The Editorial Board has caught a lot of flack for supposedly being biased toward Sen. Barack Obama. We want to make it abundantly clear that until about two weeks ago, we had no idea which candidate was going to receive our votes and our endorsement. However, today we can proudly say that we are officially endorsing Obama as our preferred choice for 44th President of the United States.
Shocking, right?
If you had asked us who were going to endorse back in May, our answer would have been the same, and it would have been delivered with more enthusiasm and without hesitation. If you asked us the same question about two months later, our answer would not have been so forthright.
Like so many ignorant voters and part-time politicos, we decided we were going to dive headfirst into this election season. We were going to be informed. We were going to debate. We were going to get to know all the candidates better than we know the lines from "Anchorman" - and we're baller when it comes to movie quotes.
Right around Mother's Day, though, we fell victim to the same "itis" that is still afflicting most of the nation, according to many recent polls; we got a case of the Obamas.
Like many other Americans, we couldn't help but be taken in by his presence. As a first-term senator, Obama was able to do what a re-elected president couldn't: He could hammer through a speech with conviction and vigor. We ate it up.
Did we ever think that his ability to deliver to a crowd was indicative of his capabilities as a would-be president? No, but it sure put him in our favor in the early going.
As the campaign process wore on, however, we began to see through the Illinois senator's façade. Obama began shuffling toward a more moderate political footing, leaving a lot of lefties behind. He began playing cards normally seen in the hands of Republican nominees, like religion and fiscal conservatism.
His highly touted rhetorical prowess and self-described goal of departing from politics as usual slowly became memories as he reached out for the moderate vote.
Honestly, we got sick of Obama. He was everywhere, and he was becoming a politician.
Then we realized that Obama's strategy evolved out of necessity. The problem with being a politician is the nature of politics. You can never please everyone, but you always have to try.
We are not excusing Obama's seeming flip-flops. We don't like the fact that his Web site has changed to put more emphasis on his religion-based work. We don't like that he has littered his site with generic phrases, including one that highlights how he and running mate Sen. Joe Biden "support small business, invest in the sciences and crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders," but what sane presidential candidate would oppose any of those ideas?
What we do like is Obama's ability to lead. He looks, sounds and acts presidential, and he never seems to get flustered. We are confident that Obama will be able to counteract his lack of national experience by surrounding himself with Washington veterans. He got off to a great start by choosing Biden, a two-time senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, to be his vice president.
The president does not act on his own. He is both a figurehead and legislator. As figurehead, Obama will improve our nation's international image, and he can use the experience of his Cabinet and personal staff to guide him as a legislator.
As a relative newcomer to Washington, Obama would be able to couple his fresh perspective with the political savvy of his staff, which may enable him to bring about the change he has so adamantly demanded.
