Jessie Jackson using the “N” Word?

What is wrong with everybody?  Fox is reporting that Jessie Jackson used the “N” word in that conversation he had on the air thinking he was of the air. 

The point of his off the air conversation was to say that Senator Obama is talking down to black people.  I can think of few things one can do to “talk down” to African Americans that are as impacting as use of the “N” word. 

The crazy part of all of this is that this man thinks of himself as an Obama supporter.  This man also thinks of himself as a leader in the African American community and here he is on tape talking about Senator Obama in such a negative light and is using some of the worst language that one can use in discussing African Americans.

I have never been a huge Jessie Jackson fan, but this is unfortunate for him that his private conversation was recorded like that.  But, I guess he has nobody to blame but himself for whispering into a microphone in front of a camera and assuming that nobody would hear him.

I suppose that this is a sign of the passing of the baton from one generation of leaders in the African American community to the next generation.  This particular incident is just one indicator as to why the baton needs to change hands.

President or no president, the multi-racial and well-spoken Senator Obama seems like a good choice to be a leader in the African American community.

As far as the election, the only thing I think that has happened here is that Jessie Jackson has just lost much of his voice in terms of influencing this election and possibly within the African American community as a whole.  For Senator Obama it seems as though this is just a small distraction from the regular stresses of the campaign.