THE Rev Jesse Jackson, the controversial black American politician, yesterday apologised to Barack Obama after telling a TV interviewer he wanted to "cut his nuts off".
Mr Jackson, second only to Mr Obama in terms of prominence in the black community, made the comments after an interview with Fox Television. Unaware that the microphone was still on, he told a fellow interviewee: "Barack's been talking down to black people. I want to cut his nuts off."
As a media storm enveloped him, Mr Jackson apologised for comments he admitted were "hurtful" and insisted he was speaking regarding Mr Obama's attitude to black churches.
"I was in a conversation with a fellow guest at Fox," he told CNN. "He asked about Barack's speeches lately at black churches. I said it can come off as speaking down to black people."
Although the Democratic candidate's campaign quickly accepted the apology, few staffers felt it was a surprise.
Mr Jackson has reportedly complained in private that Mr Obama's campaign has been ignoring him and other black activists in his run for the US presidency.
While the comments have probably ended what hopes Mr Jackson had of a place in a future Obama administration, they come as a gift to the candidate in his desire to move towards the political centre. Mr Obama has been keen to distance himself from the left-wing label that the Republican John McCain has attached to him as both scramble to attract swing voters.
Mr Obama has sought to portray himself as a politician who happens to be black, rather than as a black politician.
This was based on a calculation that white voters would be turned away from a candidate who pushed a black agenda, as Mr Jackson tried and failed in a Democratic presidential primary in the 1980s. However, while this strategy has failed to dent Mr Obama's 90 per cent support among black primary voters, it has infuriated some of the African-American political establishment.
It is not the first time Mr Jackson has attacked Mr Obama. In September, the State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, reported that Mr Jackson had said Mr Obama was "acting like he's white" in his response to the arrest of six black teens in Jena, Louisiana. Mr Jackson later disputed the quote.
Mr Jackson's son, Jesse Jackson jnr, a Congressman, said he was disappointed by his father's "reckless statements."
"His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee – and I believe the next president of the United States – contradict his inspiring and courageous career," the younger Mr Jackson said.
Meeting New Yorkers at a fundraising with his former primary rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, yesterday Mr Obama made no mention of the controversy.
Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, was anxious to show that an often bitter battle was now behind her, telling her supporters to back her former rival. "I'm grateful for all of you who have come together," she said.
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