On page 2 of Sunday’s Washington Post came the headline “Hillary Clinton picks up another big endorsement.” Really? Who could that be? Jesse Jackson. Would that be considered “big” at this point? And does it really matter at this point in the race? Post “Wonkblog” writer Max Ehrenfreund began:
The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his support for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a Saturday afternoon news conference with reporters in Chicago and called for "reconciliation" between her and her rival, Bernie Sanders.
Jackson, 74, recalled meeting Clinton in the Mississippi Delta and cited her work with the Children’s Defense Fund and, later, in the White House for a comprehensive health-care system....
Jackson’s endorsement is the latest by a major Democratic figure since Clinton secured enough delegates to effectively end the party’s long primary season with a victory at the polls in California on Tuesday. President Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) endorsed the former secretary of state on Thursday.
The Post’s Hamil Harris interviewed Jackson a few weeks ago and asked about the role black churches will play in the 2016 election -- no one raised church-state separation issues -- and Jackson talked of the church fighting conservative “wickedness” in delaying a left-wing agenda:
HARRIS: What should the church’s role be in this election year, and how are things going in the communities where you visit?
JACKSON: The role of the church is not only to fight for sound values, but it is to fight powers, principalities and wickedness in high places. It means fighting for affordable health care. It means fighting to defend the poor, fighting to raise wages for working people. It means fighting for affordable housing. It means fighting to end unnecessary wars.
In talking about motivating black voters, Jackson also veered off script when talking about the inner cities right now (ahem, in the last year of a long Obama presidency?): "We are very motivated when we are inspired. These inner cities look like the holes of doughnuts whether it is Baltimore or Memphis. .?.?. The jail population is increasing. Historically black college budgets have decreased. [Governments] stopped building public housing. They are foreclosing on private housing and closing hospitals. We are living under real depression conditions."
