November 4, 2008 - No. 157 -
Supplement
For Your Information
Obama Endorsements
According to the reporting on U.S. elections, Senator
Barack Obama has emerged as the champion of the U.S. ruling circles for
44th President of the United States. U.S. media are replete with
endorsements for Obama from all quarters, including the media,
military, Republicans, independents and various people from among the
national minorities, within the country and so too abroad.
Former Secretary of State General Colin Powell
In an interview with Tom Brokaw on MSNBC Oct. 19, 2008,
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of
State Retired General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president.
The endorsement is significant not only because he is a Republican and
former
Bush cabinet member, but also because he represents support from the
Army for Obama. We provide excerpts from the interview below.
General Colin Powell: I have seen more
difficult times in our history. I think about the early '70s when we
were going through Watergate, Spiro Agnew, Nixon period, that was not a
good time. But right now we're also facing a very daunting period. And
I think the number one issue the president's
going to have to deal with is the economy. That's what the American
people are worried about. And, frankly, it's not just an American
problem, it's an international problem. We can see how all of these
economies are now linked in this globalized system. And I think that'll
be number one. The president will
also have to make decisions quickly as to how to deal with Iraq and
Afghanistan. And also I think the president has to reach out to the
world and show that there is a new president, a new administration that
is looking forward to working with our friends and allies. And in my
judgment, also willing to talk to people
who we have not been willing to talk to before. Because this is a time
for outreach.
Mr. Brokow: If you were called into
the
Oval Office on January 21st by the new president, whoever it happens to
be, and he said to you,
"General Powell, I need from you your recommendation on where I begin.
What should be my priorities?" Where would you start?
General Powell: I would start with
talking
to the American people and talking to the world, and conveying a new
image of American leadership, a new image of America's role in the
world. The problems will always be there, and there's going to be a
crisis come along in the 21st or 22nd of
January that we don't even know about right now. And so I think what
the president has to do is to start using the power of the Oval Office
and the power of his personality to convince the American people and to
convince the world that America is solid, America is going to move
forward, and we're going to fix
our economic problems, we're going to meet our overseas obligations.
But restoring a sense of purpose, a sense of confidence in the American
people and, in the international community, in America.
I know both of these individuals very well now. I've
known John for 25
years as your setup said. And I've gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well
over the past
two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic,
who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. I have some concerns
about the
direction that the Republican party has taken in recent years. It has
moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that's a
choice the party makes. And I've said to Mr. Obama, "You have to pass a
test of do you have enough experience, and do you bring the judgment to
the table that would give us
confidence that you would be a good president."
In the case of Mr.
McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the
economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a
different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that
he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had.
And I was
also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. She's a very
distinguished woman, and she's to be admired; but at the same time, now
that we have had a
chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready
to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice
president. And so that
raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain
made.
On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him
during this
seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual
curiosity, a depth
of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and
picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day
one. And also, in not
just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor.
I think that he has a definitive way of doing business that would serve
us well.
I also believe that on the Republican side over the last
seven
weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become
narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more
inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people.
He's crossing lines -- ethnic lines, racial
lines, generational lines. He's thinking about all villages have
values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values.
Which is the individual that serves the needs of the
nation for the
next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his
ability to inspire,
because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching
out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical
abilities -- and we have
to take that into account -- as well as his substance -- he has both
style
and substance -- he has met the standard of being a successful
president,
being an exceptional
president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new
generation coming into the world -- onto the world stage, onto the
American stage, and for that
reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.
I can't deny that it will be a historic event for an
African-American
to become president. And should that happen, all Americans should be
proud -- not just
African-Americans, but all Americans -- that we have reached this point
in our national history where such a thing could happen. It will also
not only electrify
our country, I think it'll electrify the world.
Newspapers
In the print media, endorsements for Obama outnumber
McCain 240-114. Daily circulation for the newspapers endorsing Obama is
about 21,627,000 and for McCain it is about 7,317,000. The large
majority of major newspapers endorsed Obama, including the Boston
Globe, New York Times,
Washington Post, Atlanta Constitution, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle,
Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and San
Francisco Chronicle. At least 50 papers switched to Obama from
Bush in 2004. These include the Indianapolis Star in swing
state Indiana and the
Chicago Tribune -- the first Democrat that it has backed in its
long history. Three of the top five dailies in Texas, including the Houston
Chronicle switched from Bush to Obama. Only four papers have
flipped to McCain, all relatively small papers in Florida, Virginia,
Texas and Tennessee. Several
top papers that went for Bush in 2004 have chosen not to endorse this
year, with twenty-one papers in all not endorsing at this time. In
addition, 83 weekly and other newspapers and 65 college newspapers
endorsed Obama. Many of the endorsements were given earlier than usual,
October 17-19. This was in part
to put weight behind Obama while also endorsing before the start of
early voting in many states on October 20. (The full list and on-going
count of endorsements can be found at www.editorandpublisher.com).
