Analyses: Obama Owes a Large Debt to Jesse Jackson

Two analyses about the late Jesse Jackson make the case that his presidential runs in 1984 and 1988 paved the way for Barack Obama to become the nation's first Black president in 2008. The reasons are both practical and cultural:

• Practical: At CBS News, Todd Feurer writes that Jackson showed surprising success in his first race and even more so in his second, but he was hamstrung by Democratic primary rules on how delegates were apportioned. After the 1988 race, Jackson struck a deal to support nominee Michael Dukakis in the general election in exchange for the party tossing the winner-take-all format and allotting delegates proportionally. That rule is still in place, and it helped Obama in 2008. He "was able to maximize his delegate count even in primaries he lost, winning the delegate race despite a marginal edge over Hillary Clinton in the popular vote," writes Feurer. Read the full analysis.

• Bigger picture: An analysis at the BBC by Anthony Zurcher and Sam Woodhouse argue that Jackson's 1984 run in particular had a "profound effect on Democrats" because he proved that a Black candidate "could rally nationwide support and possibly take the White House." His message focused not so much on race as on the poor and the working class, as Jackson "articulated the frustrations of those who felt like second-class citizens in the world's most prosperous democracy." He even used the refrain "keep hope alive" in his speech at the 1988 convention. The line "would be echoed decades later in the 'hope and change' slogan of Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign." Read the full analysis.