Florida Newspaper Endorses Obama [View All]

[Hope And Change]

FLORIDA PRIMARY: Democrats: Obama


Palm Beach Post Endorsement

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Barack Obama has set the tone for the presidential campaign, which is why The Post endorses him in the Florida Democratic primary.

One irony is that Sen. Obama has influenced all his major challengers despite his youth (46) and the fact that he was little-known nationally until his riveting address at the 2004 national convention. Another irony is that Sen. Obama is downplaying the state primary because of a fight between the national and state Democratic parties. But all the candidates are on the Jan. 29 ballot, and we hope that voters ignore the sideshows and turn out.

Why vote for Sen. Obama? Because his opponents, Democratic and Republican, now tout the "hope" and "change" on which Sen. Obama has campaigned from the start. No candidate has more directly and correctly addressed the unease that pervades the country after seven years of a terrible presidency.

On most major issues, little separates Sen. Obama from Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. All favor more aggressive health-care reform than any Republican. All favor tax policies that give more help to the middle class and ask more of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans who have benefited so much from the Bush tax cuts.

But for someone who spent eight productive years in the Illinois legislature and has been in the Senate for just three years, Sen. Obama has displayed impressive judgment, consistency and political maturity. Consider his statement opposing the Iraq invasion in 2002, before he even got to Washington:

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