Chicago - Jesse Jackson, the stalwart civil rights leader who had a spat with Barack Obama during the campaign, wept in amazement Tuesday night at the resounding decision by American voters to send a black man to the White House.

After "a 54-year marathon race, Barack ran the last lap," Jackson told reporters following Obama's victory speech before tens of thousands at Grant Park in Chicago.

Jackson was apparently referring to civil rights landmarks of the 1950s, which saw the burgeoning movement demand desegregation of schools and public facilities.

While it was not clear which event Jackson was referring to, in 1954 the US Supreme Court made the landmark Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka decision that declared racially segregated schools denied black children equal education opportunities.

In the hour after US broadcasters declared Obama the president- elect and before he spoke, TV cameras focussed frequently on Jackson's face, wet with tears.

Jackson and Obama's differences during the campaign were almost generational.

Jackson, 67, who twice bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s, was the outspoken symbol of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when he started Operation Breadbasket in Chicago to put pressure by the religious community on employers to hire more blacks.

Obama, two decades younger at age 47, was seen as a post-racial leader who had benefited from the progress brought by civil rights activists. His move to the political centre to cultivate support for the presidency, and his admonitions to black fathers to be responsible for their children and black voters to vote, was seen by some as a betrayal.

Jackson also bristled at Obama's support for faith-based charities operating with government funding, similar to a pet project of President George W Bush.

Jackson shocked the country with his off-mike suggestion in July that Obama should be castrated for abandoning unwritten rules of the civil rights movement.

He publicly apologized - Obama's response was neutral. Interestingly, the Democratic campaign let Jackson's son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, do the sharp talking in criticizing the elder leader. (dpa)