Gore-dorsement

I keep finding a lot of established Dems giving some of their best speeches endorsing Obama (see: Bill Richardson)



And here is the rest of it. Keep Reading (if there's more)...

Si, Se Puede!

Bill Richardson, '08 presidential candidate, Bill Clinton's Ambassador to the UN and later Secretary of Energy, and current Governor of New Mexico endorsed Obama today in a speech far more rousing than any I saw from him during the campaign (hey Bill - I like the beard too!) He was clearly inspired by Obama's speech earlier this week.


In a statement released earlier today, he said:

My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against John McCain in the fall...Barack Obama will be a historic and a great President, who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad.

Also - significantly from the '08 Democratic candidate with some of the most extensive foreign policy - he takes on Hillary's "commander-in-chief" threshold argument:

"There is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation's security is on the line," Richardson said. "He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally."

Full transcript of his speech here, and reporting on his endorsements here and here Keep Reading (if there's more)...

The "Obama I Know"

A revealing look at Obama from University of Chicago constitutional law colleague Cass Sunstein in the Chicago Tribune. Highly recommended!

Not so long ago, the phone rang in my office. It was Barack Obama. For more than a decade, Obama was my colleague at the University of Chicago Law School.

He is also a friend. But since his election to the U.S. Senate, he does not exactly call every day.

On this occasion, he had an important topic to discuss: the controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance of international telephone calls between Americans and suspected terrorists. I had written a short essay suggesting that the surveillance might be lawful. Before taking a public position, Obama wanted to talk the problem through.In about 20 minutes, he and I investigated the legal details. He asked me to explore all sorts of issues: the president's power as commander in chief, the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Authorization for Use of Military Force and more.

Obama wanted to consider the best possible defense of what Bush had done. To every argument I made, he listened and offered a counterargument. After the issue had been exhausted, Obama said he thought the program was illegal, but now had a better understanding of both sides. He thanked me for my time.

This was a pretty amazing conversation, not only because of Obama's mastery of the legal details, but also because many prominent Democratic leaders had already blasted the Bush initiative as blatantly illegal. He did not want to take a public position until he had listened to, and explored, what might be said on the other side.

This is the Barack Obama I have known for nearly 15 years -- a careful and evenhanded analyst of law and policy, unusually attentive to multiple points of view.

Here's another excerpt, read the whole thing here:

The Obama we know is no rhetorician; he shines not because he can move people, but because of his problem-solving abilities, creativity and attention to detail.

In recent weeks, his speaking talents, and the cultlike atmosphere that occasionally surrounds him, have led people to wonder whether there is substance behind the plea for "change" -- whether the soaring phrases might disguise emptiness and vagueness. But nothing could be further from the truth. He is most comfortable in the domain of policy and detail.

I do not deny that skeptics are raising legitimate questions. After all, Obama has served in the U.S. Senate for a short period (less than four years) and he has little managerial experience. Is he really equipped to lead the most powerful nation in the world?

Obama speaks of "change," but will he be able to produce large-scale changes in a short time? What if he fails? An independent issue is that all the enthusiasm might serve to insulate him from criticisms and challenges on the part of his advisers -- and, in view of his relative youth, criticisms and challenges are exactly what he requires.

Fortunately, the candidate's campaign proposals offer strong and encouraging clues about how he would govern; what makes them distinctive is that they borrow sensible ideas from all sides.

He is strongly committed to helping the disadvantaged, but his University of Chicago background shows he appreciates the virtues and power of free markets. He is not only focused on details but is also a uniter, both by inclination and on principle.

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It's pronounced "Mill-wah-que"

So Wisconsin is the next big state voting on Tuesday. And today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel announced their endorsement of Obama (following visits from both candidates). Here's some of what they have to say:

There is only the tiniest sliver of daylight separating Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the issues, with the notable exception of health care reform...The similarity of views is, in truth, why the candidates return so much to the themes of change and experience...Obama still has the edge. His experience as community organizer, state legislator, U.S. senator and campaigner who took a dream and became a credible contender measures up well against Clinton's experience as poverty lawyer, first lady and U.S. senator...In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board on Wednesday, the first-term senator proved himself adept at detail and vision. They are not mutually exclusive...In Clinton, there is the potential for déjà vu all over again. Right or wrong, she is a polarizing figure who excites all the wrong kinds of political passions...And much of the antagonism she engenders in the right is simply irrational.

And my friend Jackson has forwarded this article "Wisconsin Should Be A Showdown" analyzing the Clinton campaign's efforts in that state and why an Obama victory is far from a foregone conclusion.

Go here to volunteer to phone bank Wisconsin voters, or here to Donate to Obama.

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Highlights to Consider Before You Vote

If you read nothing else: 

Why Obama? (LA Times Endorsement) - Great summary comparison of the two candidates and explanation of why Obama should (strongly) be your choice. If you just read one article, I recommend this.

The Electability Question

The Experience Question

The Race Question

Get Some Inspiration (and some Kennedys!)

Why Obama Over Clinton?

Don't Let Fear Make You Vote Differently Than You Might Feel!

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Get Some Inspiration (& Some Kennedys!)

Obama

Obama + music + celebs

The Kennedys & Obama:

Caroline Kennedy's Endorsement "Like My Father"

Ted's Endorsement

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Still on the fence?

Don't be afraid.

Michael Chabon (author of "Kavalier & Clay," "Wonder Boys," etc) wrote this op-ed "Obama vs. the Phobocracy" in today's Washington Post. I think it applies to a lot of the reservations I'm still surprised to hear people say they harbor about voting for Obama, even with abundant evidence to the contrary:

Since I started talking and writing about Obama I have come to see that this ruling fear, and nothing else, lies at the back of every objection or reservation people raise or harbor regarding the man and his candidacy.

