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Y! MyWebOUR RECOMMENDATION FOR PRESIDENT
Barack Obama is nation's best hope
Sunday, October 12, 2008
You are not better off than you were four years ago. Or eight years ago for that matter.
The Bush administration has put the nation in a tailspin. Its experiments in war, economics and denial of scientific facts have proven disastrous. Its veneer of truth have too often proven to be lies.
This is not a rehash of the past; it is the basis for a decision on the future.
It's time for a change and that change cannot be delivered by the Republican candidate who has voiced no real split with the policies of the Bush years.
The News-Sun Editorial Board is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama as the best hope for the nation to return to prosperity and to regain its standing in the world.
Obama is clearly a smart, caring, committed candidate for the job of president.
His detractors call him an elitist. A good education, a tendency to analyze problems and the ability to speak in complete sentences are hardly bad qualities to have in a president. Bringing peace to the Middle East or fixing a national economy are complicated tasks.
Obama is not an ideologue. His policies are pragmatic and tempered with the realization the Bush economy may foreclose or postpone some of his initiatives.
The idea that government is the problem is a peculiar notion for a party that has:
• Brought us to the brink of economic ruin by blind faith in deregulation.
• Created the highest national debt in U.S. history.
• Committed us to a needless war that's costing $10 billion a month.
• Seemed to find no role for itself as New Orleans fell to Katrina.
Obama is running against Vietnam War hero John McCain who, despite his honorable qualities, simply cannot absolve himself from the mistakes of this Republican era.
Nor can his judgment be trusted. He helped deregulate Wall Street and still seems surprised that greed trumped good intentions.
Moreover, his pick of Sarah Palin doesn't back up his catchphrase of "country first." She was a political choice and is in no way ready to lead the country if the 72-year-old McCain become incapacitated, a one-in-seven likelihood over two presidential terms according to actuarial tables.
McCain has the risk-taking character of the attack jet pilot he was, someone who shoots from the hip. That's a good trait in a dogfight, not in the leader of America.
We've tried "Act now, think later" policies and they have not worked.
McCain is willing to admit mistakes and change course, unlike Bush. But rash mistakes made in the Oval Office can't always be corrected. Risk taking based on gut reaction is not a trait we need in a president.
Obama has been criticized for being young and relatively inexperienced.
Perhaps, but his decisions, including picking Joe Biden as his running mate, show maturity.
Moreover, he has quickly mastered the important issues confronting America. No one who listens to him can doubt that.
One of Obama's best qualities is simply his ability to inspire people.
We're going to need that in the coming years.
