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Anonymous
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Today Obama received another endorsement from a longtime conservative/Republican and White House insider- Ken Adelman...
Adelman began working for the government in 1969 at the Commerce Department, and then served in the Office of Economic Opportunity. From 1975 to 1977 during the Gerald Ford administration, Adelman was an Assistant to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and now is a member of the Defense Policy Board. He has also served as a national editor of Washingtonian magazine for more than 17 years.
He was the deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for two-and a half years, working with Jeane Kirkpatrick. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for nearly five years, during the Reagan administration. He was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan during the superpower summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
Adelman is currently a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board.
joining the list of Republicans/conservatives endorsing Obama:
Elected Officials:
Government Officials:
Columnists and Academics:
Adelman began working for the government in 1969 at the Commerce Department, and then served in the Office of Economic Opportunity. From 1975 to 1977 during the Gerald Ford administration, Adelman was an Assistant to United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and now is a member of the Defense Policy Board. He has also served as a national editor of Washingtonian magazine for more than 17 years.
He was the deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for two-and a half years, working with Jeane Kirkpatrick. He also served as the Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for nearly five years, during the Reagan administration. He was an advisor to President Ronald Reagan during the superpower summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
Adelman is currently a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board.
from Adelmans Endorsement:
"When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent, ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I've concluded that that's no way a president can act under pressure.
Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was on a running mate.
That decision showed appalling lack of judgement. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office - I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain's main two, and best two, themes for his campaign - Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, pos-Palin pick."
joining the list of Republicans/conservatives endorsing Obama:
General Colin Powell "I think he is a transformational figure," Powell said. "He is a new generation coming ... onto the world stage and on the American stage. And for that reason, I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."
"And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance, he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president."
Powell said a big job of the new president will be “conveying a new image of American leadership, a new image of America’s role in the world.”
“I think what the president has to do is to start using the power of the Oval Office and the power of his personality to convince the American people and to convince the world that America is solid, America is going to move forward … restoring a sense of purpose,”
"I can't deny that it will be a historic event when an African-American becomes president," Powell continued, speaking live in the studio. "And should that happen, all Americans should be proud — not just African-American, but all Americans — that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen. It would also not only electrify the country, but electrify the world."
"We have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way. And John McCain is as non-discriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that within the party, we have these kinds of expressions."
Michael Smerconish is a Philadelphia-based conservative radio talk show host who broadcasts on WPHT 1210 AM from 5:30 a.m. until 9 a.m., Monday through Friday. He began his radio career in 2002, when he left his law practice.
Smerconish has substituted for Bill O'Reilly on The Radio Factor, Glenn Beck on his CNN Headline News television program, Chris Matthews on Hardball, and for Joe Scarborough on his former MSNBC show Scarborough Country. He also has a regular column in the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
On Friday, October 17, 2008, Smerconish endorsed Barack Obama for President.
Elected Officials:
Jim Leach, Former Congressman from Iowa
"For me, the national interest comes before party concerns, particularly internationally. We do need a new direction in American policy, and Obama has a sense of that."
Lincoln Chafee, Former United States Senator from Rhode Island
"As I look at the candidates in order who to vote for, certainly my kind of conservatism was reflected with Senator Obama, and those points are that we're fiscally conservative, we care about revenues matching expenditures, we also care about the environment, I think it's a traditional conservative value to care about clean air and clean water."
Richard Riordan, Former Mayor of Los Angeles
"I'm still a Republican, but I still will always vote for the person who I think will do the best job."
Lowell Weicker, Former Governor and Senator from Connecticut
"At issue is not the partisan politics of two parties, rather the image we have of ourselves as Americans. Senator Obama brings wisdom, kindness, and common sense to what is both his and our quest for a better America."
Jim Whitaker, Fairbanks, Alaska Mayor
"If we are as a nation concerned with energy, then our consideration should be a national energy policy that is not predicated on crude oil 50 years into the future. We need to get to it, and I think Barack Obama is very clear in that regard."
Linwood Holton, Former Governor of Virginia
"Obama has a brain, and he isn't afraid to use it."
Government Officials:
Douglas Kmiec, Head of the Office of Legal Counsel under Reagan & Bush 41
"I was first attracted to government by Ronald Reagan, who lives in our national memory as a great leader and an inspiring communicator. Senator Obama has these gifts as well, but of course, more rhetorical flourish without substance would be worth little. Is there more to Senator Obama? I believe there is."
Jackson M. Andrews, Republican Counsel to the U.S. Senate
"Barack Obama is a thoughtful visionary leader who as President will end the decline of American law, liberty, and fiscal responsibility that are the hallmarks of the extremist policies of the current Administration, now adopted by John McCain."
Susan Eisenhower, Granddaughter of President Eisenhower & President of the Eisenhower Group
"Given Obama's support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole."
Francis Fukuyama, Advisor to President Reagan
"...Obama probably has the greatest promise of delivering a different kind of politics."
Rita Hauser, Former White House intelligence advisor under George W. Bush
"McCain will continue the wrong-headed foreign policy decisions of Bush, while Obama will take us in a new direction."
Larry Hunter, Former President Reagan Policy Advisor
"I suspect Obama is more free-market friendly than he lets on. He taught at the University of Chicago, a hotbed of right-of-center thought. His economic advisers, notably Austan Goolsbee, recognize that ordinary citizens stand to gain more from open markets than from government meddling."
Bill Ruckelshaus, served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations
"I'm not against McCain, I'm for Obama."
Lilibet Hagel, Wife of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel
"This election is not about fighting phantom issues churned out by a top-notch slander machine. Most important, it is not about distracting the public-- you and me-- with whatever slurs someone thinks will stick."
Columnists and Academics:
Jeffrey Hart, National Review Senior Editor
"It turns out that these political parties are not always either liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. The Democrat, under certain conditions, can be the conservative."
Andrew Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University
"For conservatives, Obama represents a sliver of hope. McCain represents none at all. The choice turns out to be an easy one."
David Friedman, Economist and son of Milton and Rose Friedman
"I hope Obama wins. President Bush has clearly been a disaster from the standpoint of libertarians and conservatives because he has presided over an astonishing rise in government spending."
Christopher Buckley, Son of National Review founder William F. Buckley & former NR columnist
"Obama has in him-- I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy 'We are the people we have been waiting for' silly rehtoric-- the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for."
Andrew Sullivan, Columnist for the Atlantic Monthly
"Obama's legislative record, speeches, and the way he has run his campaign reveal, I think, a very even temperament, a very sound judgment, and an intelligent pragmatism. Prudence is a word that is not inappropriate to him."
Wick Alison, Former publisher of the National Review
"I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses. But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history."