Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

Seems someone on PA didn't get the memo. They're supposed to be mad at Senator Obama for pointing out things people have been pointing out for years.  

Instead, the newspaper in Allentown, PA went ahead and endorsed Senator Obama, rather than Senator Clinton, today.

AFTER he said what he said.

They feel that both are qualified but they chose Obama. Why? Let's see what they said.

Reasons for Obama:

"The first is the quality of his campaign. It has surprised the experts by moving him close to the finish line against bigger, more established political machines and it has communicated his basic ideas well.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has focused their criticism on Sen. Obama's relatively short resume. But there is nothing naive or amateurish about the campaign he has assembled. We wish he (and Sen. Clinton) had paid more attention to the Lehigh Valley, of course. It is Pennsylvania's third-biggest metropolitan area and it deserves better than one visit by him and zero by Sen. Clinton this deep into the campaign.

But, he has done a good job of building a Pennsylvania organization. It has had to climb a steep hill, given that Sen. Clinton has the biggest share of high-profile Democratic officials' endorsements. Using the Internet, e-mail and old-fashioned storefront headquarters, he continues to build a corps of supporters here. And, at least so far, his has done a better job than the Clinton campaign of keeping the campaign positive.

The second is his message of hope and change. It conveys a vision of the nation's future that is in tune with the tenor and consensus of most Americans.

[W]hile both candidates are members of the same U.S. Senate, Sen. Obama is the one who has distinguished himself as the better agent for changing Washington. Remember, on the issues, the differences between the Obama and Clinton platforms are thin or non-existent. He has set himself apart by enunciating a vision of a different America, one that people recognize as resting on the nation's founding principles. His vision calls upon ''the better angels of our nature'' just as Abraham Lincoln did in 1861.

Sen. Obama offers that vision to a nation that, like President Lincoln's, is divided. It is not about to set out on a literal civil war, but Republican and Democrat, young and old, conservative and liberal have much to fight about and are at each other's throats with little provocation. Finding common ground is the key, and Sen. Obama is better able to do that than Sen. Clinton. She has become a polarizing figure, an image that stems in part from the bitter partisanship of Washington during President Bill Clinton's administration. It was not for nothing that the journalist James B. Stewart called his book about the politics of those years ''Blood Sport.'' That rancor was not primarily Hillary Clinton's fault, but it is real, it persists, and her campaign so far has not dealt effectively with quelling it.

And third, and most important for the Democratic Party at this moment in history, there is Sen. Obama's ability to inspire."

It starts with his unmatched oratorical skills. His speech in Philadelphia on March 18 about race in America will join the greatest speeches in this nation's history in future textbooks on that topic. The combination of his scholarship, career experience and personal style leaves listeners at first rapt and then inspired. His oratory soars because he has a desire to listen to and represent all Americans -- the ''vision thing'' as President George H.W. Bush once called it. Sen. Clinton, by contrast, too often just sounds like a partisan, and that isn't change.

Sen. Clinton has made much of her ''ability to lead'' on day one in the Oval Office. Past experience like hers is one thing, but leadership also depends on having a vision, plans to pursue that vision, and an ability to inspire others to follow. On those grounds, Sen. Barack Obama is well-suited to lead, and The Morning Call recommends his nomination in the Democratic primary.

Now it seems to me that the paper had every opportunity to shelve this endorsement after Obama talked about the bitterness that some Americans have.

In fact, in the same online issue there is an article discussing the matter in some detail so someone at the paper is aware of it.

That they chose not to seems to be significant IMO.

Or are they just a transparently partisan, elitist, out-of-touch with PA, paper?

Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania (all tags)

Comments

23 Comments

Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

This is great news!

by mefck 2008-04-13 08:57AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

I hear the Scranton paper is next to endorse Obama.

by Becky G 2008-04-13 09:03AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

I am from Allentown and the Morning Call is an Obama newspaper, so boo-hoo! last time I checked, these newspapers don't do much; DMR endorsed Clinton, she lost Iowa, Obama was endorsed by Boston  Globe, he lost both NH and MA.

by American1989 2008-04-13 09:03AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

What does an "Obama paper" mean? He owns it or something?