Below are excerpts from some of the endorsements for Senator Barack
Obama from daily newspapers across
the country.
Chicago Tribune
Americans are focused on the greatest threat to the
world economic system in 80 years. They feel a personal vulnerability
the likes of which they haven't experienced since Sept. 11, 2001. It's
a different kind of vulnerability. Unlike Sept. 11, the economic threat
hasn't forged a common bond in this nation. It has
fed anger, fear and mistrust.
On Nov. 4 we're going to elect a president to lead us
through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national
purpose. The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud
to endorse him today for president of the United
States.
On Dec. 6, 2006, this page encouraged Obama to join the
presidential campaign. We wrote that he would celebrate our common
values instead of exaggerate our differences. We said he would raise
the tone of the campaign. We said his intellectual depth would sharpen
the policy debate and it has. We have tremendous
confidence in his intellectual rigor, his moral compass and his ability
to make sound, thoughtful, careful decisions. He is ready.
The change that Obama talks about so much is not simply
a change in this policy or that one. It is not fundamentally about
lobbyists or Washington insiders. Obama envisions a change in the way
we deal with one another in politics and government. His opponents may
say this is empty, abstract rhetoric. In fact,
it is hard to imagine how we are going to deal with the grave domestic
and foreign crises we face without an end to the savagery and a return
to civility in politics.
McCain failed in his most important executive decision.
Give him credit for choosing a female running mate -- but he passed up
any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have
served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried
to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is
not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president.
McCain put his campaign before his country. Obama chose a more
experienced and more thoughtful running mate -- he put governing before
politicking. Sen. Joe Biden doesn't bring
many votes to Obama, but he would help him from day one to lead the
country.
We think Obama would govern as much more of a pragmatic
centrist than many people expect. Obama is deeply grounded in the best
aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those
aspirations.
When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that
we weren't a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union
the way Abraham Lincoln did.
It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his
campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the
opportunity to hold this nation's most powerful office, he will prove
it wasn't so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama's
name to Lincoln's in the list of people the Tribune has
endorsed for president of the United States.
Washington Post
The nominating process this year produced two unusually
talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public
figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain.
Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for
president. The choice is made easy in part
by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible
selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is
made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr.
Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race.
Yes, we have reservations and concerns,
almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama's relatively brief experience in
national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.
Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a
nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and
consensus-building. At home, we believe, he would respond to the
economic crisis with a healthy respect for markets tempered by
justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding
of the need for focused regulation. Abroad, the best evidence suggests
that he would seek to maintain U.S. leadership and engagement, continue
the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of
U.S. values and interests.
It is almost impossible to predict what policies will be
called for by January, but certainly the country will want in its
president a combination of nimbleness and steadfastness -- precisely
the qualities Mr. Obama has displayed during the past few weeks. When
he might have been scoring political points against
the incumbent, he instead responsibly urged fellow Democrats in
Congress to back Mr. Bush's financial rescue plan. He has surrounded
himself with top-notch, experienced, centrist economic advisers --
perhaps the best warranty that, unlike some past presidents of modest
experience, Mr. Obama will not ride into
town determined to reinvent every policy wheel. Some have disparaged
Mr. Obama as too cool, but his unflappability over the past few weeks
-- indeed, over two years of campaigning -- strikes us as exactly what
Americans might want in their president at a time of great uncertainty.
Mr. Obama, as anyone who reads his books can tell, also
has a sophisticated understanding of the world and America's place in
it. He, too, is committed to maintaining U.S. leadership and sticking
up for democratic values, as his recent defense of tiny Georgia makes
clear.
Any presidential vote is a gamble, and Mr. Obama's
résumé is undoubtedly thin. We had hoped, throughout this
long campaign, to see more evidence that Mr. Obama might stand up to
Democratic orthodoxy and end, as he said in his announcement speech,
"our chronic avoidance of tough decisions." But Mr.
