I have an obama question?

Question

why didn't obama pick jessy jackson for vp? jessy has been a senator for a long time now and is a civil rights leader and to me i think he would of brought more to the table

Answer 1

Choosing a VP is a fine balance of appealing to the base & swing voters. Jesse Jackson, being as controversial as he is, would have lost Obama enough votes to lose the election.

Answer 2

Sadly, there are many people in this country whose view of the Obama candidacy goes no further than the color of his skin. For these people, there is no thoughtful consideration of his positions, or the posiive motivating effect he is having on people, espeically young people. For these people, Obama is simply a black man.

Among this subset of the poplulation is a persistant fear of a black "uprising" - a social and political revolution led by blacks for the sole purpose of retaliation against white people for years of discrimination and denied opportunity. Although there is a fringe in the black community that support this concept of revolution, it is certainly not Obama's position, and never has been. Obama does support the rights of working class people and wants to defend them against the excess of government, but it is not a black agenda.  

Although Jessie Jackson (please note the correct spelling of his name) is not a senator, he is indeed a peaceful man whose contributions to this nation have not been fully recognized, this same subset views Jackson as an old school, black power civil rights advocate. When Jackson advocates for civil rights, the fearful subset hear "kill whitey". Of course, this is nonsense.

A section of Jackson by Obama would defeat a central ideology of his campaign - that it is not about race. Obama is a politician advocating change for this country, but his is not advocating any specific black agenda.

Jackson has long been associated with a specifc black agenda, and would not only confirm the suspicions of the subset, but would cause second thoughts on the part of Obama's many white supporters.

Joe Biden (again, please note the correct spelling of his name), is a repsected, experienced politician whose credentials are nearly flawless, and whose color is a source of reassurance for those in fear of a black uprising. His foreign policy experience as well as his long history in the Senate makes him a likely effective partner with Obama for his change agenda.

Besides, it is not at all clear that Jackson and Obama have a good working friendship. This is very important during the campaign, as well as the presidency.

This may be the most important election of our lifetimes. Please keep asking good questions, and keep an open mind.  

Answer 3

i don't think that there is much love lost between these two men

and i think you hit the nail on the head when you said jesse jackson had more experience and more credibility - obama wouldn't want anyone on his ticket that makes him look under qualified - this is one of the reasons he dissed hillary clinton

he doesn't stand up to close or semi-close examination

his arrogance will be his downfall (along with his amazingly thin resume)

Answer 4

Jessie Jackson like the above poster said, is not a senator and has never been one. He has been a minister this is true. They would not have been a good match at all. You can tell they don't even like each other. I had seen an interview where Jessie thought that the mike wasn't on and said some bad things about Barak Obama. He later apologized for those remarks. I find Obama to be arrogant also. I guess that is what puts me off about him. Or maybe that is aloofness? I  really don't know.

Answer 5

He should of picked Rev. Jerimiah Wright.