ecturing in Cambridge yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson excoriated presidential candidate George W. Bush, warning that the Republican front-runner's stances on important racial issues - particularly whether South Carolina should fly the Confederate flag over its state capitol - has reframed the primary season as ''not Bush versus McCain, but Bush versus the history of our nation.''
Hours before former senator Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore focused on black voters in a debate at Harlem's Apollo Theater, Jackson said he was not prepared to endorse a Democrat.
But he criticized Bradley for ''offering no leadership in a crunch time'' when the issue of racial profiling surfaced in his home state of New Jersey last year. To win black converts, Jackson added, ''Mr. Bradley must have some action that distinguishes him in order for people to transfer their loyalty'' from Gore, who has President Clinton's strong endorsement.
Bradley and Gore ''have an awful lot in common, but Gore has the inside track,'' Jackson said. ''Bradley has good ideas, and so does Gore, but Gore has the most relationships.''
Jackson, in town as part of a lecture series honoring the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church, has maintained a studied distance from the presidential primaries. His central focus yesterday was on an intiative to educate African-American children about financial markets, ensuring them a future as ''shareholders, not sharecroppers.''
But his critiques of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates precede the New York primary, at a time when Democrats have swung much of their attention to race and the urban agenda.
During the last week, Gore racked up endorsements from a series of influential black political leaders in New York, including former New York City mayor David Dinkins, Manhattan borough president Virginia Fields, and US Representative Charles B. Rangel.
And some who heard Jackson's remarks yesterday said his message for Gore was explicit.
Tayo Idowu, a 46-year-old computer programmer, said support for Clinton still runs so strong in African-American communities that even if Jackson doesn't come out explicitly in support of Gore, his passionate condemnation of Bush would serve the same purpose.
''That's where Jesse Jackson comes in, to remind us, `Remember what this guy did for us yesterday,''' Idowu said. ''He speaks in codes. People know there are going to be two people vying for the presidency. So if I'm saying something bad about Bush, it's got to be [on behalf of] Gore.''
Jackson lectured on economic empowerment at St. Paul AME as part of the Richard Allen Lecture series. Last month marked the publication of a book Jackson authored with his son, ''It's About the Money: The Fourth Movement of the American Symphony: How to Build Wealth, Get Access to Capital, and Achieve Your Financial Dreams.''
Among the proposals Jackson brought forward were for churches to teach children about financial markets. His Chicago-based agency, Rainbow/Operation PUSH opened an office on Wall Street in 1997 and has initiated a program to bring groups of 35 ministers to Wall Street for a week's training in trading and investment.
''We're born in debt, we're great debt manipulators, we wear debt, we travel in debt,'' Jackson said. ''That's the mindset of an ex-slave.''
Still, the hour-plus speech hit on a number of political topics, with the harshest words reserved for Bush, who has not taken a stance on whether South Carolina should continue flying the Confederate flag above the state capitol.
And Bush's watch this week over Texas's 120th execution ''makes him armed and extremely dangerous,'' Jackson said.
He also zeroed in on Bush's ''high calculation'' earlier this month in agreeing to speak at Bob Jones University in Greenville, a Christian fundamentalist school that forbids interracial dating.
''Now people like [retired general] Colin Powell and [Oklahoma Congressman] J.C. Watts'' - prominent blacks who have allied themselves with the GOP - ''must be embarrassed,'' he said after the speech.
Jackson also promised that the Latino and African-American vote ''will determine the next president,'' and he said Bush opponent Arizona Senator John McCain had ''made a huge mistake'' by abandoning his earlier stand against the Confederate flag, sacrificing crossover support that could have helped him win the state's primary.