Obama's temperament is unlike anything we've seen on the national stage
in many years. He is deliberate but not indecisive; eloquent but a
master of substance and detail; preternaturally confident but eager to
hear opposing points of view. He has inspired millions of voters of
diverse ages and races, no small thing
in our often divided and cynical country. We think he is the right man
for a perilous moment.
Los Angeles Times
It is inherent in the American character to aspire to
greatness, so it can be disorienting when the nation stumbles or loses
confidence in bedrock principles or institutions. That's where the
United States is as it prepares to select a new president: We have seen
the government take a stake in venerable private financial
houses; we have witnessed eight years of executive branch power grabs
and erosion of civil liberties; we are still recovering from a
murderous attack by terrorists on our own soil and still struggling
with how best to prevent a recurrence.
We need a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and
grace under pressure, one not prone to volatile gesture or capricious
pronouncement. We need a leader well-grounded in the intellectual and
legal foundations of American freedom. Yet we ask that the same person
also possess the spark and passion to inspire
the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defense of
justice and liberty. The Times
without hesitation endorses Barack Obama
for president.
Our nation has never before had a candidate like Obama,
a man born in the 1960s, of black African and white heritage, raised
and educated abroad as well as in the United States, and bringing with
him a personal narrative that encompasses much of the American story
but that, until now, has been reflected in
little of its elected leadership. The excitement of Obama's early
campaign was amplified by that newness. But as the presidential race
draws to its conclusion, it is Obama's character and temperament that
come to the fore. It is his steadiness. His maturity.
These are qualities American leadership has sorely
lacked for close to a decade. The U.S. Constitution, more than two
centuries old, now offers the world one of its more mature and
certainly most stable governments, but our political culture is still
struggling to shake off a brash and unseemly adolescence. In
George W. Bush, the executive branch turned its back on an adult role
in the nation and the world and retreated into self-absorbed
unilateralism.
The presidential campaign has rendered McCain nearly
unrecognizable.
His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term
political tactic,
brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified
vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The
decision calls into question
just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would
drive the White House in a McCain presidency. Obama's selection also
was telling. He might
have scored a steeper bump in the polls by making a more dramatic
choice than the capable and experienced Joe Biden. But for all the
excitement of his own
candidacy, Obama has offered more competence than drama.
He is no lone rider. He is a consensus builder, a
leader.
Asbury Park Press of Neptune
(New Jersey)
Obama has the intellect needed to comprehend the
complexities of the times and the ability to articulate his positions
clearly and eloquently. He can inspire, and we believe he will be able
to bring out the best in the American people at a time when our best
will be needed. He also offers the best hope for building
coalitions and winning back the support of our friends abroad, which he
recognizes is critical, not only to help win the war on terrorism but
to restore order in the world financial markets.
New Haven Register
(Conneticutt)
[We cannot endorse] a third term for the failed
policies of the Bush administration. [Sarah Palin's] selection was a
purely political choice, without regard to the national interest.
Miami Herald
In other elections, voters have complained of having to
make a choice between two bad candidates. That is not the case this
time. The nation is fortunate to have good candidates and a clear
choice. Senator Obama represents the best chance for America to make a
clean break with the culture wars and failed
policies of the past and being to restore the hope and promise of
America as the world's greatest democracy.
Orlando Sentinel
(Florida)
McCain then was a different candidate from the
one before us now. He has abandoned positions we admired. He has
reacted inconsistently, even haphazardly, to events. In making the most
important decision of his campaign, he showed shockingly poor judgment.
News & Observer
(Raleigh, North Carolina)
His would be a government of thought before deed and of
strength given by the people, not just exercised from above.
Herald-Dispatch
(Huntington, West Virginia)
Obama has been offering concrete programs and ideas.
Most of McCain's efforts lately have focused on offering reasons why
Obama is not a good choice. In other words, Obama has been looking
forward while McCain has gone negative. ... Yes, Obama is untested when
compared with McCain. But given the
choice between John McCain or Barack Obama, the question is who would
be best for America. Most of the editorial board members felt the best
choice is Barack Obama.
Lexington Herald-Leader
(Kentucky)
Even if this country were not in dire need of a new
direction, Sen. Barack Obama would make a better president than Sen.
