When I was a youngster in school, we were given a word of the day, a word which represented what we would be learning during that day‘s lessons.
Well, if this last week’s political season had a word, it was endorsements.
Now, Obama has received numerous endorsements, but I am interested in certain endorsements, those that are coming from those who in the past have backed conservative or Republican candidates. The reason I’m examining these is because it tells us what Obama is doing right to include the red states and McCain is doing which is alienating his base.
This week Obama received newspaper endorsements from the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American Statesman, the Denver Post, Salt Lake Tribune and the Chicago Tribune. And let me state faster than you can say "left leaning media" that all of these newspapers endorsed Bush in 2004. Heck, the Chicago Tribune has never endorsed a Democrat in it’s 150 year history!
So what reason did they give for the change?
Well, the Houston Chronicle very specifically listed Sarah Palin as a major reason:
"Perhaps the worst mistake McCain made in his campaign for the White House was the choice of the inexperienced and inflammatory Palin as his vice-presidential running mate."
But another strong reason was this:
"Obama appears to possess the tools to confront our myriad and daunting problems. He’s thoughtful and analytical. He has met his opponent’s attacks with calm and reasoned responses. Viewers of the debate 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 the voters. While Arizona Senator John McCain and his running mate Alaska governor Sarah Palin have struck an increasingly personal and negative tone in their speeches, Obama has continued to talk about issues of substance."
The Austin American Statesman also brought up how the candidates have dealt with the campaign during difficult times:
"In the third and final debate last week, John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, tried to bait him into the gutter, but Obama refused to get down there. Political wisdom dictates that candidates who are attacked return double the fire directed at them. Obama responded calmly, defending himself but declining to respond in kind.
Now that’s change."
The Denver Post’s endorsement was based on individual plans for the turbulent times in which we find ourselves.
Obama’s plan, while not perfect, is far superior to McCain’s catastrophic ideas. How does this effect the economy?
Consider this: General Motors now pays more than $1500 for health care
benefits, mostly for retired employees, on each new car sold. America
competitors in Japan, Germany and China don’t share such costs because their
national health care plans are funded through broad-based taxes. Somehow,
America must level the playing field.
McCain wants to eliminate the corporate tax deduction on existing health
care programs, a cruel corporate surtax averaging $3500 per employee. That tax hike would force employers to drop coverage on tens of millions of workers. The lucky workers who still had employer-paid benefits would have to pay income taxes on them - a $3000 tax increase on a typical middle-income Colorado worker. And this massive tax increase on employers and employees alike comes from a man who asked repeatedly in the last debate: Why raise anyone’s taxes?"
Why, indeed, Sen. McCain?
And of Sen. Obama they say this:
Republicans love to mock Obama’s history as a community organizer. But here was a man with no money to offer, no patronage to dispense, no way to punish his opponents. All he could do was work with people from all walks of life, liberals and conservatives, business people and the unemployed, and bring them together in common cause for a better community. Could there really be better preparation to reunite a worried and divided America to again pursue our more perfect union.
The Salt Lake City Tribune agreed with the Houston Chronicle concerning Sarah Palin, calling her "..grievously underequipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at 72 and with a history of health problems, die in office" and referring to her selection as "more than any single factor showing Sen. McCain’s poor judgment.
The Chicago Tribune, who has been Republican since Lincoln, saw in Barack Obama that he "was grounded in the best aspirations of this country, and we need to return to those aspirations."
Of John McCain, they stated that while they liked McCain during the primary, that his responses since have left a lot to be desired.
He responded to the economic crisis with an angry populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.
They also brought up the issue of Sarah Palin, strongly.
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 that she’s not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign above his country.
Ouch.
Hopefully John McCain and his handlers will read the words and understand what their friends are trying to tell them. Many in what should have been considered his base have turned to Obama because of the calm, thoughtful, honorable manner in which he has run his campaign. In their own way they have made the case that at this point in American history people don't want snap decisions we may regret later a la:
I don’t torture myself over decisions. I make them as quickly as I can,
quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often, my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.
They are trying to tell him we're tired of cleaning up messes from both mistakes and mud slinging. We're tired of those who can't afford to take the time to learn the basics on the issues. We're tired of politicians who say they are going to put the 'Country First' but whose actions put their interests above ours.
They are trying to tell him the simple truth--that we've learned after the past eight years that we can't afford another of his type of maverick. We need someone who can pull with the team.reasonreasonchangetaxesuniongrievously underequippedfactoraspirationsmortgagescountrycomplaint