|
WASHINGTON: Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson apologized to
White House contender Barack Obama for making a “crude” remark
about him, which was picked up by a live television microphone.
Jackson was apparently unaware his mic was still
on after a Fox News interview when he whispered to another guest
that Obama, who is vying to become the first African-American
president, has been “talking down to black people.”
The reverend then added: “I want to cut his
nuts off.”
“For any harm or hurt that this hot mic
private conversation may have caused, I apologize,” Jackson said
in a statement.
“My support for Senator Obama’s campaign is
wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical
moment.
“My appeal was for the moral content of his
message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility
of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility
of government and the public policy which would be a corrective
action for the lack of good choices that often led to their
irresponsibility,” Jackson said.
“That was the context of my private
conversation, and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part
for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in
Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it.”
Later, in an interview on CNN, Jackson said he
had said “something I regret was crude. It was very private. And
very much a sound bite.”
Obama accepted Jackson’s apology.
“As someone who grew up without a father in
the home, Senator Obama has spoken and written for many years about
the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of
fathers participating in their children’s lives,” said Obama’s
campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
“He also discusses our responsibility as a
society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all. He will
continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and
each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson’s
apology,” Burton said in a statement.
Jackson, 66, is a former associate of
assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Jackson made
his own unsuccessful runs for the Democratic presidential nomination
in 1984 and 1988.
-- AFP
|
