Jesse Jackson's unkindest cut

If the Rev. Jesse Jackson has trouble with something Sen. Barack Obama has said, why does Jackson wish to have the senator from Illinois neutered?

Don't get me wrong.

Jackson is within his rights to charge as he did in a Fox TV studio this week that Obama's pitch for federally supported faith-based initiatives is "talking down to black people." I don't share that assessment.

But here's what nags at me: If Jackson's problem is with the words leaving Obama's mouth, why does he want to relieve the man of his testicles?

Jackson, in a comment caught on a microphone that he thought was turned off, said of Obama: "I wanna cut his nuts off."

Pray tell: Wouldn't it make more sense for Jackson to conjure up a response directly related to Obama's action, such as, well, calling for the removal of his tongue as in the biblical injunction: "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away?"

('Course, the reference is to your own eye, not someone else's.)

But castration?

This whole thing is silly.

It brings to mind what Marion Barry famously said when told that Jackson was thinking about running for D.C. mayor. Proclaimed Barry: "Jesse don't wanna run nothing but his mouth."

Whatever else may be said about Jackson's remarks before that hot mic and setting aside all of the highbrow speculation about the deeper meaning of his words this much is considered an article of faith in the 'hood: The reverend brother was simply fat-mouthing.

That's right.

Jesse Jackson was sitting on the TV set next to a brother talking trash, selling wolf tickets, being verbally aggressive when he knew full well that he wasn't about to do anything but dis Obama (presumably) behind his back.

Which would make this an incident of little moment except that the media have made it a signal event in the life of the nation.

It's being billed as a fissure in the united black front; the eruption of a smoldering volcano lying just beneath the surface in the black community; the outbreak of black class warfare; the aging black warrior going up against the young, black upstart.

In short, it makes for good ratings.

Jackson's disparaging comments led network evening newscasts and dominated talk shows Wednesday night.

NBC's "Today Show" kicked off Thursday's broadcast with a Jackson segment.

If that weren't enough, the question posed repeatedly after Jackson's remarks were aired, heard on channel after channel, from breathless anchor to breathless anchor: "Now, what does the black community think?"

And, quite hilariously, black notables regarded as experts on black people (because white producers don't know any better) popped up all over TV Land trying their best to answer that stupid question.

I'm so tired of writing this and some of you may be weary of reading it but it once again seems necessary, so here goes: There is, in our United States of America, no such thing as monolithic black opinion on anything. That most certainly is the case where Jesse Jackson and his worldview are concerned.

The same might be said about the so-called African-American perspective on other such disparate issues as faith-based initiatives, Obama's word choices, wife Michelle Obama, hip-hop, shoe and hair styles, what's beautiful, what's ugly, abortion, gun control, watermelon, California wildfires, chitlins, pit bulls, personal responsibility, societal responsibility, the Baptist Church, the Catholic Church, Jeremiah Wright, the Nation of Islam, missile defense, the estate tax and half-smokes.

Sure, there are some unspecified number of African Americans who will nod and say "amen" when Obama takes black men to task for not living up to their responsibilities as fathers and husbands. Just as there are folks, such as Jackson, who get bent out of shape and accuse Obama of doing a "Bill Cosby" on black youths while ignoring societal conditions that cause the misbehavior.

And so it goes. As it ever has.

There's only one aspect of this episode that still concentrates the mind. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) angrily denounced his father's comment, saying in part: "I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself."

Now there's a bright and courageous young man who, given his father's predilections, could do with an iron jock strap.

King is a former deputy editorial page editor of The Washington Post.