Pages

Friday, October 24, 2008

NY Times Backs Obama

The editors of the NY Times wrote a strong endorsement for Barack Obama today, concluding that:
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
The paper also rebuked McCain for his negative campaign ads, his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate in the midst of a global crisis and for reneging on his earlier stands on environmental protection.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.

He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.

The paper's endorsement of Obama follows the earlier, surprise backing of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Others who are publicly supporting Obama include, California First Lady Maria Shriver, Editors of The New Yorker magazine and SLATE. Even his rival, John McCain, had kind words for Obama on the campaign trail.

Responding to one of his supporters at a campaign rally in Minneapolis who said he was "scared of an Obama presidency," McCain defended Obama, calling him a "decent person" and telling his supporters that "you do not have to be scared" of an Obama presidency. Later, when another of his supporters said she mistrusted Obama, and called him an "Arab," McCain corrected her, describing Obama as a "decent, family man, citizen," with whom he had disagreements. You can listen to McCain's comments here. Seems even when it comes to the man opposing him, McCain's stand is an "erratic" one. He turns a blind eye to those nasty robo calls, to Palin's malicious insinuations, and refuses to apologize for the hateful rhetoric coming out of his campaign on the last debate.

And yet, and yet -- he does not go far enough in correcting his supporters in Minneapolis and elsewhere. The tacticians McCain has surrounded himself with now will follow him to the White House (should that event occur), and this country will fall into an even deeper mire of intolerance, divisiveness and hate.

No comments: