Reply #30: So why didn't we all go bat shit crazy in '84 and '88?

[jasmine621]

After Reagan’s reelection in 1984, Jackson concentrated on building what he called a Rainbow Coalition, which would organize people who were hurt by Reagan administration policies—racial minorities, the poor, small farmers, working mothers, the unemployed, some labor union members, gays, and lesbians. Jackson believed the Democrats had paid too little attention to people left out of the American mainstream, and he blamed this lack of concern for the party’s defeats in four of the previous five presidential elections. He argued that Democratic leaders were too timid in opposing President Reagan and that they had yielded to the Reagan economic agenda of aiding the rich and the nation’s military-industrial interests at the expense of the poor.

In addition to his attacks on Republican policies, Jackson encouraged disadvantaged people to participate in the political process, to register and vote. With enthusiasm, he traveled the country, preaching a message of hope and empowerment and urging America to undergo a moral transformation. This transformation would place the needs of people above corporate profits while inspiring Americans to overcome racial bias. At the same time, Jackson urged black Americans to take more responsibility for their own communities. Jackson's high public profile gave him numerous opportunities, especially through interviews on major television networks, to publicize the need for greater educational and economic opportunities for inner-city youth. Jackson helped to register millions of new voters, who contributed to many Democratic victories in the 1986 legislative elections.

Jackson campaigned again in 1988 for the Democratic presidential nomination. He took up the cause of the victims of 'economic violence,' including indebted farmers who had their lands seized by creditors, and women who received less pay than men doing similar work. He also gave the nation a vivid description of the problems caused by drug abuse and the drug trade. Jackson focused on new and expanded programs to help people improve their lives and proposed financing these efforts by reductions in military spending and higher taxes on wealthy people.

Jackson won 15 primaries and caucuses with the support of almost all blacks who voted as well as one-eighth of white Democrats. Jackson received seven million votes in all, one-third of the total Democratic vote, and more than one-fourth of the Democratic convention delegates. He electrified the national Democratic Convention with an impassioned speech in which he used the refrain “Keep Hope Alive.” This speech and his success in the primaries forced other Democratic leaders to recognize the power of his coalition and to acknowledge him as its spokesman. Jackson's efforts and campaigns helped black candidates to crack racial barriers that had kept them from higher political offices. By 1988 more than 6,800 blacks served in elected positions at the local, state, and federal level, and black mayors governed at least four of the ten largest U.S. cities. Jackson continued to work for racial and economic justice, and in 1996 the two major organizations he founded, Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition, were merged into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition."
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557067_2/Jesse_Jackson.html

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So Bill Clinton states the facts and is accused of being racist?
Jesse was every bit as inspiring during that time as Obama is now. What was the problem with Jackson? Was he too "black?" His message of unity was way before Obama.