By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : With just 17 days to go before the Nov 4 US presidential election, Democratic nominee Barack Obama has won endorsements from two more leading newspapers — the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
The largest daily in Obama’s hometown, the Tribune hasn’t backed a Democrat in its 161-year history, while the Times hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate since 1972, when it backed President Richard M. Nixon’s re-election.
The Tribune and the Times endorsements followed that of the Washington Post Friday which described Obama as “a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building.”
Earlier 39 other regional newspapers with 3.5 million readers had backed Obama. Republican rival John McCain, who is lagging in the polls behind Obama, has received endorsements from 15 newspapers with 1.5 million readership, according to the industry magazine Editor and Publisher.
In an editorial posted on its Web site Friday, the Tribune said the country needs a president who can lead it through a “perilous time” and restore “a common sense of national purpose.” Obama is the strongest candidate to do that, the editorial board said.
“We have tremendous confidence in his intellectual rigor, his moral compass and his ability to make sound, thoughtful, careful decisions,” the Tribune said. “He is ready.”
The Tribune said it liked Republican presidential nominee John McCain, but added that it’s “hard to figure John McCain these days.”
The Tribune noted that in its earliest days it took up the abolition of slavery and linked itself to a powerful force for that cause–the Republican Party. But in 1872 “we endorsed Horace Greeley, who ran as an independent against the corrupt administration of Republican President Ulysses S. Grant.”
“In 1912 we endorsed Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party candidate against Republican President William Howard Taft,” recalled the Tribune suggesting its decisions then were driven by outrage at inept and
corrupt business and political leaders.
Seeing parallels today, the Tribune said the Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way, given the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption and abandoned their principles.
The Times, the country’s fourth-largest newspaper, said McCain’s campaign had left the candidate “nearly unrecognizable.” His selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for running mate was “irresponsible,” it said.
“Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory,” the Times said. “The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking — if that’s the appropriate word — would drive the White
House in a McCain presidency.”
The Times said the US needs a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure, is not prone to volatile gesture or capricious pronouncement and understands the legal foundations of American freedom.
“Yet we ask that the same person also possess the spark and passion to inspire the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defence of justice and liberty,” the Times said.
“Obama is educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature. He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be,” it added.