Or at least Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Eisenhower:
The last time the United States had an open election was 1952. My grandfather was pursued by both political parties and eventually became the Republican nominee. Despite being a charismatic war hero, he did not have an easy ride to the nomination. He went on to win the presidency — with the indispensable help of a “Democrats for Eisenhower” movement. These crossover voters were attracted by his pledge to bring change to Washington and by the prospect that he would unify the nation.
It is in this great tradition of crossover voters that I support Barack Obama’s candidacy for president. If the Democratic Party chooses Obama as its candidate, this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected and encourage him to seek strategic solutions to meet America’s greatest challenges. To be successful, our president will need bipartisan help.
Given Obama’s support among young people, I believe that he will be most invested in defending the interests of these rising generations and, therefore, the long-term interests of this nation as a whole. Without his leadership, our children and grandchildren are at risk of growing older in a marginalized country that is left to its anger and divisions. Such an outcome would be an unacceptable legacy for any great nation.
I’ll have more to say about this issue in the future, but I think that a big factor behind this Obama mystique is the fact that a lot of people perceive, correctly, that after 20 years or Bush-Clinton-Bush the political atmosphere in this country has become poisoned and partisan in a way it’s never been before. To them, Barack Obama represents a clean and clear break with that past and his rhetoric harkens back to the New Frontier of the Kennedy Administration.
The question is whether there’s any substance to the rhetoric.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Answer: No.