Fear whispers to us that white voters have a nasty tendency to tell pollsters, friends and neighbors that they support an African American candidate, then go into the voting booth and let the fear known as racism pull the lever.

Fear tells us that ugliness, rage and brutality are the central facts of human existence, that decency and tolerance are luxuries on whose altar our enemies will be only too happy to sacrifice us.

It is through our fear of falling prey to the calamity and misadventure from which the media promise faithlessly to protect us --a fear manufactured and sold by the media themselves -- that we accept without question the media-borne canard (tainted, in my view, by a racism as insidious as any that hides behind the curtains of voting booths) that Barack Obama, a seasoned and successful 46-year-old husband and father of two, a man sweeping into the prime of his life with all his sails and flags unfurled, is too young and inexperienced for a job that demands vitality and flexibility and that, furthermore, has made nonsense of glittering resumes, laughingstocks of practiced old hands and, in a reverse of Popeye's old trick, ravenous alligators out of years of accumulated baggage.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING: LA Times Endorsment - READ IT!

The LA Times today published an endorsement of Obama - they have not endorsed presidential candidates since the 70's. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THE WHOLE THING - its a great endorsement of Obama and a concise explanation of why he deserves your vote more than Clinton. But here's a few excerpts:

...We urge voters to make the most of this historic moment by choosing the Democrat most focused on steering the nation toward constructive change: We strongly endorse Barack Obama...
...With two candidates so closely aligned on the issues, we look to their abilities and potential as leaders, and their record of action in service of their stated ideals. Clinton is an accomplished public servant whose election would provide familiarity and, most important, competence in the White House, when for seven years it has been lacking. But experience has value only if it is accompanied by courage and leads to judgment.

Nowhere was that judgment more needed than in 2003, when Congress was called upon to accept or reject the disastrous Iraq invasion. Clinton faced a test and failed, joining the stampede as Congress voted to authorize war...she has made much of the fact that Obama was not yet in the Senate and didn't face the same test. But Obama was in public life, saw the danger of the invasion and the consequences of occupation, and he said so. He was right...
...Clinton's return to the White House that she occupied for eight years as first lady would resurrect some of the triumph and argument of that era. Yes, Bill Clinton's presidency was a period of growth and opportunity, and Democrats are justly nostalgic for it. But it also was a time of withering political fire, as the former president's recent comments on the campaign trail reminded the nation. Hillary Clinton's election also would drag into a third decade the post-Reagan political duel between two families, the Bushes and the Clintons. Obama is correct: It is time to turn the page...
...An Obama presidency would present, as a distinctly American face, a man of African descent, born in the nation's youngest state, with a childhood spent partly in Asia, among Muslims. No public relations campaign could do more than Obama's mere presence in the White House to defuse anti-American passion around the world, nor could any political experience surpass Obama's life story in preparing a president to understand the American character. His candidacy offers Democrats the best hope of leading America into the future, and gives Californians the opportunity to cast their most exciting and consequential ballot in a generation...

READ IT !!! Keep Reading (if there's more)...

Other Endorsements Today

Read Here: MoveOn.org & California's SEIU Union Endorse Obama

Check out this article about how a former Nixon & Reagan speechwriter, arch conservative Jeffrey Hart, backs Obama as "a Great Communicator in the mold of Reagan, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt, a leader who can inspire Americans to work together on the problems of the 21st Century." Keep Reading (if there's more)...

"Experience ain't everything"

According to the Connecticut Post, in their Obama endorsment. According to polls, Clinton and Obama are tied in the state I went to high school in - 40/40 - so get out there and vote Obama!

...Years of service is important, but nothing can substitute for good judgment and an ability to lead....In 2002, when war fever gripped the nation and Democrats lined up behind President Bush and his war of choice in Iraq, Obama spoke against it. It's true, he was not in the U.S. Senate, and therefore was not under the pressure his counterpart faced. But there is no excusing Sen. Clinton for supporting a war for what was, to all appearances, political expediency. Obama's desire for higher office was apparent even then, but he did not fall into that trap.

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Say Chowda!

Highlights from Teddy Kennedy's endorsement of Obama at American University (along with Caroline Kennedy) - site of one of JFK's most famous speeches. It was pretty moving, and you can tell Ted is juiced.


He makes sure to specifically counter a lot of the Clinton claims - saying Obama is ready from day one, was always against the war (as he was), etc.

Full speeches:
Teddy
Caroline
Obama's acceptance
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Obama Endorsed by a Paper that Knows Him (with some words for Hillary)

His home paper, the Chicago Tribune:

"Obama can help this nation move forward. A Tribune profile last May labeled his eight years in Springfield as "a study in complexity, caution and calculation. In the minority party for all but his final two years in the Statehouse, he tempered a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism, often forging consensus with conservative Republicans when other liberals wanted to crusade."

And reminds us Clinton is ever the triangulator, and was for the war until she realized (in a Democratic primary) she had to be against it.

ALSO: a Seattle Times endorsement Keep Reading (if there's more)...

Caroline Kennedy on Obama: "Like My Father" and other endorsements

In the NY Times:
"OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama."
Check it.

The San Francisco Chronicle Obama Endorsement - "Reprieve and Renewal"

Philadelphia Inquirer Endorsement

NY Observer Endorsement

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - "Barack Obama: The new generation" Keep Reading (if there's more)...