Click the play button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say.
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Jesse Jackson got away with calling New York "Hymietown" a few years ago, a reference to New York's Jewish population. But this time he might not be so fortunate.
Jackson saying he wanted to castrate Barack Obama for "talking down to black people" may mark the end of Jesse Jackson's relevance to anything. His comments – which were caught on an open microphone in a television studio – were in response to Obama's speeches about the responsibilities of absent black fathers.
Jackson apologized, saying he meant there are other important issues to address in the black community – like unemployment and the number of blacks in prison.
But it turns out Jackson's vulgar comments could actually help Obama, with white voters who wonder if he shares their values – remember the Reverend Jeremiah Wright? – and with blacks who see Jackson as a figure of the past. Barack Obama is proving to Jesse Jackson as well as everyone else that it's not necessary to play the black and white races off against each other, something Jackson has done his whole life.
Charles Hurt of the New York Post this morning wrote that Jackson knew exactly what he was doing when he made these vulgar comments.
Hurt suggests that the real reason Jackson is unhappy is that "Obama has shown that unifying and uplifting campaigns succeed in American politics where the divisive failed campaigns waged by Jackson become history's footnotes."
Finally consider this: Obama's telling a black church that a father's responsibility doesn't just end at conception may have hit too close to home for Jesse Jackson. After all, it was only a few years ago that Jesse Jackson acknowledged an extra-marital affair that produced a baby born out of wedlock.
Here’s my question to you: Has Jesse Jackson become irrelevant?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Mark writes:
I believe one of the big reasons that Barack Obama has had success, unlike Jackson or Sharpton, is because Obama does not have the hatred that these two so often demonstrate. Much like Reverend Wright, these guys are old-school, and do not reflect the opinions of most who believe more change can be achieved without the hate.
Michaela writes:
Jack, You're in the news business. You and your colleagues make Jesse Jackson relevant by sticking a camera in front of his face every time he makes a ridiculous or poetic utterance and by seeking comment and opinion from him on all matters large and small. That you would even ask the question is alarming.
Alise writes:
Jack, Jesse is not irrelevant. If it were not for Jesse Jackson and the civil right soldiers, there would be no Obama. What Jesse Jackson is … is out-of-touch with technology and he got busted for making that comment. He should have been more careful - that is it! What happened is he got caught saying out loud what some African-Americans may feel.
Tom from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida writes:
Jack, Jesse lost his stripes after the birth of his last child outside his marriage. He should be selling tennis shoes at the mall.
Sandra from Texas writes:
Yes, to an extent. Jesse Jackson faces the same situation as Bill Clinton. "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans." The problem with Jesse and Bill is that they did not pass the torch; Obama took it from them.
Mac from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida writes:
I don't ever recall him being actually relevant, just "in your face" about anything he could dream up to bitch about. What a loser!
Renee in Aurora, Illinois writes:
He is nothing more than a has-been and thankfully never will be again. It's time the media stopped giving him attention, and move on. There's nothing left at the end of his rainbow.