Wick Allison, former publisher of the National Review and staunch conservative, has endorsed Obama:
THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT “the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate,” the more I like him. Barack Obama strikes a chord with me like no political figure since Ronald Reagan.
But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts-a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war-led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. …
This kind of conservatism, which is not conservative at all, has produced financial mismanagement, the waste of human lives, the loss of moral authority, and the wreckage of our economy that McCain now threatens to make worse.
Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.
Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.
(hat tip Ed Brayton)
In recent years he has been touted as more of a Libertarian than a Conservative.
Libertarian (def.) – Somebody who believes in traditionally conservative values — individual freedom, cautious foreign policy, sound fiscal policy and small government.
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p>Conservative (def.) – Somebody who believes that the rich should be richer, the United States should be at war, the cops should be spying on you, and the government should be Christian.
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p>Thanks for clearing that up.
I am impressed with his statements. This is what BMG should be focussing on (the upside of a
Barack Obama adminstration) instead of the foolish articles about Palin.