Clarion Ledger Endorses Obama

The Clarion-Ledger endorsed Obama this morning.

I was hoping for this, and I thought there was a chance this may occur, but never did I think it would actually happen. I'm speechless.

Obama Choice for Future
Mississippians will find a tough choice in who to vote for in the presidential race on Tuesday with practically a native son in the race. But the choice must be Sen. Barack Obama.

Republican Sen. John McCain has deep roots in Mississippi - a fact that many Mississippians consider a valuable quality. The first John Sidney McCain (Sen. McCain's great grandfather) served as sheriff of Carroll County and later on the county board of supervisors. That McCain's brother was a major general in the U. S. Army. Camp McCain, the Mississippi National Guard training site in Grenada County, is named for him.

So, the big exit sign on I-55 for Camp McCain - not to mention the legions of soldiers who have been assigned there - serves as a reminder of the McCain-Mississippi
connection.

Nor is it lost on Mississippians that the U.S. senator from Arizona who is the Republican nominee for president served with distinction in the military - another consideration many Mississippians find important in an elected official.

No one should try to - or can - diminish the sacrifice John McCain made to America through his Vietnam War service, and the terrible price he paid while imprisoned as a POW.

McCain shall always remain a hero and honored veteran who demonstrably loves his country and has served above and beyond the call of duty in time of peace and in time in war, as a military man and as a civilian public servant.

But, with all this said, that is the past and this is the present. This election is precisely not about the past but about the future and who best should be leading the country into it.

In those matters, Sen. Obama outshines McCain, foremost on policies.

America has spent the past eight years living under the mantra "might makes right," whether military or economic, and the public has reaped a grim reward.

Obama promises to shift the focus of the government to domestic needs.

While both candidates promise tax cuts, Obama's is aimed at middle-class Americans; in health care, Obama's stance is more inclusive. He promises a shift toward helping more people in hard times that require government help.

In foreign affairs, McCain again sides with Bush on Iraq, the major issue facing America militarily (with huge economic impact, as well). Obama promises to shift the emphasis back to where it belongs: bringing those who attacked America on 9-11 to justice, not nation-building.

This country is facing tough times, and those who were elected to lead us in Washington have not been listening to those who elected them. Those who adhere to the party line, and doing the same old things cannot be rewarded. Americans want demonstrable change.

Alas, for all his "straight talk" about change, McCain is just more of the same.
The "straight talk" about McCain? If he were the John McCain of 2000 who ran against George Bush, Obama wouldn't even rate with most Americans.

If he ran the campaign that he had run against Bush, bringing moderate Republicans, independents and conservative Democrats together, with the vast middle of America drawn in by admiring his honesty, he would be attractive today.

But somehow, McCain's "straight talk" express got derailed. He adopted the negative, divisive Bush tactics and, despite protesting he's still a "maverick," cannot escape his
record of backing Bush policies "90 percent of the time," as he said himself, including the Iraq debacle.

McCain '08 is not the McCain of 2000.

In addition to his shift to becoming what he had opposed, McCain offers an uncertainty no one since then can ignore, the elephant in the room, his age: 72.

Some point to Ronald Reagan's age, but when Reagan was reelected at 73, he had already served four years, had remarkable stamina, and an administration set up in power.

If McCain is truly bringing change, he would have to start anew - or, failing that, continue with the Bush/GOP apparatus in place.

Even McCain jokes about his age. But it's no joke, particularly given his past
cancer.

It's ironic that one voice that has spoken forthrightly to this in recent weeks is the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest daily newspaper, which endorsed Obama, even though McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, is that state's governor.

Palin is "passionate, charismatic," but she is not "ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth," it said, concluding: "Picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time."

One might logically ask, if Palin is inexperienced, then what about Obama?

McCain has more experience than Obama in the Senate, more knowledge of foreign affairs and has military experience. But Obama, 47, offers the character and achievement of someone his age that is exemplary, including election to his state's legislature, election to the U.S. Senate, editor of the Harvard Law Review and professor of law at the University of Chicago. Few candidates for president have ever had his intellect and academic achievements.

But the American public doesn't always judge candidates on their paper accomplishments either - whether that's Andrew Jackson's roughhewn populism or Reagan's folksiness, or John F. Kennedy's charisma.

We gauge people not only by what they have done, but what we believe they will do, based on who they are and what they have achieved. Voters look for "it," an indefinable something that gives them hope, a thrill, a belief in America.

Obama offers that "something" - call it charm, charisma, a positive vision for the future, a voice for empowerment, a role model for youth - Obama has "it." That seems clear to the young and those who don't regularly engage in politics.

And he has "it," whatever "it" is, with a party machinery eager for change after eight years of corruption, division, war, greed and economic failure.

With the new old McCain, given his inability to distinguish himself from the worst of his party, his abysmal choice as a running mate, and his failure to motivate any but the most devout of his party, the choice is clear. For president, Barack Obama is
the best choice.