Opinion

Our view: Obama for president


Published: October 29, 2008

Challenging times demand the kind of steady, intelligent leadership Barack Obama has displayed from his days at Harvard Law School right through the grueling campaigns for the Democratic nomination and, now, the presidency.

In a country that's for too long been divided along lines of race, class and culture, there is near unanimity on one thing: We can't have four more years like the four we have just endured. Change is needed, and change is what Obama, more so than John McCain, promises.

Americans are fortunate this year in having two excellent candidates to choose between, following George W. Bush's disappointing second term.

McCain, who's represented Arizona in Congress since 1982, has a wealth of political experience, as well as a well-deserved reputation for putting principle before party loyalty. And of course the kind of courage he displayed as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam has few parallels.

All of which, however, only makes McCain's recent lapses in judgment that much more disappointing. His choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a person he barely knew, as running mate has proven disastrous. The darling of the Republican National Convention has been transformed in a matter of weeks — and mostly as the result of her own words and actions — into a national laughingstock.

He showed leadership with his staunch advocacy of the surge as a means of turning the tide in Iraq. But over the past year he's softened his position on issues from immigration reform to tax policy in an effort to appeal to his party's conservative base which, polls indicate, has done him more harm than good in key states.

McCain found what he thought would be an effective champion for his cause in "Joe the Plumber" — the everyman who views every tax as evil. But voters have come to realize that running the country isn't a job for the average Joe or Mary.

In Obama the Democrats have found a candidate of uncommon smarts and great charisma, someone capable of rousing the country from its present malaise and inspiring it to new heights.

Though choosing a candidate should never be based on race alone, the election of our first African-American president would send a strong signal that this is indeed the land of opportunity for all.

What Obama lacks in governmental experience is more than offset by the powerful vision he offers a country that has been buffeted by inadequate responses to natural disasters, is mired in two wars in the Middle East, and now faces a financial catastrophe the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Great Depression.

His ability to rally people to his cause has been much in evidence from the time he won the presidency of the Harvard Law Review in 1990 to this past Sunday when he drew 100,000 people to a campaign rally in Denver. His advocacy for a tax cut for those earning less than $250,000 a year signals an awareness that economic revival requires people having enough money in their pockets to continue spending on goods and services; his support for regulatory reform shows a determination to crack down on the Wall Street excesses that made millionaires of a few but left many without a job or a roof over their heads.

Lest anyone doubt his ability to protect American interests abroad, it should be noted that it's Obama who's advocated pursuing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda right to their mountain lairs in Pakistan, while McCain advises that we seek the Pakistani government's permission first.

There's toughness aplenty in Obama who defied the political establishment in his Chicago neighborhood when he first ran for the Illinois state senate, and refused to heed the advice of party elders and provide Hillary Clinton with an unobstructed path to the Democratic nomination.

Since announcing his candidacy early in 2007, Obama has shown remarkable resiliency and amazing cool in the face of attacks from within and outside his party.

A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that a startling 90 percent of Americans feel the country is on the wrong track — the most since the question was first asked in 1973. Electing someone who voted with the current president 90 percent of the time as McCain did is hardly the way to fashion a much-needed turnaround.

Changing course will not be easy and without a sacrifice. And there are more hard times ahead regardless of who is elected president next Tuesday.

But Obama's candidacy offers the best chance to get the country moving in the right direction again.