Corpus Christi Caller-Times Endorses Obama

February 17, 2008

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has endorsed Barack Obama:

"Obama offers Democrats inspirational leadership"

Democrats are watching one of the most exciting presidential nominating contest in years unfold in a series of state primaries across the nation. The two Democrats left in the race, Sens. Hillary Ridgan Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, now bring their campaigns to Texas. This is a memorable moment for Texans whose voices have been irrelevant in past presidential primary elections. But in this March 4 primary, Texas Democrats have a chance to make history.

Both candidates offer the opportunity to transcend gender and race. Clinton, if nominated, would be the first woman to lead the presidential ballot of a major American party and, if elected, be the first woman to be president of the United States. Obama similarly has the opportunity to become the first African-American to sit in the Oval Office as president of the nation where black slaves were once considered property. The nation passes a historic milestone with either candidate. That given, the candidates must stand on their own qualities.

The differences on policy issues between Obama and Clinton are all but neglible. Both offer similar positions on universal health insurance, the Iraq war, the economy, immigration reform and the other major issues. The difference is how they would approach the presidency. Clinton is a two-term senator and former first lady. The 60-year-old Clinton touts her experience as the edge. Obama, the choice of the Editorial Board, brings something to American politics that has been missing for a long time: the ability to inspire. The campaign of the 46-year-old Illinois senator has demonstrated his ability to bring new voters to the polls in every primary held so far. This is evidence of Obama’s ability to reawaken faith in representative democracy among Americans sick of leadership that depends on division and demonizing of opponents.

The nation’s politics have been mired for too long in a game of one-upmanship and retribution. Americans are looking for leadership, but their politicians have been hungering for payback. Each election brings another bloody nose to be remembered, another wound to be nursed until the next go-round. Enough. The problems of the American people are too crucial to waste more time in bitter partisanship. The nation is stuck in a war that has already cost the lives of nearly 4,000 Americans. The image of the United States has been shamefully stained by betrayal of its democratic principles by the current administration. A recession looms and Americans are worried about their jobs, their homes, their pensions and their children’s education. These are difficult issues to grapple with and they demand a broad and inclusive effort from the entire American political spectrum to arrive at solutions. This is the appeal of Obama. His candidacy is rooted in the notion that politics can be about solutions, not divisions, that elected leaders are elected to lead, not to drive wedges between groups of Americans. This is a chance to break from the past.

Obama is more than biography, but his family background — the son of an African father and a Kansas mother, raised in Indonesia and the polyglot population of Hawaii — gives him a wider perspective of the world. It is a profile much like that of a young generation of Americans who look beyond color and ethnicity and who are creating and being raised in biracial and even triracial homes. Obama’s candidacy is a hope that the old ethnic and racial politics will fade. May that day come quickly.

We don’t doubt Sen. Clinton’s fitness for office. She is a remarkable political figure. She may be the most knowledgeable of any of the candidates on any of the issues. The Clintons, wife and former president, are never to be underestimated. They are nothing if not resilient. If nominated and elected, she would be a capable, committed and formidable political leader. But what her candidacy can’t offer is a bridge from the past to the future. She offers a list of answers to a list of any possible policy questions, but what is missing is an over-arching sense of mission for Americans, other than restoring a bygone era. For Clinton, every issue must have an enemy — oil companies, the rich, insurance companies, a corporate oligarchy, and on and every enemy must be vanquished. Beating up on a political enemy doesn’t educate children, comfort the aged or ease the anxieties of economically stressed families.

Clinton, in a criticism that is likely to surface again in the fall if Obama is the Democratic nominee, belittles his candidacy as riding on mere beautiful speeches. This misses one of the most important jobs an American president has, the ability to move Americans toward a unifying theme, to instill courage and boldness. There is a whole Congress to legislate. A president, with his cabinet and administration, must plunge into the sausage-making of negotiating bills. But only the president can inspire, can call Americans to sacrifice and to unity. Of this, there has been precious little for a long time.

Voting for Obama takes courage. He is three years removed from the Illinois state senate. He has never served in the military, nor has Clinton. Obama has never led an organization with as many moving parts as the White House. But experience means little if it is only about remembering the old hates. And it takes courage to break from the old political civil wars. Many Democrats, like many Republicans, find it easier and more comforting to vilify political opponents and nurse grudges than to take the bold step of reaching across political lines to find solutions wherever they may be found. Nominating the Illinois senator offers Americans a chance to transcend the old politics. The Editorial Board endorses Sen. Barack Obama because it believes that he offers the kind of inspirational leadership the country is hungry for.