Ta-Nehisi Coates on Jesse Jackson

Ta-Nehisi had an interesting post on Jesse Jackson and his relationship to the Obama campaign and pointed out something that I didn't know.

One constantly overlooked fact about Jesse is that he--quite literally--made Barack Obama possible. People often say this in a really hazy, metaphorical way, pointing out that Jesse "paved the way" or "knocked down doors" for Barack. But those sort of weak homilies actually understate how much Jesse did for Barack.

After losing in 84 and 88, Jackson's people, Harold Ickes being principle, fought for proportional representation in all states: [...]

If you recall in the primaries, half of Barack's strategy was to keep it close in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, thus keeping Clinton from rolling up tons of delegates. It helped, of course, that Clinton's people basically ceded the caucuses allowing Barack to roll up huge leads in those states. Still, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that had Jesse Jackson not fought for those rule changes, Barack wouldn't be the Democratic nominee.