Be careful, Spike. Al Gore’s gonna jump in the race against Obama if you keep referring to his administration as a violent climatalogical shift. He will do battle with a metaphor to save the earth.

There’s more from Spike, which could be considered pretty spot-on if he hadn’t already succumbed to Obama worship in his first quote:

It’s also at least partly influenced by titles from prominent African-American directors like, hmmm, “She Hate Me” and “He Got Game,” but I digress.

Jesse Jackson’s comments are nothing but good for Obama, who is able to remind voters that he’s not the same kind of leader as Jackson without having to actually distance himself from the Reverend, thereby alienating black voters. The row also may have the added societal benefit of making the “acting too white” allegation for black public figures less socially acceptable. Black Republicans have been the most obvious and acceptable targets of such attacks for many years, as they have endured being called “Uncle Toms” and “Oreos” and being depicted with blackface and exaggerated facial features, usually by the allegedly tolerant and utterly non-racist liberals among us.

Regardless of which political party or ideology faces such attacks, their underlying implication is that a short list of arguably beneficial actions constitute behaviors to be avoided– “being white.” The inauthentically black, in these attacks, speak English clearly, wear suits, attend Ivys, veer from tenets of popular political thought in the black community, and talk about problems with the black community in public.

Among famous black “sell-outs” in these scenarios are Michael Steele, Condi Rice, and Bill Cosby. The blowback for even the beloved Bill Cosby was strong when he exhorted black parents to help their kids shape up and value education during a 2004 speech to the NAACP. Cosby was accused of “airing dirty laundry” by other black leaders, but he continues to spread his message.

The message is similar to the one Barack Obama’s been spreading recently. That’s what Jackson was remarking upon when he expressed his desire to castrate the first black candidate for the President of the United States. Obama has, by turns over the last month, talked about the importance of raising children over making babies, told black youth not to count on basketball or rap careers, and touted faith-based organizations as a solution to societal problems regardless of the fact that such a pronouncement inevitably aligns him with George Bush.

Despite Obama’s membership in the Rev. Wright’s church, which does not speak well of him and is in opposition to the healthy messages he is spreading, I would be happy for Obama to supplant the likes of Jackson in the constellation of black leadership, both for the black community and race relations in America, in general. I’ll take a run-of-the-mill liberal man who’s married to his wife and loves his children over a shakedown artist any day. (I still don’t want him in charge of foreign policy, but that’s beside the point.)

It looks like the black community is rallying behind Obama instead of Jackson, which oughtta be galling for Jackson. Rapper Nas today also made a point of condemning Jackson’s statements and calling him the “biggest player hater” whose “time is up.” When’s the last time two prominent black figures spoke out against Jesse Jackson’s idiocy in one day?

If Obama, a man who has been accused of “acting white” by Jesse Jackson, definitively replaces Jackson as a leader of the black community, it follows that the behaviors that used to constitute “acting white” may begin to be accepted for what they really are– “acting like independent, successful, black Americans.” And, that’s good for everyone.