I’ve Decided to Endorse Barack Obama for President

On the way home from work last night, listening to Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, I had an epiphany. One of those real road to Damascus moments. This country today is more in need of new energies and perspectives in the White House than in 1960 when John Kennedy electrified a generation, or in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan won resounding mandates to reverse long-entrenched policy approaches. Indeed, today we are at a critical public-policy juncture and at a generational crossroads at the very same time the legitimacy of our political processes hangs in the balance.

No American under 50 has ever entered a presidential voting booth without a Bush or Clinton as a presidential or vice presidential choice. I shudder at the thought of extending that to 36 years.

As a result, I today endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability. I do so because I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence, and genuine good will. Everything about him, personally, is what you would dream a candidate should be. Integrity, brilliance, warmth, humor and most importantly, commitment.  I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and that he wants to return the United States to that company of nations committed to human rights.

This endorsement may be of little note or consequence, except perhaps that it comes from an unlikely source: namely, a card carrying member of the Federalist Society. In any case, as a blogger with a small but loyal readership, it was time for me to come clean with my readers.

I am delighted that the Obama campaign blog deigned to welcome my endorsement with an official recognition from Senator Obama’s legal team, which I will shortly be joining as an advisor on corporate law issues.

UPDATE: Obviously, this was an April Fools joke. We now return you to your regular programming.

Posted on Tuesday, April 01 2008 | Permalink

I was expecting you to endorse Mitt Romney as a write-in candidate.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  08:22 AM

Well good for you Professor Bainbridge. While I agree Barak Obama is a man of good will (on a personal level), I cannot say I agree with your choice.  I worry we are potentially electing someone who means well but embraces the viewpoints of Jimmy Carter.  That did not turn out so well.  John McCain has his problems too, but from a Federalist perspective McCain is far closer to those ideals than Obama.  McCain is just as committed to human rights as Obama. 

Three observations from your post: 

1) so listening to Hugh Hewitt caused the scales to fall off your eyes and support Obama?  Maybe you should stop listening to Hugh Hewitt (try NPR, Howard Stern, Medved, anything else...). 

2) Someone stole my McCain lawn sign last night.  It was not up even 8 hours.  I suspect the Obama supporter down the street. If you ever hear of this while in the Obama campaign, tell them to please stop. 

3) I can only hope if Obama does win your advice on corporate issues are heeded.  Unfortunately you would have probably had more influence with McCain’s people than Obama’s.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  08:30 AM

April Fools?

Posted by  on  04/01  at  08:52 AM

click the link, folks

Posted by  on  04/01  at  09:14 AM

Convincingly foolish!  Happy April 1st!

Posted by Pete  on  04/01  at  09:47 AM

Sorry.  I cannot believe I got suckered into this one.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  10:16 AM

Very funny.  I should have caught on when you said you were listening to Hugh Hewitt on the way home.  Why not strap a dog to the roof of your car too.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  11:43 AM

I spotted April fool’s as soon as I saw the post title on the RSS feed. Come on! You need a lot more build up to make this sort of thing plausible. If the “More Perfect Union” speech didn’t convert you like it did 50 Cent, nothing in the last couple weeks would.

Pity that you won’t be advising on corporate law issues, however—I think every campaign can do with an adviser of the opposing party’s views, so the campaign is ready to defend its positions against informed criticism.

Posted by PG  on  04/01  at  11:56 AM

Your endorsement of Barack Obama has earned you a “delete” from the list of blogs that I read.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  12:04 PM

What a trip, going from depression to feeling suckered.  Suckered, in this case, is better.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  12:22 PM

got suckered too

Posted by  on  04/01  at  02:01 PM

I didn’t read the comments and I’m going to vote for him, now. The joke’s on you!

Posted by  on  04/01  at  03:31 PM

If you’re wondering what was really in those Clinton Library redactions, here’s a good theory:
http://ladycatherinebedamned.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-was-in-clinton-library-redactions.html

Posted by Mr. Darcy  on  04/01  at  04:18 PM

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/magazine/16-04/st_best

You did not make the top ten, but it was a good April fools joke.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  04:28 PM

Jeez! I got suckered on this one. Am asking co-worker to slap me upside the head for this!

Posted by  on  04/01  at  06:07 PM

God Damn Babies.  Or is it God Damn America?  I can’t keep it straight any more.

Posted by  on  04/01  at  07:42 PM
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Next entry: Parsing McCain's Annapolis Speech

Previous entry: Dating Dealbreakers

Introduction


Recent Punditry Entries


Hot Topics on Food & Wine

Hot Topics on Law & Business


Punditry RSS Feed

Flickr

Archives

My Books



Blogroll