In a bit of good news for Barack Obama, the governor of Oklahoma endorsed him this morning. It’s been noted that politicians in red states tend to prefer Obama, but most of those states are states that Obama won. In Oklahoma, Obama was crushed. He’ll probably lose in West Virginia, too, but he got the endorsement of Sen. Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall anyway. Gov. Brad Henry echoed the familiar refrain.
“Senator Obama is uniquely positioned to unite our nation and move beyond the divisiveness and partisan skirmishes that too often characterize politics as usual in Washington,” said Henry, who is in the middle of his second term.
“Senator Obama and his positive message reflect the best of America,” Henry said.
Clinton is seen as hopelessly divisive in red states. And we blue state Democrats are beginning to learn the same lesson. Oklahoma is about as red as any state comes, but we do have a Democratic governor (who should now go on your short-list of potential vice-presidential picks) and Rep. Dan Boren. Boren’s father David is one of the foremost experts on matters of intelligence in the country. He served as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for over a decade and was a mentor to George Tenet. Rep. Dan Boren hasn’t endorsed a candidate, but David Boren endorsed Obama last week.
I’m actually a critic of the Borens’ influence over national security and foreign policy, but it is significant that the Oklahoma establishment has lined up against Clinton. It’s not a state that Obama has much hope of winning in the fall, but we have a competitive senate race there against Crazy Jim Inhofe, and it’d be nice if state Sen. Andrew Rice didn’t have to climb too big of a hill.
