by psericks
Today, the Oakland Tribune and the Los Angeles Times endorsed Barack Obama for president, finishing off a remarkable sweep of the major newspaper editorial boards across the state. Among others, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the San Jose Mercury, the Sacramento Bee, the Modesto Bee, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and the Santa Barbara Independent have all endorsed Obama.
This newspaper sweep is so extensive and so comprehensive that I'm not sure Clinton has received the endorsement of a single editorial board in the state.* In total, 32 California newspapers have endorsed Obama, from southern California to the Central Valley and the Bay Area and northward, newspapers of every size and in every kind of community.
* - There have been a handful of small papers to endorse Clinton. See below.- psericks's diary :: ::
Indeed, although Clinton gained a number of early endorsements from some of the state's most ambitious and networking politicians, such as Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, Obama has been dominating the recent rounds of endorsements, picking up some of the most effective and respected members of California's congressional delegation, such as George Miller, Linda Sanchez, Berkeley's Barbara Lee, San Jose's Zoe Lofgren (an avid Dean supporter in 2004, who described being swayed by her children), Palo Alto's Anna Eshoo, Xavier Becerra, and Adam Schiff.
The San Francisco Chronicle glowed after meeting with Obama two weeks ago:
In a Jan. 17 meeting with our editorial board, Obama demonstrated an impressive command of a wide variety of issues. He listened intently to the questions. He responded with substance. He did not control a format without a stopwatch on answers or constraints on follow-up questions, yet he flourished in it.
He radiated the sense of possibility that has attracted the votes of independents and tapped into the idealism of young people during this campaign. He exuded the aura of a 46-year-old leader who could once again persuade the best and the brightest to forestall or pause their grand professional goals to serve in his administration.
When Obama visited the offices of the Los Angeles Times, this was the result, according to former staff writer Ken Reich:
It was striking last week that, when Obama came to the L.A. Times to meet with the editorial board, the usually idealistic Times staff gave him a rapturous reception. There is no question who the staff favors, and it is not an extension of rancorous, divisive government in Washington that the Clintons, like the Bushes, have come to represent.
And so the Times, in today's endorsement, wrote:
The U.S. senator from Illinois distinguishes himself as an inspiring leader who cuts through typical internecine campaign bickering and appeals to Americans long weary of divisive and destructive politics. He electrifies young voters, not because he is young but because he embodies the desire to move to the next chapter of the American story.
He brings with him deep knowledge on foreign relations and on this nation's particular struggles with identity and opportunity. His flair for expression, both in print and on the stump, too easily leads observers to forget that Obama is a man not just of style but of substance. He's a thoughtful student of the Constitution and an experienced lawmaker in his home state and, for the last three years, in the Senate.
The Times also cited Clinton's dramatic failure of judgment in approving the Iraq war resolution in 2002.
Nowhere was that judgment more needed than in 2003, when Congress was called upon to accept or reject the disastrous Iraq invasion. Clinton faced a test and failed, joining the stampede as Congress voted to authorize war.
Endorsements aren't enough to win elections, but newspapers across the state are encouraging their readerships to take a second look, and Obama's poll numbers have been surging across the state.
It would be very difficult to win the California primary on Tuesday, but that a victory has even become possible is a major triumph for Obama supporters.
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