New York Times endorses Obama, tongues him a "cool head"

New York, Oct 24 (PTI) U.S. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, already leading Republican rival John McCain in opinion polls, got a major boost to his campaign with the influential New York Times newspaper lending its endorsement to the Democrat, commending him for possessing "a cool head" and "sound judgement".

Contending that the Afro-African was better placed to
deal with deteriorating economy and sensitive world problems,
including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the newspaper said he
was also likely to engineer sound alliances at international
and national levels.

"He has shown a cool head and sound judgement. We believe
he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political
consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this
nation's problems," the Times editorial board said in an
1800-word endorsement.

In contrast, the paper said McCain has retreated farther
and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a
"campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints
of racism."

Claiming that McCain's policies and worldview were mired
in the past, the paper also termed his running mate Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin as "unfit for the office".

"His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the
office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgement that
eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress."

McCain, the paper said, offers more of the Republican
every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall
Street and in Americans' bank accounts.

Obama, on the other hand, has another vision of
government's role and responsibilities, it added.

The Times' support, picked up by Obama with just 11 days
of campaigning left, comes on top of endorsements by the Los
Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington post
earlier this week.

The endorsement which was posted on the paper's website
and will be published on today's editions, paints McCain as
living in the past and not articulating any new ideas on
either national or international front.

The Times, which had endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton
during the primaries, said watching Obama being tested in the
campaign has long since erased the reservations that led the
paper to support her.

"He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful
messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared
sacrifice and social responsibility," it said.

Analysts are divided as to the value of media
endorsement, pointing out that such support has not always
helped a candidate. But with Obama already ahead, the
endorsements might help him boost his chances, they opined.

Taking Obama's line, the Times said the U.S. is "battered
and drifting" after eight years of President Bush's "failed"
leadership.

"He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred
global image and a government systematically stripped of its
ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are
fleeing a hurricane's floodwaters, searching for affordable
health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs,
savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that
was foretold and preventable," it read.

After nearly two years of a gruelling and ugly campaign,
Obama has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th
president of the United States, the paper asserted. PTI