US elections: Jackson apologises to Obama for 'crude' comments
Civil rights activist and religious leader Jesse Jackson this afternoon publicly apologised to Barack Obama for remarks that remain undisclosed, but which Jackson described as "crude" and "hurtful".Jackson told CNN that a Fox News microphone had picked up a private conversation about the Democratic presidential nominee.
Jackson, a long-time figure in Chicago politics, said he had been talking about the Illinois senator's recent comments directed to the black community.
"For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologise," Jackson said. "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 continued.
Jackson's remarks had not been reported in the US news media as of this afternoon. He told the Associated Press today that he didn't remember his exact words. He was being interviewed about healthcare by a Fox News reporter on Sunday when he was asked his opinion about Obama speaking in black churches.
Obama last month told a predominantly African-American church in Chicago that too many black fathers are "missing from too many lives and too many homes" and need to be more responsible for their families.
In addition to serving as an aide to the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and founding the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, a civil rights group, Jackson was a pioneering Democratic politician. His 1984 and 1988 bids for the Democratic nomination were the first serious forays into presidential politics by an African American. While falling far short of the nomination, in 1988 he won several states and helped pave the way for Obama's nomination this year.
Original Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/09/barackobama.uselections20082?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