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-13 09:06AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

Another one:

Scranton Times-Tribune endorses Obama
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/new s.cfm?newsid=19480144&BRD=2185&P AG=461&dept_id=418218&rfi=6

by poserM 2008-04-13 09:03AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

The comment are far more interesting than the endorsement itself.

Seems the people don't agree with the paper.

by americanincanada 2008-04-13 09:05AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

I'm sure some people don't.

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-13 09:13AM | 0 recs
Except

The people commenting here are not reperesentative of the general voting public. One has to be a no-information voter to not know that much.

by Quicklund 2008-04-13 09:14AM | 0 recs
Re: Except

I think that AinC is referring to the comments section that follows the newspaper's endorsement.

by Inky 2008-04-13 09:24AM | 0 recs
Ahhh

That could well be.  My mistake.

by Quicklund 2008-04-13 09:46AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

You never know who's commenting in those comment sections

by poserM 2008-04-13 09:32AM | 0 recs
Re: Im from PA

Looks like they cover the Lehigh Valley.

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-13 09:04AM | 0 recs
Why does Allentown, PA hate America? n/t

by rhetoricus 2008-04-13 09:08AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

And his Gallup national numbers are UP today. I expected a dip, but it's just not there.

by politicsmatters 2008-04-13 09:18AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

Of course...Many more are coming too!  Obama is a winner!  Voters hate Drama Queens!

by Hope Monger 2008 2008-04-13 09:18AM | 0 recs
Yet another mudslinging fails

You'd think the Clintons would learn that this year the voting majority demands more from their politicians than just mudslinging.

But I guess when mud and empty slogans are all one has too offer...

by Quicklund 2008-04-13 09:19AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

woop de do...newspaper endorsements don't count for much, as we have seen so far in this election. As I recall Obama was endorsed by many more newspapers than Clinton in Texas and Ohio, and we all know what happened there, now don't we. Sounds like you are trying to divert attention from Obama's 'bitter' gaffe, well good luck.

by steve468 2008-04-13 11:40AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

And Clinton is now leading in national polling...OMG, What a few sorry words can do to someone's poll numbers.

by steve468 2008-04-13 11:42AM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

It doesn't appear that the PA paper thought it was a problem.

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-13 04:23PM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

hmmm...Boston Globe endorsed Obama, as well as both of our senators & our governor.

tell me again, how did Obama fair here in MA?

oh, that's right, he got blown away.

by colebiancardi 2008-04-13 01:32PM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

Why is that relevant?

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-13 04:22PM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

MY GRANNY ALWAYS SAID, PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH MORE WHEN THEY THINK NO ONE IS LISTENING! OBAMA TOLD THE GROUP IN SAN FRANCISCO THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS FEELINGS TOWARD RURAL AMERICA. ONLY ONE PROBLEM, RURAL AMERICA HEARD ABOUT IT!  OBAMA HAS BEEN TOUTING "CHANGE" THROUGHOUT HIS CAMPAIGN AND MANY KEPT ASKING "WELL, WHAT'S HE GOING TO CHANGE?"  IT IS OBAMA WHO DOES THE CHANGE, LIKE A CHAMELEON. WE DON'T NEED YOUR KIND OF CHANGE OBAMA.  WE GAVE YOU A PASS ON REV. WRIGHT, WE GAVE YOU A PASS ON YOUR "BONE-HEADED" REAL ESTATE VENTURE WITH TONY REZKO, WE EVEN GAVE YOU A PASS ON MICHELLE CALLING AMERICA "REALLY MEAN" AND THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE SHE WAS "PROUD" OF THIS COUNTRY.  BUT, NO PASS THIS TIME SEN. OBAMA. YOU JUST DON'T GET IT!  IT'S ABOUT THE VOTERS, STUPID!

by NURSERATCHET 2008-04-13 11:52PM | 0 recs
Re: Allentown, PA: Newspaper endorses Obama

HEY NURSERATCHET. OBAMA SAID THE SAME THING IN 2004 ON THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW. IT'S CALLED A WEDGE-ISSUE OR SINGLE-ISSUE VOTER. LOOK IT UP.

by RLMcCauley 2008-04-14 07:15PM | 0 recs

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