“My friends, in just a few short days we will move from ‘Yes we can!’ to ‘Yes we did!'” proclaimed a confident Jesse Jackson, Jr., to over 250 MATC students and staff. The Illinois Democratic Congressman was at MATC’s Alumni Hall on October 1 stumping for his good friend, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. Taking the audience of mostly students on a brief trip through history, Congressman Jackson cited Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, women winning the right to vote, and the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education decision as evidence of the country’s progress and implied Obama’s run for the presidency was further evidence of that progress. “Barack Obama’s campaign stands as a testament to the very best of what it means to be an American,” said Jackson.

Using the current economic crisis as an example, Congressman Jackson said America still has issues to overcome, but called Election Day a time when Americans could put aside their differences and all be Americans by exercising their right to vote.

“America right now is in an economic hole. When you fall into a hole, it doesn’t matter what color or what the sex is of the person who reaches in to pull you out.

You reach up, you grab their hand and you vote,” said Jackson.

Congressman Jackson drew parallels between Sen. Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., declaring both men’s understanding of America’s capacity for granting opportunity. He compared both men’s refusal to accept the idea that the nation’s government could not help its people stand on their own two feet.

Congressman Jackson said he was impressed with Obama’s ability to keep his campaign on the high road. “We don’t have to stoop to negative campaigning and negative tactics. We need leaders who are willing to appeal to the best in us and not the worst in us. In his public life, only Barack Obama has shown me that word and deed can be consistent,” Jackson said.

Jackson was also impressed with the devotion Sen. Obama’s diverse supporters have shown their candidate. “Never before have I ever seen the kind of enthusiasm that covers the spectrum of the magnificent rainbow that is America,” said Jackson.

He closed by calling for MATC students to continue to support Sen. Obama by volunteering at the Milwaukee campaign headquarters at 744 N. 4th Street, and to come with Barack Obama’s spirit. “Barack has asked us to be bigger than politics. He’s called on us not to be big Democrats or big Republicans. but to be bigger people,” Jackson said.