I snapped this picture of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. when I saw him speak in January of this year at the Rainbow Push Coalition and have to say that seeing/hearing him in person was the first time I really understood why he was such a big deal. In Chicago, we’re used to the second generation (the Daleys, the Strogers, etc.) not always being overly impressive as speakers or commanding as personalities, but Jackson Jr. was both. It made it even more incomprehensible that someone as remarkable as the congressman would get involved with the Blagojevich’s of the world.

All said, I’m thinking of this as a tragedy – evenif it is one that turns out to be largely the congressman’s own doing.