Published: November 03, 2008 05:58 pm      

EDITORIAL: Obama is our choice to lead the country

We’re going to give Barack Obama’s “Hope and Change” a chance.

Much like we stated earlier this week — things are a mess. As George W. Bush wraps up his second term in office, he’s leaving us with an economy in crisis, a seemingly never-ending war in the Middle East and a broken health care system.

Yes, Senator Obama’s programs border on socialism, but there are too many of us who can’t afford and do without health care while we pour billions of dollars overseas without taking care of our own first. There is no reason for any American to be hungry or lack medical care while we waste money on pork projects and to prop up foreign governments. 

God knows, what we have been doing in government has not worked.

Although Obama’s political resume is short, his life experience, education, eloquence and temperament are suited to building national confidence and international consensus for the goals of our democracy. We’re encouraged that he’ll act in the best interests of America and seek out the best to advise him.

Indicative of that is his choice of six-term senator Joe Biden as a running mate, adding to the team valuable experience in foreign policy and the judiciary.

Sen. John McCain is, no doubt, a man of courage and determination. He is a hero whose five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam did not break him but built in him a resolve to serve his country.

We admire him, but cannot support him for the nation’s top job. The self-described maverick espouses policies too close to those of George W. Bush, who has presided over an unwise and tragic war, a crumbling economy and an inability to compromise to get legislation passed in Congress.

McCain’s presidential choice of neophyte Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seems cynically political and undermines the seriousness of his own long years of service to our country.

The war in Iraq, launched on lies and pursued falsely as a defense of our freedoms, has cost more than 4,000 American lives and more than $600 billion dollars.

McCain has supported the surge launched in 2007 to add thousands of troops and extend the tours of duty of thousands more with the goal of leaving Iraq capable of emerging as a stable, peaceful and democratically. We are pessimistic that the goal can be achieved without greater risk of greater tragedy.

Obama opposed the war before the invasion and is our greatest hope of getting out with the least cost to American lives and international respect.

On health care, Obama gets our vote, too. Nearly 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Obama’s plan would provide affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, build on the existing health care system and lower health care costs by $2,500 for a typical family.

We prefer it to McCain’s plan that more closely retains the private health insurance model that has served us poorly. His program would provide a refundable tax credit available to every U.S. citizen under age 65 to purchase health insurance either through their jobs or as individuals.

On the economic front, the Tax Policy Center says both candidates are proposing plans that would result in tax cuts for most American families. Obama’s plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy.

The latest issue of the New Yorker magazine quotes McCain as saying on MSNBC’s “Hardball” in 2000: “Here’s what I really believe: That when you reach a certain level of comfort, there’s nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.”

We agree with McCain on that one; apparently McCain, himself, no longer does. His maverick label belies the fact that he has turned more toward policies he once rejected. He has watered down his support of immigration reform and his opposition to “enhanced interrogation,” and unlimited domestic offshore drilling for oil and gas.

McCain’s rally cry is that Obama’s “Hope and Change” lacks real substance without offering any solutions. Beyond these negative attacks, we feel McCain has offered no real substantial solutions — just more of the government that has not and does not work for average Americans.

We feel Senator Obama has a grasp of the real problems of real Americans and the ability to work toward resolving them.