The Charlotte Observer, North Carolina's largest newspaper, endorsed Barack Obama for another term in this morning's edition.
It's a somewhat half-hearted endorsement--but it's an endorsement nonetheless. The first paragraph makes it sound like the Observer editorial board seriously considered withholding its endorsement.
Voters may be uninspired by their choice for president on Nov. 6. On the issue most urgent to Americans – the economy – neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney has offered a credible plan that might spark growth and help create jobs. Similarly, on the issue that profoundly threatens the United States long-term – the debt – neither candidate has come forth with a prescriptive, balanced proposal of program cuts and increased revenues.
If all that has slowed your sprint to the nearest voting precinct, we understand. The editorial board has been underwhelmed, too, and we’ve found it challenging to recommend either candidate.
But then it peered into the guts of both candidates' plans--and while it was unimpressed with Obama's plan, it liked Romney's even less. For instance, it bluntly says Romney's economic plan "doesn't add up." Specifically:
Romney’s plan could have promise but is incomplete. In addition to maintaining the Bush tax cuts for all Americans, Romney proposes an 20 percent marginal tax rate cut for all, along with repealing and replacing Dodd-Frank Act financial regulations. That strategy would create a climate friendly to growth, Romney says, and it’s true that Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush used the approach to help lift the U.S. economy from recessions early in their presidencies.
Romney, however, has declined to provide enough details about how he’d pay for those tax cuts, and he hasn’t said which regulations he’d keep in place to protect consumers. In the most recent presidential debate, Romney suggested paying for his tax cuts in part by putting a cap on the total deductions taxpayers can claim. That’s a conversation starter, but without details, it’s not a credible plan. (emphasis mine)
It also thinks both candidates' plans to trim the debt are unrealistic. While it is skeptical of Obama's proposal to raise taxes on the richest Americans, it finds that Romney's standard for cutting programs--whether they're "worth borrowing money from China"--is unrealistic. It also points out that Romney's promise to preserve the most popular parts of the health care bill may cut the ground out from under his deficit-reduction plan, saying that they happen to be "the most expensive parts."
In the end, the Observer's decision came down to governing philosophy--and in its view, Obama's America is one that it finds more palatable.
In words and some deeds, Obama has worked to protect vulnerable Americans – the uninsured, gays, the children of illegal immigrants. He’s governed with a philosophy that all Americans deserve at least the opportunity for success, and he’s advocated for tax reform and an educational infrastructure that would promote fairness.
The America he believes in celebrates the common good as well as the individual good. When the economy improves – and it will – the country needs a president with that agenda, with those values. We endorse Barack Obama for another four years.
It's hard to say whether this will move many votes in a state which is still a coin flip. The
Observer has been a four-letter word among North Carolina's conservatives for decades. And while Charlotte itself is solid blue, the suburbs are only slightly less red than those of Atlanta, Nashville, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth. But on the other hand, polling has shown that newcomers to this state seem to be breaking toward Obama. Maybe this endorsement will convince them.