Jackson let down family, public

Jesse Jackson is running from the camera.\nDash down to the supermarket and stock up on the canned food -- it can only be a sign of the apocalypse. \nA man who has spent his life on the six o'clock news suddenly doesn't want the publicity. It's understandable. Jackson should hide from public view, having betrayed the people he represents and the lofty principles he claims to uphold.\nThe National Enquirer, that bastion of fine journalism, ran a story claiming Jackson had fathered an illegitimate child -- while serving as President Bill Clinton's spiritual adviser during the height of the impeachment scandal.\nAt first, the story didn't seem to have any credibility. The Enquirer is sued for libel every time it goes to print, it might seem, and the irony seemed too delicious.\nSurely no one, let alone a man who claims to carry the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr., would sink to such hypocrisy.\nSurely no one on such a national stage would so compromise himself, his authority and his religious convictions.\nSurely not an ordained minister.\nSurely not someone who leaps on the slightest injustice with emphatic fury.\nSurely not a public figure whose only portfolio is a moral conscience.\nBut it turns out the allegation was true.\nNot only did Jackson father a child out of wedlock, he used $40,000 in funds from his nonprofit Rainbow/PUSH coalition to give the woman "moving expenses."\nThe news almost seemed to validate Republicans' claims that the Clinton administration was rotten to the core. As Clinton faded from the limelight to make way for his successor, the American public was treated to one last chapter in the Lewinsky affair, another sex scandal as a parting gift.\nGranted, Jackson handled the matter with the utmost grace and tact. Unlike Clinton, he did not deny it. He did not wrongfully abuse his authority in a vain attempt to conceal the truth.\n"I fully accept responsibility, and I am truly sorry for my actions," Jackson said in a statement. "I will be taking some time off to revive my spirit and reconnect with my family before I return to my public ministry."\nJackson has the right idea -- he should take a long sabbatical before returning, if he returns at all.\nWere it Al Sharpton, he would have accused the Enquirer of being a modern-day Bull Conner, playing the race card.\nThat's why it's so disappointing. Jackson is the only current, prominent civil rights leader who exercises a modicum of responsibility. He hasn't wantonly slandered police officers on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations. He hasn't trashed other ethnic groups.\nJackson hasn't only tarnished his family. He's damaged his moral credibility and betrayed those he claims to represent. \nStaff vote: 11- 2- 2\nOnline vote: 121 - 17 - 2