Blacks chose Obama over Jackson as race spokesperson

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First, calling someone an Oreo is as outdated as wearing Ivy League-pants.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.

"In a July 19 Washington Post article analyzing Sen. John McCain'a ad claiming Sen. Obama 'never held a Senate hearing on Afghanistan,' media reporter Howard Kurtz wrote that the ad 'is accurate in saying that Obama, who has spent most of the past two years campaigning, has not held a hearing on Afghanistan in the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee he chairs.'" But Kurtz failed to note that McCain is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but has not attended a single Armed Services Committee hearing related to Afghanistan in 2007-08.

MediaMatters, a media monitoring group, stated, "It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama's one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has attended zero of his committee's six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years.

"Meanwhile, Obama attended the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan in March 2007, although he used the opportunity to ask Gen. James L. Jones, then the commander of NATO, about Pakistan. Jones also came before the Senate Armed Services Committee that week. But McCain was a no-show," MediaMatters reported.

In addition to failing to provide proper context, some news outlets state lies as though they were the truth.

MediaMatters found: "During the July 19 edition of Fox News' 'America's Election HQ', anchor Gregg Jarrett falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama's overseas trip, which includes planned stops in Iraq, Israel, and Jordan, constituted his 'first trip to the Middle East.' In fact, as MediaMatters for America has documented, Obama made a January 2006 Middle East trip that included stops in Iraq, Israel, and Jordan." Who says Obama is getting more favorable media attention?

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com