The Washington Post has decided to cast its lot with Obama:
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. Mr. Obama has the potential to become a great president. Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good.
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The Memphis Commercial Appeal has endorsed Barack Obama:
Both Obama and his opponent, Sen. John McCain, have added expensive new proposals to their economic plans in recent days in an effort to demonstrate their ability to produce fresh ideas in the face of a national crisis.
More importantly, Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, are the only ticket that can restore people's faith in the economy and rebuild the international relationships that America needs to achieve its foreign-policy goals. McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have not shown convincingly that they have the credibility and the creativity to do so.
It is also instructive to note that the race has produced a stark contrast between a Democratic ticket, Obama and Biden, that has offered inspiration and a Republican team, McCain and Palin, that has tried to stoke people's prejudices and fears.
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The weekly Arkansas Times says it's time for change, and that change is Obama:
A vote for president this year does not mean a decision built on negatives. The Arkansas Times happily endorses the Democrat, Barack Obama. His measured judgment on the war is reassuring against a backdrop of continued violence in the Middle East and beyond. He offers a health insurance plan, which, if short of the single-payer plan we prefer, promises more coverage than hard-pressed Americans now enjoy and far more protection than John McCain's tax credit mirage could ever provide. He promises, moreo-ver, an end to the trickle-down Republican economic theory that John McCain espouses. Finally, smarts count for something. We've tried it the other way for eight years.
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No matter how much Obama lies, the election is all about John McCain, and that's why the Ouray County Plaindealer is supporting Obama:
n McCain's 180-degree capitulation to the far right to where he now supports, even in worsening economy, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
n His latest proposal of the day, an "only" $300 billion bailout for the gamblers or idiots (or at best, those caught up in a national "pay later" mindset) who bought more house than they afford. How can McCain call himself a fiscal conservative, and not a socialist, with a straight face?
n McCain's unreal statement, on the day when Obama was in Western Colorado and when the first financial dominoes were starting to fall, that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong," and then the disingenuous back-track that by "fundamentals," he meant American workers.
n His impulsive statement that in response to the financial meltdown, he'd fire — as in shoot first, ask questions later — the chairman of the Security Exchange Commission.
n His reliance on former colleague Phil Gramm as an economic advisor. Gramm's fingerprints can be found on the Enron meltdown and the current subprime mortgage crisis.
n Last but not least, his reckless selection of Sarah Palin as vice presidential nominee. The early exhilaration of this fresh, out-of-box pick has transformed on further familiarization to genuine and frightening concern that this self-described "hockey mom" could be a heartbeat away from the red phone.
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The Lufkin Daily News supports Obama:
Today through Sunday, we're making our endorsements for the 2008 election. Our endorsements are not partisan — we supported George Bush in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Our choices reflect whose policies and strengths we think, after careful consideration, will mean a better, stronger economy and way of life for Angelina County, Texas and the United States.
To that end, the choice for this year's president is clear: Barack Obama, senator from Illinois.
His strength has been to appeal to a broad range of people, including the vital youth who are tomorrow's leaders. After watching an inflexible president go overboard in a $700 billion bailout on loyalty for his nominee, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, we think it's time for a changing of the guard.
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The Amarillo Globe News likes McCain:
One way or another, the United States will make history Nov. 4.
On that day, America will have a new president.
U.S. Sen. John McCain is the Republican presidential nominee who has chosen a woman as his vice president. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be the first female VP in this nation's history.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee who comes from a unique background, his mother was white and his father was black. Obama would be the first president in this nation's history with an African-American heritage.
However, voters need to look beyond personal demographics and life stories as they choose the best candidate to lead the nation forward during these troubling and dangerous times.
On the issues, we feel John McCain is the better candidate.
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And of course the Union Leader has gone for McCain. It is one of the most Republican newspapers in the country:
For the last two decades, whenever Washington went on a spending spree it couldn't afford, John McCain stood in defiant opposition. Even if the spenders were members of his own party, he called them out. In only a few short years, Barack Obama has become a master distributor of pork and an opponent of controlling runaway spending. He even voted against defunding the Bridge to Nowhere and using the money for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Barack Obama's call for "change" has a certain appeal, to be sure. But this is no time to be rolling the dice on an untested leader whose rhetoric doesn't match his record when it comes to delivering actual change. John McCain has a long history of standing up to Washington's permanent political class, regardless of party, and pushing for institutional reforms to end business as usual. He is the right leader to restore trust in our government, confidence to our markets and prosperity to our country. On Nov. 4, do right by your country and vote for John McCain for President.
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