Jesse Jackson apologises for Obama slur
- 00:00:52
- ITN
Jesse Jackson apologises for Obama slur
US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has apologised for making a crude remark about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.Mr Jackson had complained that Mr Obama at times can seem to be "talking down to black people."The remark was made at the weekend while Mr Jackson was speaking into an open microphone that he thought had been turned off.Mr Jackson, talking on a US TV network said Mr Obama has given what amounts to "lectures" at African-American churches."I said it can come off as speaking down to black people. The moral message must be a much broader message. What we need really is racial justice and urban policy and jobs and health care. There is a range of issues on the menu," said Mr Jackson.Mr Obama would be America's first black president if elected on November 4 over Republican John McCain. Mr Jackson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and lost.Mr Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said the candidate accepted Jackson's apology. "(Obama) will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he of course accepts Reverend Jackson's apology," Mr Burton said.Mr Jackson's son, Jesse L Jackson Jr, an Illinois congressman and active Mr Obama supporter, condemned his father's remarks."Revered Jackson is my dad and I'll always love him. He should know how hard that I've worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Mr Barack Obama's presidential campaign. So, I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric," he said in a statement.
ITN | July 10, 2008
