Jesse Jackson’s Death Highlights the Absurdity of Stephen A. Smith’s Political Aspirations
Jackson’s presidential campaigns paved the way for Obama. A Smith campaign would encourage more incompetence.
By Carron J. Phillips
On Sunday, sports analyst Stephen A. Smith informed us he isn’t ruling out a presidential run. A man who screams bad sports takes into a microphone on TV is considering following in the footsteps of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former President Barack Obama, and former Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s akin to watching a toddler trying to walk in Shaquille O’Neal’s shoes.
The contrast between Jackson, the civil rights legend who ran for president twice to better America and who died Tuesday at age 84, and Smith, a television personality with no political experience and who seems more interested in the White House for personal glory, could not be clearer, especially when the dignity of the presidency is already at an all-time low.
“For more than 60 years, Reverend Jackson helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history. From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” Obama said in a statement posted on social media.
“Michelle and I will always be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders,” he added.
Obama’s words reflect not just their shared Chicago connection or their legacy as Black men who ran for president; they also show a deep respect for Jackson’s political and civic contributions, which helped pave the way for Obama’s own ascent to the White House — even if that same admiration wasn’t always returned.
“I want to cut his nuts out. Barack, he is talking down to Black people,” Jackson, the man who was once Black America’s most influential leader, infamously said in 2008 about the man who would become America’s lone Black president. But Jackson was a flawed man, as that disheartening gaffe that reeked of jealousy showed.
Aren’t we all?
When prominent figures die, far too often the conversation focuses only on the positive, erasing their humanity. Discussing Jackson’s failures as a man and a leader doesn’t disrespect his legacy; it enhances it. Because, despite his imperfections, the good he did for people of all colors greatly outweighed the bad, and his mishaps serve only as footnotes in his biography.
“America is not like a blanket — one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size,” Jackson explained at the 1984 Democratic Convention. “America is more like a quilt — many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.”
It’s words like those and the legacies of other Black figures who ran for president — Obama, Harris, Frederick Douglass, Shirley Chisolm, Carol Moseley Braun — that highlight the ridiculousness of the idea that Smith is qualified to throw his hat in this race.
“I don’t think there is a clearer picture of the decline of ‘black leadership’ than @stephenasmith thinking about running for POTUS against the backdrop of the death of Jesse Jackson. Stark,” Bakari Sellers, an attorney, political commentator, and politician, posted to social media.
Beyond Smith never even covering politics as a journalist, his commentary on serious matters shows how unserious a candidate he would be. “We wouldn’t have a border crisis under my watch,” he told CBS. “We ain’t defunding any police…. There’s gon’ be more.” Smith is already on record as saying he’s taking this year “to study, to know the issues” because he doesn’t “know everything.” “Being on that debate stage for 2027” seems to be what’s piquing his interest, as “embracing debate” has been at the core of his success at ESPN as a sports commentator.
Sports and political commentator Jemele Hill recently offered some advice for Democrats. “If I’m the Democrats, given Stephen A.’s name recognition and his constant ability to attract audience, to speak in soundbites, to debate … and I see Stephen A. constantly talking about running for president … he’s already got the media wired. The Democrats need to take him seriously,” Hill said. “He’s a threat. If you’re a Democrat who wants to run for president, or if you, as the party in general, don’t want someone like Stephen A.’s popularity or don’t want people to start paying more attention to his politics, and you don’t want people to give more consideration to him running, then you nip this in the bud.”
Given that this country has twice elected an actor (Ronald Reagan) and reality TV star (Donald Trump) as president, it’s evident that we need a better weeding-out process when it comes to who should and who shouldn’t be the leader of the free world. And though it could seem to some that I and others are picking on Smith, we’re just holding him to the standard he’s set for himself and the one he uses when critiquing athletes.
“A lot of times we hesitate to connect the dots with history,” he said when discussing Jackson. After this nation has suffered through Trump presidencies, does Smith really see himself as the next dot on a path that features Jackson, Obama, and Harris? Does he not connect the dots that tell us that an unqualified president is an equally unqualified disaster for the nation?
Apparently not.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The time is always right to do the right thing,” which feels particularly relevant when assessing those who want to hold the highest office in the land. Given the current political climate, 2026 seems like the perfect moment for Stephen A. Smith to end this charade. Anything less would be a slap in the face to the ones who came before and whom he claims to admire and respect.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University.
Do you think it would help him rule it out if he was told my reaction to your headline? Who the hell is Stephen A Smith?
Stephen A Smith has a platform because Americans pay far too much attention to sports and the largely brain dead bobbleheads who populate sports "news".