Barack Obama on Rev. Jesse Jackson: ‘He Paved the Road for So Many Others to Follow’

EXCERPT:

OBAMA: “By the delegate count, Jesse’s two candidacies ultimately came up short. But he paid the road for so many others to follow. (applause) Doug Wilder became the first elected black governor. Carol Moseley Braun went to the U.S. Senate. Because of Jesse, the Democratic Party changed its rules, ending the winner-take-all distribution of delegates during presidential primaries, which meant underdogs and outsiders like Bill Clinton or Bernie Sanders could stay competitive and build momentum instead of getting knocked out early. And it was because of that path that he had laid, because of his courage, his audacity, that two decades later, a young black senator from Chicago’s South Side, would even be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination.”