John McCain. McCain's one advantage, experience, is of little use
without judgment and temperament. On both counts, Obama has shown
himself to be better qualified. Obama has
been composed, consistent and honorable through a long and tricky
campaign, which he has led almost flawlessly.
Austin American-Statesman
(Texas)
Each of the two major presidential candidates fill the
air with different words that all say "change," but only Sen. Barack
Obama defines change clearly and positively. It is a time of peril,
both at home and abroad, and the nation needs the focused, energetic
leadership Obama has projected and delivered since
he announced his presidential candidacy in early 2007.
Bryan-College Station Eagle
(Texas)
While we would like more specificity on his plans as
president, we are confident that he can lead us ever forward, casting
aside the doubts and fears of recent years.
Houston Chronicle
Obama appears to possess the tools to confront our
myriad and daunting problems. He's thoughtful and analytical. He has
met his opponents' attacks with calm and reasoned responses. Viewers of
the debates saw a poised, well-prepared, plausible president with well-
articulated positions on the bread-and-butter
issues that poll after poll indicate are the true concerns of voters.
While Arizona Sen. John McCain and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin have struck an increasingly personal and negative tone in their
speeches, Obama has continued to talk about issues of substance.
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Trust is essential to the presidency. Americans want to
believe that the chief executive understands their lives, will protect
their interests and will not compromise their safety. They want a
president who represents what America can be, not what it has been.
Electing any president involves a leap of faith -- a risk.
Such is the power of the office. For a country in need of a new
direction and a new tone, Barack Obama is [our choice.]
Detroit Free Press
At a time when America clearly needs some changes, Obama
is not only proposing better ones but is also better suited to the job
of getting them done. Despite his relatively short time in public
office, Obama, 47, has over the course of the general election campaign
steadily articulated a progressive, pragmatic
vision for this country, keyed to opportunities for the middle class,
and demonstrated time and again that his approach to things is grounded
in deliberation and reflection. He's a man clearly open to ideas and
willing to search for the right answer to a problem rather than
pursuing the expedient one.
Kansas City Star
We believe Senator Barack Obama is the right person to
lead the country forward. He is a man of strength, empathy, energy and
intelligence. A gifted public servant whose roots extend to his
mother's birthplace in Kansas, Obama has a rare ability to encourage
hope among the dispirited and to inspire young
people. Obama's sound judgement is reflected in his choice for running
mate. Senator Joe Biden is a passionate advocate of ordinary Americans
and a foreign-policy expert who would be prepared to assume the Oval
Office on a moment's notice.
Las Vegas Sun (Nevada)
As Americans consider who should be the next president,
it is clear that we are at a crossroads. Americans are looking for
someone who not only has a steady hand and is a consensus builder, but
who also is a strong leader and who has faith in the greatness of what
our nation has to offer even in these most
trying of times. We believe that man is Barack Obama.
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
By necessity, the country's next commander in chief
must also be its mender in chief, capable of inspiring his angry and
divided constituents to join together in a recovery project to restore
the peace, prosperity and self-confidence we once knew. We fear that a
lesser effort may be insufficient to reverse America's
slide toward economic, political and societal chaos. The times require
dramatic and comprehensive change....
Portland Oregonian
Obama has the best chance and the best abilities to
rebuild an American economy that has grown dangerously unstable, with
government, consumers and the nation itself spiraling deeply into debt
and selling off the national future to pay for our daily expenses. He
is the best choice to rebuild the American
position in the world, to restore our ties with traditional allies, to
re-make the American argument to the rest of the world.
New Yorker Magazine - Foon
Rhee, Deputy National Political Editor
Unless appearances are very deceiving, [McCain] is
impulsive, impatient, self-dramatizing, erratic, and a compulsive
risk-taker. These qualities may have contributed to his usefulness as a
"maverick" senator. But in a President they would be a menace. By
contrast, Obama's transformative message is accompanied
by a sense of pragmatic calm.
The election of Obama -- a man of mixed ethnicity, at
once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of
twenty-first-century America -- would, at a stroke, reverse our
country's image abroad and refresh its spirit at home. His ascendance
to the Presidency would be a symbolic culmination of the civil-
and voting-rights acts of the nineteen-sixties and the century-long
struggles for equality that preceded them. It could not help but say
something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its
dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after
all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks.
At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political
failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism,
both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally,
intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our
troubled globe. That leader's name is Barack Obama.
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