Mr Jackson has reportedly complained in private that Mr Obama's campaign has been ignoring him and other black activists in his run for the US presidency.
While the comments have probably ended what hopes Mr Jackson had of a place in a future Obama administration, they come as a gift to the candidate in his desire to move towards the political centre. Mr Obama has been keen to distance himself from the left-wing label that the Republican John McCain has attached to him as both scramble to attract swing voters.
Mr Obama has sought to portray himself as a politician who happens to be black, rather than as a black politician.
Leave it to a non-US publication to properly frame what Jesse Jackson's boneheaded comment means to Obama (he can separate himself from the old Black guard and make political hay from that), and how Obama has been positioning himself all along (his Black-ness is just incidental).
I tell you now, I'm still not sold on Obama, but given the other choice (i.e. not a chance in hell for me voting for that other guy), I'm pretty much painted into a corner as a member of the electorate.
But the thing that's been perfectly clear to me since he jumped into the forefront of the US political world, and that this Jesse scuffle highlights, is that Obama ain't Black.
On the other hand, he ain't white either.
He's something
completely new and unique and unpredictable for this POTUS job, and people need to start recognizing this fact.
Change is coming, but will you be able to comprehend it.
And Jesse, you should know by now, Obama is not a brutha.
In the long run, that might be a good thing, or not.
Please adjust your expectations accordingly.