I will tell you from my own experience of five years in Chicagoland while I was an undergraduate and a grad student at Northwestern, The Chicago Tribune has NEVER endorsed a Democrat (not even Illinois’ own former Governor, Adlai Stevenson, in the 50s)… until TODAY!
The Chicago Tribune has endorsed Barack Obama.
This was the Republicans’ own paper, originating in support for Lincoln in the 19th Century. But here is what came out today:
On Nov. 4 we’re going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.
The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States.
But what about McCain, the candidate the Trib endorsed in the primaries?
This about sums it up:
It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush’s tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.
McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate–but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin’s exposure to the public. But it’s clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.
Chicago’s other daily, The Sun-Times, also endorsed Obama, and I guess this is the first time that both Chicago papers came out for the same candidate.
This is something for my son, who has lived in Chicago for the past two years until he moved to West Virginia this month with his Mother and me, to comment on… as soon as he gets back from his workout I’ll be curious to get his response. I bet it will be as amazed as mine.
