Jesse Jackson Jr. chided former Democratic presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden the day after they gave a eulogy for his father during his memorial service.
While speaking to a crowd of mourners in Chicago on Saturday, he pushed back against the two former presidents for using Rev. Jesse Jackson’s memorial to take jabs at political opponents.
“Yesterday, I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson,” he said. “He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or black, but the demands of our message, the demands of speaking for the least of these, those who were disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected, demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent prophetic voice that at no point in time ever sold us out as a people.”
🚨 Jesse Jackson’s family is furious.
— Jammles (@jammles9) March 8, 2026
After his father’s memorial, Jesse Jackson Jr. made it clear he was outraged listening to speeches from Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden that wasn’t about his father, but about their radical agenda.
He said it plainly:
“I… pic.twitter.com/dR90wIp326
During the first day of the service on Friday, Obama and Biden spoke about the current political climate in America. Obama told the audience, “We are living in a time when it can be hard to cope. Each day we wake up to some new assault to our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency.”
Obama: "We are living in a time where it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law ... but this man -- Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson -- inspires us to take a harder path. His voice calls… pic.twitter.com/o23bpUDp8a
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2026
Biden said, “We find ourselves in a challenging situation, folks. We have an administration that doesn’t share any of our values. And I don’t believe I’m exaggerating.”
Neither referred to President Donald Trump by name, but the message was clear.
At Jesse Jackson's funeral, Joe Biden says, “We're in a tough spot, folks. We've got an administration that doesn't share any of the values that we have, and I don't think I'm exaggerating a little bit.”
— David Joe May (@TheGrayRider) March 6, 2026
I wonder just what "values" he's reffering to.pic.twitter.com/zUhSIBW4be
Rev. Jesse Jackson passed away on February 17 at the age of 84 after a long history of neurological illness. He was first diagnosed with Parkison’s disease years ago.