifida and a four-year-old son diagnosed with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, which may actually be schizophrenia, but he is too young to accurately diagnose yet. Besides they can’t afford mental health care to get more tests. They don’t have health insurance and even if they did the insurance company has a limit of $500 per year for mental health coverage.

The father just got fired from his 30-hours per week part-time job stocking shelves at Wally-World for selling crack in the store’s bathroom. All buzzed up, he runs from the police, however, made it to an ATM outside a bank. He withdrew $215.00, which emptied the couple’s sole bank account, only to be mugged as he left the ATM. Consequently, he snatched the purse of a 79-year-old lady coming out of the bank, who to his good fortune had just cashed her $859.18 monthly Social Security check — her sole means of support — and had put all of the proceeds in her purse. She suffers from dementia and doesn’t have the capacity to keep track of a checking account.

Paranoid from drug abuse and knowing the authorities are pursuing him, he knows he can’t go home and therefore flees on foot to allude the police. Moreover he can’t he entertain the idea of sneaking home to get the only car they had; it was repossessed a month ago.

Meanwhile, his wife is at home having sex with some John. Home is a four-room federally-subsidized apartment, surrounded by numerous other apartments, some of which are makeshift meth labs and mini-crack houses. The sordid interaction was her first trick since the baby was born two months ago.

The John beats and rapes her, but she will not go to the hospital because she has no health insurance and knows she will be compelled eventually to tell the authorities her attack was associated with an act of prostitution. Moreover, she is confident she doesn’t stand a chance with the authorities. Long before violence erupted, she persuasively gleaned that her John was a 26-year-old political appointee, whose name was something Cheney — a detail she deemed unimportant initially. He is employed in the the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, and just passed the bar exam last week.

Her husband, with his newly acquired riches of $850.28, what’s left after buying a quart of MGD and a pack of Marlboros, continues his flight from justice to who knows where.

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I just couldn’t resist the Cheney, DOJ jab.

What race are these people?

Do they need help and would their lives have been different in 2010 based on what you know about the presidential candidates today?