Newspaper endorsements have never elected a president and count for even less today, but those straws in the wind are beginning to blow Barack Obama’s way.
As the President charges his rival with “Romnesia” on the campaign trail, he takes a lead in editorial backing.
Says the Denver Post: “From running to the far right on immigration and women’s health in the primary and then saddling his campaign with Rep. Paul Ryan’s extreme and unrealistic budget, the Romney of this election cycle is not the man elected in Massachusetts…
“On policies ranging from tax reform to immigration, from health care to higher education, none of Romney’s numbers add up.”
Obama, according to the Post, has a “record of accomplishment under trying circumstances and his blueprint for a second term make him the best pick to move the nation forward.”
In Florida: “The recovery has proven more difficult than anyone imagined. But conditions would be far worse without the president’s steady leadership. This is not the time to reverse course and return to the failed policies of the past. Without hesitation, the Tampa Bay Times recommends Barack Obama for re-election as president.”
Even more impressive is the backing of Obama by the Salt Lake City Tribune. After praising Romney as “one of us,” the Obama endorsement notes:
“Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: ‘Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?’”
Criticizing the President for “anemic” economic growth, the Orlando Sentinel in Florida goes the other way, declaring it’s “Romney’s time to lead, again. If he doesn’t produce results–even with a hostile Senate–we’ll be ready in 2016 to get behind someone else who will.”
Those editorials are not likely to translate into many votes but, before this Sunday’s papers are used to wrap fish or line garbage pails, they may be giving us a whiff of which way the wind is blowing.
MORE.