Obama: Byrd had courage to change

President Barack Obama said Monday that America “has lost a voice of principle and reason” with the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).

The nation’s first African-American president hailed Byrd’s life story as “uniquely American,” and did not mention the senator's time as a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was younger.

Obama did say that Byrd had “the courage to stand firm in his principles, but also the courage to change over time.”

Byrd filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Several years later, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Byrd, the longest serving member of Congress in history, died early Monday at the age of 92. The senator “was as much a part of the Senate as the marble busts that line its chamber and its corridors,” Obama said.

“His profound passion for that body and its role and responsibilities was as evident behind closed doors as it was in the stem-winders he peppered with history,” Obama said. “He held the deepest respect of members of both parties, and he was generous with his time and advice, something I appreciated greatly as a young senator.”

“He was born into wrenching poverty, but educated himself to become an authoritative scholar, respected leader and unparalleled champion of our Constitution,” Obama continued. “He scaled the summit of power, but his mind never strayed from the people of his beloved West Virginia.”

---