By Brian Greenspun

Sun, Jul 13, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Beware of open microphones and open mouths. Often there is truth coming through.

I am not going to jump into the ridiculous ado the cable shows and bloggers are making over the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s not-so-private remarks about Sen. Barack Obama’s responsibility thing and his private parts.

We all know the hazards in today’s world of talking anywhere near a microphone, a camera, a cell phone or any other device that could lead directly to the Internet. It does and it will, and the speaker will be forever embarrassed. At least.

So, it happened to the good reverend and he has spent the past few days apologizing. Too bad because I believe — and I can’t believe I am even saying this — Jackson had a relevant point to make no matter the forum, the timing or the mess he seems to have made with it.

No, it’s not about the surgical adventure he contemplated but, rather, about the timing of Obama’s comments about responsibility, coming as they are against a backdrop of many fathers having shifted into survival mode, courtesy of government policies and other external pressures that make ideas like proper parenting and responsibility sound, well, so luxurious. It sounded like a simple case of frustration overtaking good sense.

Jackson’s comments, however, lacked balance, which is often the first thing we lose when our emotions get the best of us.

Obama’s position regarding parental responsibility is spot on. There is no greater obligation a person should have than to his children and their well-being. Victor Hugo’s Jean Valjean, when confronted with his family’s hunger, stole a loaf of bread. He paid a horrible personal price but he thought of the children first.

Obama is being raked over some right-wing coals and left-wing “clean-burning coals” for speaking out about men who are fathers in name only. He should be commended for doing it, not condemned.

What has happened since has been a loss of balance. We have trouble in this country admitting that there may be a middle or close to middle ground that actually works. Instead, we bombard ourselves with ideological sinecures that do nothing except rile us up and get our blood stirring. Resulting, mostly, in ... better TV ratings!

The same is also true about the latest Harry Reid flap. For Nevadans, there should always be a Harry Reid flap because when Harry is talking there is always a risk. The flap, though, is not important nor should it matter that much whether you agree or disagree with what he says. The bottom line is that Nevadans are better off with him as the majority leader of the United States Senate.

So, what did Harry say this time?

The truth. He said that coal makes us sick.

Listening to the right-wing spin machines, the coal producer associations and the power company mouthpieces, you would have thought that Harry told the biggest lie ever conceived about something so uniquely American as coal and our right to burn it as we see fit. All he did was tell the truth.

Coal does make us sick and the price of coal energy must include an understanding of the medical and other societal costs that come with our using that abundant resource to produce the energy we need.

Again, it is about balance. Because we have reached a point in our country in which choosing sides is more important than choosing workable solutions to our challenges, we lose the balance we need to have credible discourse.

Isn’t it possible that, knowing the societal costs of burning coal for energy — they include health care and global warming — we can come up with a better plan for energy consumption in America? If we know the real price of coal, the cost to burn “cleaner” coal might be more acceptable. If we know the medical costs to society, the price we have to pay for newer technology and renewable energy might be more reasonable. And, knowing the truth might cause us to act differently in the voting booth, choosing to put do-something people in office rather than the folks we have.

Rather than jump all over Harry Reid for speaking the truth, wouldn’t it be far more productive to balance our disagreement with rational thought and thoughtful consideration of the challenges that truth presents?

Instead, in both of these instances, we have allowed the irrational to overtake us. We have allowed those with agendas far different from our own to seize the day and the argument for their sake, not ours.

I don’t often agree with Rev. Jackson but I understand where his off-mike comments came from. They came from deep inside a lifetime of work to make lives better near the bottom. I don’t know yet whether I agree with Sen. Obama and his presidential aspirations — there is time for that consideration to take place — but I do know he is absolutely right about parental responsibility and the importance it must play in the lives of our children.

I often agree with Sen. Reid — although we have our moments. I also know why he says what’s on his mind and the sincerity with which he says it. I cannot condemn him for his timing and his bluntness. I celebrate it and wish other public officials showed the same level of courage in the face of public and cable talk show wrath.

Imagine where we would be had people in this county had the courage to speak their minds in the run-up to the Iraq war? Instead, afraid of being called cowards, traitors and worse, the media, the Senate and the House and most people kept their mouths shut. How’s that working out?

So, before you all get too much pleasure “piling on” those who sometimes speak before engaging their brains or speak too bluntly for our polite society to absorb, remember the word balance.

As in all things we do, we can’t succeed without keeping it.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.