I realized links are not active when you a post is displayed via the_excerpt. As in the user has to view the post on via single.php before the links are clickable.
After some searching I found this article where someone suggest links are parsed in the same manner that are in the_content.
However we are displaying post in a jquery carousel and I actually want the link to work even though I'm using the_excerpt in my loop.
Anyone out there know if it's possible?