THE FALL OF JESSE JACKSON, JR.

Nearly 6 months after disappearing from his elected position in the halls of congress and nearly 3 weeks after being reelected to a new term without any campaigning or connection to voters whatsoever, Jesse Jackson, Jr. has resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives.

Jackson submitted his resignation to House Speaker John Boehner late last week, during a tumultuous time when he was supposedly battling a mysterious illness, but was caught laughing and boozing it up at a Washington, DC watering hole with several women who were not his wife.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. once seemed to have it all.  As the son of a prominent civil rights leader, Jackson attended the best schools, had access to the most connected people and even inherited his famous father’s charisma and way with words.  He was easily elected and reelected multiple times to represent his Chicago district in the U.S. Congress, with his eye finely tuned on a much more ambitious political prize. Then Barack Obama happened and everything changed.

For Jesse Jackson, Sr., the rise of Barack Obama was bad for the family business.  When “Mr.” Obama became “President” Obama, the elder Jackson was no longer the most visible, the most prominent, or the go to spokesman for Black America.  Obama diminished the relevancy of Jackson (which is probably why he wept openly on election night in 2008) and eradicated any hope that the younger Jackson could one day become America’s first black president.

However, the vacant U.S. Senate seat Mr. Obama left behind in his ascension to the White House, provided an attractive consolation prize for Junior.  If the younger Jackson could take the step up from the House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate, his relevancy and visibility would be that much more increased and his political ambitions that much closer to realization.  All he had to do was convince the crooked and self-serving Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, to appoint him and he’d be riding on easy street.  Simple, right?

Wrong!  Blagojevich was caught on tape by the feds bragging about how he was sitting on a gold mine and how he wanted any senate suitor to pay him millions under the table for the coveted seat — a fee that Jackson was reportedly willing to make.  Blagojevich was impeached and sent to jail, prompting the feds to launch an investigation into Jackson’s connection with Blago’s “pay-to-play” scheme, as well as Jackson’s misuse of campaign funds throughout the years.  That’s when Jackson became suddenly and mysteriously ill — and simply vanished!

Jackson took an abrupt and unexcused absence from Capitol Hill and checked himself into the Mayo Clinic for a mysterious illness. At first, his Democratic colleagues covered for him, but his refusal to make a public statement to explain the absence understandably brought about whispers. Jackson was reelected to congress on November 6th, despite never speaking publicly about his illness and despite being seen gallivanting around town with women during a period when he was supposed to be home recovering.  When caught partying, Jackson checked himself back into the Mayo Clinic and was never heard from again, until his letter to step down from office last week.  His resignation was reportedly part of a plea deal and ahead of a mountain of charges soon to be levied against this son of the civil rights movement.

As the old saying goes “How the Mighty Have Fallen,” one would think it was written specifically for Jesse Jackson, Jr.  But if the former congressman thought he was feeling ill and had problems before, he ain’t seen nothin’ yet!