San Francisco Examiner - July 11, 2008
Susan Ferrechio, sferrechio@dcexaminer.com

Jackson, who was appearing as a guest on a Fox News television program, whispered to a fellow guest during a commercial break that "Barack's been talking down to black people," adding that he wanted to castrate him.

Jackson quickly apologized to Obama and other black leaders, but the tension between Obama and some blacks remains, and there are those who believe it could harm his strategy to increase black voter turnout in important Southern states like Georgia and Missouri.

"What Jesse Jackson did was illustrate the frustration of many blacks," said professor Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Center at the University of Maryland. "We have the irony of having an African-American running for president of the United States, but we don't have him talking about the issues that are pertinent to our community."

Instead, Walters and other political observers say, Obama has mostly delivered to blacks lectures on personal responsibility, like the one given on Father's Day to the congregation of a church on Chicago's South Side, in which he criticized absent black fathers.

"We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception," Obama told the audience. "We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child ù it's the courage to raise one."

Throughout the primary season, Obama delivered many sermonlike speeches to black audiences, mostly to thunderous applause.

But Obama's approach has left many blacks concerned about racial inequalities and wondering if he will start addressing issues important to them, such as urban poverty, discrimination and AIDS, like Jackson has done.

George Mason University professor Michael K. Fauntroy said Obama has campaigned very little in the black community, mostly because he knows he can count on almost universal support.

"There has been almost no meaningful explication of issues and no meaningful campaigning in black communities," Fauntroy said. "There is some avoidance that has taken place."

Fauntroy said many blacks are angered by Obama's dismissal of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his embrace of federally funded faith-based initiatives, which some studies have shown do not benefit black inner-city churches as much white suburban churches.

But Obama's tone is what has caused the most anger.

Walters said Obama's Father's Day speech appeared aimed at white evangelicals and "was no different than something Newt Gingrich would have done."

Though black commentators were quick to criticize Jackson for his overheard comments, many also faulted Obama.

"By choosing that moment to castigate black fathers, some worry that Obama gave public voice to what white people whisper about blacks in their living rooms and cemented his image as a post-racial savior at the expense of black men," wrote Ebony/Jet writer Eric Easter.

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