The final question in your piece is a good one and the answer accurate. There's no reason Obama particularly "needs" Jesse Jackson to campaign for him. Certainly not as he has for so many white Demcrats who needed someone to excite the black community on their behalf. Clearly, this race is different.

Perhaps a role will emerge for JJ, but I doubt it makes much difference for him one way or the other. He's managed to get himself in trouble over a variety of things he has said through the years, but nothing will ever diminish the historic role he has played in our nation and our world.

I agree with every word of the piece. Jesse has done some good things in his past. But not without a hefty dose of self-adulation. Furthermore, in no way does his past accomplishments justify what he said about Barack Obama. Cut him some slack? He should get exactly what Hillary Clinton should get. An opportunity to sleep in the bed they made!

Jackson seems to have found himself in the role of a modern-day Moses: bringing his people to the promised land, but unable to enter it himself.

Good analogy, C of L.

A very thoughtful post, Ta-Nehisi.

I'd say that the tragedy of Jackson is even more complicated that your already nuanced description makes it out to be.

Jesse Jackson represented the hopes not only of African Americans, but also the left wing of the Democratic Party, which had nominated a presidential candidate in 1972, but has basically been in the wilderness ever since.

In 1984, Jackson ran a truly radical, truly outsider campaign with essentially no chance of winning...kind of like Kucinich or Sharpton more recently. But Jackson did much better than either of them would do.

So in 1988, Jackson ran to win. He brought on board real Washington and Democratic Party insiders like Ron Brown and Harold Ickes. Yet he kept his left-wing credibility. To this day, I've never seen truly left-wing people as excited by a major party presidential candidate as friends of mine were by Jackson (I was actually a staffer for the national Dukakis campaign at the time).

When Jackson didn't win, many of these supporters hoped that Jackson would build an institutional power base for the party's left wing, perhaps via the Rainbow Coalition, which he had founded in 1984. But this never really happened.

Ultimately, the power base that Jackson built, as Ta-Nehisi correctly describes it, was distinctly personal. In addition to the important reforms in the primary process, Jackson got himself a seat at the table for two decades, a run that now seems to have ended.

This is certainly something of a personal tragedy for Jackson, whose star rose early (he was a close associate of Dr. King and was with him in Memphis when he was assasinated), burned brightly, and then slowly faded away.

But it is also a tragedy for the progressive, peace and social justice wing of the Democratic Party, whose leaders since Jackson have lacked his charisma and never built the extraordinary electoral coalition that Jackson forged in '88.

The triumph of a centrist African American Democrat in this year's primary race thus fulfills half of Jackson's promise, but the other half is as distant as it's ever been.

Brother Ta-Nehisi says, “Jesse—quite literally—made Barack Obama possible.”

This is, of course, unmitigated bullshit. For over forty years now, Jesse Jackson has revealed himself to be little more than a serial agitator, devoid of scruple and utterly reliant on the teat of grievance and entitlement for his very sustenance. The thought of his being credited with the emergence of Barack Obama is akin to the notion that Mussolini begat Eisenhower, or Bull Connor made Dr. King.

Since the photo op on that Memphis balcony back in ’68, to this very day, any pavement laid or doors knocked down by Jesse, have been acts of specious vandalism done in the service of Jesse, save none. Even the Rainbow Coalition, the most persuasive contrivance of his nefarious career, was little more than a shell corporation and façade designed to endow the Reverend with the false veneer of legitimacy and a vehicle with which to raise funds. With Jesse, as with Al, job one has always been first-class self-promotion achieved through controversy—legitimate or otherwise.

If his kvetching after the campaigns of ’84 & ’88 can be connected to any current event, it is not the Obama movement. The closest contemporary parallels to those circuses are to be found in the hubristic, ruthless Hillary ’08 debacle—right down to the parasitic presence of Mr. Kvetch himself, Harold Ickes, and the iconic black apparatchik of the Clinton machine, Ron Brown.

Nevertheless, Brother Ta-Nehisi finds it both tragic and somewhat mystifying that Jesse has not been asked to campaign with or be a surrogate for Obama. He still seems to hold out hope that the Reverend might be given a formal role at the DNC and in the fall campaign, and he gives voice to the notion that some might be tempted “to go after Barack as an ingrate and say he's ducking Jesse out of fear of what white voters might think.”

Brother, please.

When Jesse says that he’s, “available to serve in any capacity that will help him,” his disingenuousness is more risible than anything he’s done since on SNL. Jesse and Al and Tavis and the rest of those who would occupy the, ahem, Head "African-American" Chair in 21st Century culture need to understand that their time has passed, and that it has been time poorly spent.

To borrow from Eddie Murphy, there’s a new sheriff in town—and his name is Barack Obama: an African-American, who isn’t interested in recycling shame and rekindling animus.

Mr. Coates left unanswered the question: If white voters hate Jesse and black voters are mixed about him, and [Obama] already [has] black voters locked down, what's to be gained by having him campaign?

The answer? Not a damn thing—and thank God for that.

Jesse Jackson is the name that Republicans put in their mailers when they want to raise big money. So many people can't abide him, that the checks come flying in at the mention of his name. That's a fact, not my opinion.

Jesse won't get Barack any votes at all and will lose some for Barack if he speaks at the convention, weaken support, and energize the opponent. So why the deuce is this such a scintillating question? If Jesse wants to be helpful that evening (as he says), he'll stay away. Couldn't be simpler. Make up some important reason, such as an overseas trip.