Conservative Bloggers for Obama

The well-known and respected Conservative blogger Iain Dale has risked the wrath of many on the right by declaring his support for Barack Obama in the November US elections.

His blog piece is a thoughtful, excellent and in places very personal analysis of why Conservatives should abandon their traditional support of the Republicans and the failings of the McCain campaign. He says:

I never thought the day would come when I would not support a Republican candidate. Ronald Reagan is one of my political inspirations, but he is probably turning in his grave when he sees what has happened to the party he led with so much distinction. It has turned from the Grand Old Party into a narrow religious sect. It has lost its compassion in a desperate rush towards social fundamentalism at the same time as losing all sense of fiscal responsibility.

I had hoped that a Giuliani candidacy would shake the Republican Party out of its trance, but it was not to be. I had then hoped that John McCain might show a vision for America and the world which could stand the test of a presidential campaign. I had hoped his experience and tenacity would provide a launchpad for four years of a very different kind of Republican administration. But McCain has failed in every conceivable way. He has performed poorly in the debates, he is an uninspiring speaker and his vision is as non existent as Gordon Brown's. His policy platform simply doesn't add up and his foreign policy ideas are as unappealing as many of George Bush's.

He continues with a succinct look of the dangers of a Sarah Palin Vice-Presidency:

And then there is Sarah Palin. As regular readers know, when she was chosen I said she would prove to be an inspired choice or a car crash. The initial evidence leant towards the former. Latterly, though, we have all seen too much evidence of the latter. I defended her against the appalling media onslaught against her, which I found sexist, insulting and worse. I simply could not bring myself to believe that a Republican presidential candidate could have chosen someone so ill-equipped for the job. But I was wrong, and I now accept that. McCain has not been a well man. He is 72 years old and has had cancer four times. His whole demeanour indicates that he might well not live through a whole four year term. Yet despite the intensity of the vetting process, he still chose Sarah Palin, a woman whose charisma temporarily masked her complete unsuitability to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency.

I find myself in absolute agreement with Iain.   I took the view some time ago that I would be supporting Barack Obama.  He provides some inspiration and hope to those, both at home and abroad who have seen it fade away over the last 8 years of a failed Bush Presidency.   Will Obama/Biden win in Novmember?  I believe 'yes they can'....