Is Jesse Jackson a Hypocrite?
An article in the Detroit News calls him that.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson was driving an SUV (and Escalade - Its made by Cadillac) to a Detroit event promoting "Green Jobs".
Here is what the Detroit News said,
"Add Jesse to the Al Gore-Tom Friedman-Barack Obama School of Environmental Hypocrisy. While preaching to Americans that they need to cram their families into hybrid Priuses to go shopping for compact fluorescent light bulbs to save the planet, they themselves continue to live large."
[If I recall correctly, Tom Friedman preaches energy conservation and has a huge, huge house in Washington, D.C. President Obama preaches energy conservation and had the thermostat in the White House turned up to the high 70s in the 2008-2009 winter]
By the way, the Detroit News only knows this because Jackson's SUV was stolen and stripped during his visit to Detroit.
The article contends that Jackson favored government mpg mandates but provides no link to any speech, statement or policy announcement where Jackson could be said to 'favor' such a mandate. However, let's assume the article is correct. Let's also assume Jackson favors policies that provide incentives to owning hybrids and incentives to using compact fluorescent tubes. Would Jackson then be a hypocrite?
Well here is something to ponder. Some of the Escalades are hybrids. We don't now whether Jackson's SUV was one of them. We also don't know whether Jackson has CFLs at home or in his office.
Let's go even one more step. Assume Jackson's Escalade was not a hybrid. Assume Jackson uses no CFLs and has only incandescent bulbs which are on even when he isn't in. Does that make him a hypocrite.
Not necessarily.
Jackson could have said, "yes provide energy saving or 'green' incentives" and favor more "green jobs" and still be an energy hog because he never said, "political leaders should drive hybrids and use CFLs". Indeed, Jackson might say that he uses an non hybrid and wastes electricity because the incentives aren't high enough.
All this is not to say I like Jackson. Actually I find him repulsive. But in this case I don't think he is a hypocrite, at least not in the sense the Detroit News makes him out to be.
